Villages In Ethiopia Research Articles

Altitude-dependent agro-ecologies impact the microbiome diversity of scavenging indigenous chicken in Ethiopia

BackgroundScavenging indigenous village chickens play a vital role in sub-Saharan Africa, sustaining the livelihood of millions of farmers. These chickens are exposed to vastly different environments and feeds compared to commercial chickens. In this study, we analysed the caecal microbiota of 243 Ethiopian village chickens living in different altitude-dependent agro-ecologies.ResultsDifferences in bacterial diversity were significantly correlated with differences in specific climate factors, topsoil characteristics, and supplemental diets provided by farmers. Microbiota clustered into three enterotypes, with one particularly enriched at high altitudes. We assembled 9977 taxonomically and functionally diverse metagenome-assembled genomes. The vast majority of these were not found in a dataset of previously published chicken microbes or in the Genome Taxonomy Database.ConclusionsThe wide functional and taxonomic diversity of these microbes highlights their importance in the local adaptation of indigenous poultry, and the significant impacts of environmental factors on the microbiota argue for further discoveries in other agro-ecologies.EEwR8PKafK2-LVnkA2-YG-Video

A stochastic approach to determine the energy consumption and synthetic load profiles of different customer types of rural communities

The electricity demand is highly stochastic and unpredictable. This is due to the fact that it is significantly impacted by a number of factors, including the type of load, weather, time of day, seasonality, economic limitations, customers’ way of living, and other randomness factors. An accurate load model is one of the main inputs for the design of an economical and reliable renewable-based rural electrification system for rural communities and demand management systems. This paper presents a generic methodology for determining a rural community's energy consumption load profile, which is used to determine the most cost-effective size of renewable energy sources for rural electrification purposes. To determine the load profile parameters, such as the types of appliances used, their functioning times, functioning windows, and expected minimum and maximum cycle time, a field survey was conducted in four rural electrified Ethiopian villages. Since the survey findings will not fully explain the stochastic nature of the load profile, the load parameters are randomly generated, and a bottom-up approach is used to estimate the rural community's energy usage. In this study, household loads, public institution loads, business loads, and small industrial loads are the main consumer types taken into account. These loads are classified according to their energy usage as weekdays, weekends, and national and religious holidays. A MATLAB program is developed and implemented to obtain the load profiles of different customer groups. The results of this study are assessed in accordance with the multi-tier criterion and verified through the use of the well-known software HOMER Pro- and LoadProGen.

Plasmodium falciparum remains the dominant parasite affecting children despite decades of implementing vector control in two villages of Wolaita Zone, Southwest Ethiopia.

Malaria is still a significant public health concern, and its prevention and control measures have different impacts in different areas. This study assesses the prevalence of malaria and the effectiveness of routine malaria control programmes such as indoor residual spray (IRS) in two Ethiopian villages. The Kebeles (villages) were purposefully selected based on their malaria prevalence rates. A parasitology survey was conducted in Fango-Gelchecha pre- and post-IRS implementation, whereas in Shochora-Abela it was only conducted post-IRS implementation. The IRS was implemented as part of the routine malaria control programme in August 2017. Every fourth house from the village registration list was systematically selected, resulting in a sample of 300 households per village. A total of 3,075 individuals were enrolled for malaria testing using microscopy. After three to four months of application of IRS in August 2017, 59 malaria cases were confirmed, resulting in an overall prevalence of 1.9% (95% CI: 1.5-2.5). Of the positive cases, 18 cases (0.59%: 95% CI: 1.3-1.8) were from Shochora-Abela village, and 41 cases (1.33%: 95% CI: 1.1-1.3) were from Fango-Gelchecha. About age categories, the prevalence of malaria was 10.1% (95% CI: 5.9-15.9) among children under five, 4.7% (95% CI: 3.3-6.4) in children aged 5-14, and only 0.32% (95% CI: 0.13-0.67) in the age group 15 and above. Overall, P. falciparum was the dominant malaria parasite, accounting for 69.5% (95% CI: 56.1-80.8), while P. vivax malaria accounted for 30.5% (95% CI: 19.2-43.8). The malaria prevalence in Fango-Gelchecha village was 3.1% (95% CI: 2.3-4.0) before IRS and 2.6% (95% CI: 1.8-3.5) after IRS application. In the village of Shochora-Abela, the prevalence of malaria post-IRS was 1.2% (95% CI: 0.7-1.9), but the prevalence prior to IRS was not evaluated. Plasmodium falciparum is the predominant parasite in the villages, mainly affecting children under five. Therefore, protecting young children should be the top priority for reducing infection burdens.

Assessment of Malnutrition among Children Presenting in a Nutrition Center in Gimbichu, Ethiopia

Nowadays, Ethiopia has several problems affecting children below 5 years of age, resulting in low life expectancies. Our group carried out a study to calculate the presence of malnutrition as wasting, stunting underweight, and BMI-for-age in children presenting in a nutrition center in a rural Ethiopian village in the Oromia region according to WHO guidelines. Our results demonstrated that they had moderate chronic malnutrition or stunting from 1 to 2 years of age, affecting their life, their parents, their community/household, and their country. In our viewpoint, the solution for this situation will require a global focus on several levels, including individual, family, community, and country, the last being with the help of new health policies focused on short-, medium-, and long-term strategies with multi- and interdisciplinary approaches.

