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Woody plant species composition, richness and carbon storage in disturbed tropical riparian forests
No full textTanzania Journal of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Vol 89, No. 2 (2020): 1-15Riparian forests play a vital role in the
functioning of river systems and
biodiversity protection. However, rapid land
use and land cover changes due to human
activities have led to their degradation and
loss of valuable environmental services they
offer. To plan for wise use and facilitate
development of improved management
strategies, it is important to understand
riparian forests structure and carbon storage
particularly for sites that are not fully
protected. Therefore, a study was carried out
to determine woody plant species
composition, density, richness and above
ground carbon storage in disturbed riparian
forests of Morogoro, Tanzania. Thirty (30)
sampling plots measuring 10 x 20 m each
were laid systematically along 3 sites and all
woody plant species with diameter at breast
height (Dbh) of ≥ 1 cm identified. In total,
65 woody plant species belonging to 58
genera and 27 families were recorded. Four
dominant families were Moraceae (42.2%),
Apocynaceae (13%), Annonaceae (10.3%)
and Phyllanthaceae (7.8%). The Dbh size
class distribution showed a slight deviation
from the classical inverse J distribution
suggesting that both small and large sized
trees are harvested. The average overall
stocking density in the plots was 1598 stems
ha-1 (range 250-3950) while the overall
mean carbon stored in the plot was 76.5 t
ha-1 (range 11.4-272.7). Ficus exasperata,
Syzygium cumini and Voacanga africana
contributed 36% of the carbon. There were
no significant differences
(one-way
ANOVA; in all cases P > 0.05) in stem
density, species richness and carbon stocks between sites. This study has revealed that
even though the study forests are not fully
protected they have high species richness,
stem density and above ground carbon and
therefore
improved
management
is
recommended to maintain the structure and
functions of the remaining riparian forests in
Kilombero
Indigenous beef cattle market performance in selected Villages in Simiyu and Dodoma regions, Tanzania
No full textMasters ThesisDespite the high livestock population (dominated by cattle) the contribution of subsector
to the Tanzanian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is very low. The low contribution of the
livestock sector to the country’s GDP can possibly be linked to poor market performance.
This study is therefore an attempt to examine the indigenous beef cattle market
performance in selected villages in Simiyu and Dodoma regions in order to find out what
could be done to improve beef cattle market performance. The study used cross sectional
design. Data were collected from 192 indigenous beef cattle actors (beef cattle keepers,
traders and butcheries) through semi-structured questionnaires and checklist. The data
collected were summarized using Stata and Microsoft Excel. Moreover, the study adopted
Structure- Conduct- Performance (S-C-P) model to analyze the performance of indigenous
beef cattle market in the study area. The study employed gross margin analysis to measure
profitability of value market actors. Furthermore, the multiple linear regression analysis
were used to determine the factors affecting gross margin of beef cattle keepers. The
results show that traders involved in beef cattle fattening generates the highest gross
margin (54.05%) followed by the vertically integrated-butcheries (46.21%) and beef cattle
keepers generated the lowest gross margin (13.66%). Further, the study findings show that
herd size and herding costs had statistically significant (p < 0.01) influence on gross
margin. In conclusion, the indigenous beef cattle market in the study area performed
poorly due to inadequate extension services, difficulties in securing credit/loans, high
marketing costs and information asymmetry. To improve the market performance and
indigenous beef cattle subsector, it is recommended that extension workers have to
organise farmers into formal groups and trains them on the use of the beef cattle fattening
technique and beef quality control measures. The department of livestock development in
the districts; it is recommended to make market information available, enable actors to
secure credits/loans, reduction of market charges and tax so that to reduce costs.indigenous cattle beef productio
Agricultural extension officers’ perceptions towards their roles: a case study of Simiyu Region
No full textTanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 56-66Studies have been conducted in Africa to assess extension officers’ perception towards their
roles, however, little is known on agricultural extension officers’ perception on their roles as per
government job description in Tanzania. The study was therefore conducted in Simiyu Region
to assess the perception of agricultural extension officers towards their roles. A cross-sectional
survey design was used whereby a structured questionnaire was employed to collect data from 100
randomly selected Agricultural extension officers (AEOs). The collected quantitative data were
analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer programme (SPSS). On
the other hand, the content analysis was used to analyze the collected qualitative information. The
findings show that most of interviewed AEOs perceived their roles namely, advisory, organizational,
educational, technical, facilitation and intermediation as important. However the AEOs perceived
the existence of difficulties in fulfilling the roles. These include agricultural extension officers
overloaded with non-extension tasks like tax collection that hinder them to perform their technical
roles; lack of in-service training which results to low level of competence in performing their
mandated roles; inadequate logistics such as motorcycles, vehicles, just to mention few, These
results to EAOs blamed for not performing their roles. Based on these findings it is recommended
that there is a need to work out with all aspects that affect performance of the AEOs’ mandated
roles as follows: AEOs concentrate more on their mandated roles and not non extension work,
organize short and long term training to improve their knowledge and skills
Accountability, rule of law and fairness in constituency development catalyst fund (CDCF) management in Vwawa Constituency, Tanzania
No full textResearch on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020; 10 (9)This paper presents findings from a study which set forth to examine the governance of Constituency development
Catalyst Fund. It focused on three pillars of governance which are; accountability, rule of law and fairness. The
study was conducted in Vwawa constituency, in Mbozi District, Songwe Region in Tanzania. The study data were
collected through semi-structure interviews, focus group discussions and (FGDs) and Observation. These were
later transcribed and subsequently analyzed. The findings revealed that CDCF implementation was imbued with
lack of accountability especially in publishing information of the expenditure of CDCF although villagers had
chances to report all cases with fraudulent elements on CDCF and other funds. It was farther found that
procurement process followed the required procedures, although in some circumstances it was influenced by either
ward or constituency officers. Furthermore, it was found that the CDCF distribution was fair, however, in some
cases, influenced by politicians especially the MP. Based on these findings, the study concludes that, the presence
of well informed citizens may facilitate them to hold CDCF officers and other stakeholders accountable in any
matter concerning the fund. Rules and regulations must be observed. Citizens must involve in decision making
about CDCF activities. The practice done by some politicians in influencing the distribution of the funds is
jeopardizing fairness in allocation of funds. All villages need the support from CDCF. The study recommends that,
it is important to have well informed citizenly who can be able to hold officers and other stake holders accountable.
It also recommends that, citizens should participate fully in decision making of CDCF activities. Lastly it
recommends that, the distribution of the funds should not be influenced by the politicians
Evaluation of the safety and immunogenicity of rift valley fever mp-12 and armp-12δnsm21/384 vaccine candidates in goats (capra hircus), sheep (ovis aries) and calves (bos indicus) from Tanzania
No full textRift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an arbovirus that causes Rift Valley fever (RVF), a
disease that causes morbidity and mortality in livestock and humans. Among the measures
considered, vaccines are the most effective control strategy against this RVF disease.
While we have available vaccines, effective vaccines and better routes of vaccination are
needed to prevent RVF among livestock and humans. Therefore, the aim of this study was
to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a live attenuated RVFV MP-12 and a
derivative recombinant RVFV arMP-12ΔNSm21/384 vaccine using the intramuscular (IM)
route of vaccination in Tanzanian calves, and goats. Also, a proof of concept study was
conducted to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the RVFV arMP-12ΔNSm21/384
vaccine using the intranasal (IN) route of vaccination in the same species, as well as sheep.
Overall, a total of 61 animals (goats, sheep and calves) aged 6 to 9 months old were used
in this study. Twenty five animals, including 5 goats and 3 calves were vaccinated IM with
a dose of 1×105 plaque forming units (PFU)/ml of RVF MP-12 and 8 goats and 5 calves
were vaccinated with the RVF arMP-12ΔNSm21/384 vaccine, and 2 goats and 2 calves
received a placebo to serve as controls. Afterward, rectal temperatures were recorded on
day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 then weekly throughout the study. Blood samples were collected on day
14 before vaccination and on the days 0, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 70, 84 and 87 post
vaccinations (PV). At day 87 PV, all IM vaccinated animals were revaccinated via the IM
route with 1×104 PFU/ml of RVF MP-12 vaccine and blood samples were again collected
on days 94, 101 and 108 PV. As a proof of concept study, 7 sheep, 10 goats and 10 calves
were vaccinated intra-nasally (IN) with 50 μl of 1×105 PFU of arMP-12ΔNSm21/384
vaccine and 2 sheep were vaccinated with 100 ul of 1x 105 PFU of the arMP-
12ΔNSm21/384 vaccine, and 7 animals (2 goats, 3 sheep and 2 calves) received a placebo
to serve as controls. Rectal temperatures were recorded and blood samples were collected
14 days before and on day, 0 immediately before vaccination and on days 3, 5, 7, 14, 21,
28 and 35 PV. Samples collected in both studies on the day -14 before vaccination, day 0
immediately before vaccination, 3 and 5 were tested for viremia by virus isolation
attempted in Vero E6 cells and samples collected on days 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 70, 84, 87, 94,
101 and 108 PV were tested for RVFV neutralizing antibody by the plaque reduction
neutralization test (PRNT). None of the animals had detectable viremia and clinical
manifestations throughout the study. All IM vaccinated animals and 70% of each species
in the IN vaccinated animals had the first detectable antibody on either day 5 or 7 PV,
respectively and antibody titers ranged from 1: 10 to 1:40. Afterwards, antibody titers
increased and ranged from 1:10 to 1:640 for the IN and 1:40 to 1:640 for IM vaccinated
animals. The antibody response was lower for the IN vaccinated animals, but goats that
were vaccinated both by the IM and IN routes responded better than other species while
calves had the lowest antibody titers. Therefore, these findings demonstrated that the IN
route of vaccination is promising for use in place of the IM route to avoid the use of
needles that can cause needle stick injuries and the IN route may prove to be a safer and
more efficient route of vaccination especially in mass vaccination campaigns. However,
based on the preliminary results of this study, the volume of the vaccine dose for IN
vaccination may need to be increased from 50 μl to 100 ul per animal to improve the
immunogenicity of the vaccine.USAI
Resilience in climate stressed environment through water grabbing
No full textBook chapter, pp. 269-293Climate change (CC) is currently considered as the most severe and devastating
environmental catastrophe facing the globe. CC is the latest environmental driver
of global environmental change causing rainfall shortage and water stress across
the globe. This chapter reports a study carried out on water grabbing as solution
for food production and water shortages in CC-stricken areas along the Pangani
River Basin (PRB) in Tanzania. Results indicated that the mean yields before water grabbing were statistically (P < 0.001) higher than yields after water
grabbing. Drivers for water grabbing include climate change and variability in
some parts of the world, human population dynamics, change of consumption
patterns, economic growth, and technological advancement. The effects of CC
and water grabbing include loss of some aquatic flora and fauna, water use
conflicts, and poor crop production. It is recommended that smallholder farmers
have to adapt to drought-resistant crops and short-term seed varieties and carry
out groundwater research and rainwater harvesting. More research should be
carried out so as to know the link between CC and the decline of rainfall and
water flow. Moreover, efforts should be made to conserve the Kilimanjaro
Mountain to restore the vanishing ice cape
Serological and molecular evidence of brucella species in the rapidly growing pig sector in Kenya
No full textJournal articleBackground: Brucellosis is an emerging yet neglected zoonosis that has been reported in Kenya. Epidemiological
data on brucellosis in ruminants is readily accessible; however, reports on brucellosis in pigs remain limited. This
study sought to detect Brucella infection in pig serum by both serological and molecular techniques. Serum from
700 pigs randomly collected at a centralized abattoir in Nairobi region, Kenya were screened in parallel, using both
Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and competitive Enzyme-Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay (cELISA) for antibodies against
Brucella spp. All sera positive by RBT and 16 randomly selected negative samples were further tested using
conventional PCR targeting bcsp31 gene and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assays targeting IS711 and bcsp31 genes.
Results: A prevalence of 0.57% (n = 4/700) was estimated using RBT; none of these samples was positive on cELISA.
All RBT positive sera were also positive by both PCRs, while two sero-negative samples also tested positive on RTPCR
(n = 6/20). Brucella abortus was detected in four out of the six PCR positive samples through a real-time
multiplex PCR.
Conclusion: The detection of antibodies against Brucella spp. and DNA in serum from slaughterhouse pigs confirm
the presence of Brucella in pigs. Therefore, investigation of the epidemiology and role of pigs in the transmission of
brucellosis in Kenya is needed. Further targeted studies would be useful to systematically quantify and identify the
spp. of Brucella in pigs.supported within the framework of the DELTAS Africa
Initiative [Afrique One-ASPIRE /DEL-15-008]. The Medical Research Council
(UK) supported data collection and serological analysis, Biotechnology and
Biological Science Research Council (UK), the Economic and Social Research
Council (UK), the Natural Environment Research Council (UK), through the
Environmental & Social Ecology of Human Infectious Diseases Initiative (ESEI),
Grant Reference: G1100783/1 and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture
for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), led by the International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI); we acknowledge the CGIAR Fund Donors (https://
www.cgiar.org/funders/). The molecular assays were conducted at the BecAILRI
Hub through the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship.
The ABCF program is funded by the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs
and Trade (DFAT) through the BecA-CSIRO partnership; the Syngenta
Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA); the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF); the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and
the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida)
Health Literacy and Health Behaviour under One Health Approach in Tanzania: Connecting the Connected or Connecting the Unconnected?
No full textGlobally, health literacy (HL) has been reported to stand as a driver to health behavioural
changes. Despite efforts to educate people to enhance the knowledge and skills on health-related
matters to improve health literacy, consequently enabling and encouraging individuals to make
healthier lifestyle choices, sometimes, there has been notable health impairing behaviours.
Definitely, in such circumstances, HL by itself has been observed to fail to drive such behavioural
changes. This assumes that there are drivers together with or beyond HL towards behavioural
changes. This cross-sectional study assessed HL and its influence on health behaviour (HB)
under One Health Approach in Morogoro, Tanzania. A structured questionnaire was employed
for data collection from 1440 respondents acquired through a multistage sampling procedure. A
tool was developed to assess HL, an index of score gauged HB, and Likert scale was used to assess
attitudes towards HB. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS v20 software. The study revealed,
about one-third of the respondents (32.9%) had adequate HL, (30.8%) moderate HL and
(36.3%) with inadequate HL; 40% had health-enhancing behaviours and 60% with health
impairing behaviours. A significant association (health literacy*health behaviour, p=0.000; was
observed. The results further revealed that 30% had unfavourable attitudes towards health
impairing behaviours, and attitude was significantly found to associate with behaviours
(p=0.000). It is concluded that attitudes towards health impairing behaviours affect the way HL
can influence HB. This study recommends strengthening efforts to enhance health information
dissemination through health education focusing on culture as the context that informs
behaviours
Mobile phone use in accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change in Kilosa and Kilombero districts, Morogoro, Tanzania
No full textThe Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020The study aimed at determining the use of mobile phones in accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change in Kilosa and Kilombero Districts in Morogoro Region. The study involved 400 rain fed-rice farmers owning mobile phones. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design to collect data using a semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and key informants interview. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in the data analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using frequency, percentages, chi-square, binary logistic regression and poisson count regression. Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. The study found that socio-demographic factors influenced respondents‟ use of mobile phone for accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change were sex, age, education level, marital status, farm size, farming experience, radio ownership and off-farm incomes. In addition, access to market location was statistically significantly influenced use of mobile phones for accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change at p< 0.02. Moreover, few, 99 (24.8%)of the respondents used mobile phone to access strategic rice information while 105 (26.3%) of the respondents used mobile phone to access tactical rice information for adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, use of mobile phones for accessing rice information for adaption to climate change among study districts was low and did not differ at p< 0.08. Voice calling was most used application compared to other application. Moreover, type of rice variety, type of herbicides and weather forecast information was the major rice information for adaptation to climate change accessed by respondents through mobile phone. The study concludes that socio-demographic and institutional factors influence use of mobile phones for accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change. It can also be concluded the respondents‟ use of mobile phones to access rice information for adaptation to climate change in study areas was low. The study recommends that Kilosa and Kilombero Districts council through DAICO‟s should train farmers in using mobile phones in accessing rice information for adaptation to climate change through campaigns, workshop and seminars.German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer
Austausch Dienst - DAAD
Bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in livestock at the Greater Ruaha Ecosystem
No full textTanzania Veterinary Journal Vol. 35 (1) 2020A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (BTB)
and the seroprevalence of brucellosis in livestock at the Greater Ruaha Ecosystem in Tanzania.
The study further characterized the Mycobacterium spp. from the slaughtered livestock. Survey
conducted to assess potential herd-level risk factors for BTB and brucellosis revealed that the
respondents’ ethnicity and herd mixing were the significant risk factors. Twenty-eight percent of
102 cattle herds had at least one positive or suspect BTB reactor. The overall prevalence of BTB
infection in the cattle was 1.32% (18/1368). Forty-two percent of 93 flocks of the small
ruminants had at least one brucellosis seropositive animal. The overall seroprevalence of
brucellosis in the cattle and small ruminants was 6.6%. Although the prevalence of both diseases
was relatively low for individual animals, herd-level prevalence was high, suggesting that
infection is widespread in the study area and a significant number of households are at risk.
Mycobacterium bovis strain identified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was confirmed by
spoligotyping as spoligotype SB0133. This cattle strain of M. bovis was similar to previously
reported involving wild animals in adjacent protected areas. Isolation of identical M. bovis from
the wildlife and livestock and the demonstration of Brucella spp. seroprevalence in livestock in
the same interface, strongly suggest livestock-wildlife interspecies sharing of these pathogens.
Occurrence of the microorganisms poses a serious challenge to disease management strategies in
pastoralist communities in the interface area