The effect of information networks on the scaling out of new agricultural technologies: The case of pulse variety adoption in Southern Ethiopia

We investigate how information networks influence smallholder farmers’ learning and decisions that lead to the adoption of improved pulse varieties in two Ethiopian villages. Using data from a mixed methods study (snowball sampling, egocentric networks, unstructured interviews, and focus group discussions), we find that farmers with more connections had adoption rates that were more strongly associated with their relative positions in the network than farmers with fewer connections. All other factors being equal, a one-percentage-point increase in centrality is associated with a 22-percentage-point increase in the adoption of new pulse varieties. This finding offers additional insights into the role that social networks may play in technology adoption as well as the measurement of network effects.

Engaging Fathers Through Nutrition Behavior Communication Change Does Not Increase Child Dietary Diversity in a Cluster Randomized Control Trial in Rural Ethiopia

BackgroundAdding food vouchers or paternal nutrition behavior change communication (BCC) activities to maternal BCC may improve child diets and household food security but their effect is unknown. ObjectivesWe assessed whether maternal BCC, maternal and paternal BCC, maternal BCC and a food voucher, or maternal and paternal BCC and a food voucher improved nutrition knowledge, child diet diversity scores (CDDS), and household food security. MethodsWe implemented a cluster randomized control trial in 92 Ethiopian villages. Treatments were as follows: maternal (M) BCC only; maternal BCC and paternal BCC (M+P); maternal BCC and food vouchers (M+V); and maternal BCC, food vouchers, and paternal BCC (M+V+P). Effects were assessed using generalized estimating equations. ResultsMaternal BCC and paternal BCC increased the maternal and paternal knowledge of optimal infant and young child feeding practices by 4.2–6.8 percentage points (P < 0.05) and by 8.3–8.4 percentage points (P < 0.01), respectively. Combining maternal BCC with either paternal BCC or the food voucher increased CDDS by 21.0%–23.1% (P < 0.05). The treatments M, M+V, and M+P increased the proportion of children who met minimum acceptable diet standards by 14.5, 12.8, and 20.1 percentage points, respectively (P < 0.01). Adding paternal BCC to the maternal BCC treatment or to the maternal BCC and voucher treatment did not lead to a larger increase in CDDS. ConclusionsIncreased paternal involvement does not necessarily translate into improvements in child feeding outcomes. Understanding the intrahousehold decision-making dynamics that underlie this is an important area for future research.This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT 03229629.

The hybrid power generation and balancing energy supply–demand for rural village in Ethiopia

AbstractEthiopia has a wide range of environmentally‐friendly, renewable energy resources that can assist the country to overcome its rural electricity problems. The Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software package was used to evaluate the viability of solar, hydro and wind hybrid power generation for a remote community in Ethiopia's Geba catchment. The hydrologic, climatic and demographic data were used to analyze the community's electrical supply and demand. Using survey data from chosen residences, the community's hourly and daily electricity demands were calculated. Two or more schemes were investigated besides the standalone scheme to assess the hybrid system's capacity. Wind, micro‐hydro and solar can generate an average annual power of 96.8, 272.4 and 161.8 kW, respectively. A mix of energy sources can meet the community's electricity demand. During peak demand periods, however, the hybrid system's mean hourly variability in power production showed inadequacy, which could be remedied by power stored in the battery and generator output. The economic analysis showed that the hybrid system proposed here is less expensive, indicating that hybrid energy generation might be employed to electrify Ethiopia's remote settlements. We advise decision‐makers and power authorities to use hybrid systems for rural electrification.

Ecological niche modelling for delineating livestock ecotypes and exploring environmental genomic adaptation: The example of Ethiopian village chicken

In evolutionary ecology, an “ecotype” is a population that is genetically adapted to specific environmental conditions. Environmental and genetic characterisation of livestock ecotypes can play a crucial role in conservation and breeding improvement, particularly to achieve climate resilience. However, livestock ecotypes are often arbitrarily defined without a detailed characterisation of their agro-ecologies. In this study, we employ a novel integrated approach, combining ecological niche modelling (ENM) with genomics, to delineate ecotypes based on environmental characterisation of population habitats and unravel the signatures of adaptive selection in the ecotype genomes. The method was applied on 25 Ethiopian village chicken populations representing diverse agro-climatic conditions. ENM identified six key environmental drivers of adaptation and delineated 12 ecotypes. Within-ecotype selection signature analyses (using Hp and iHS methods) identified 1,056 candidate sweep regions (SRs) associated with diverse biological processes. While most SRs are ecotype-specific, the biological pathways perturbed by overlapping genes are largely shared among ecotypes. A few biological pathways were shared amongst most ecotypes and the genes involved showed functions important for scavenging chickens, e.g., neuronal development/processes, immune response, vision development, and learning. Genotype-environment association using redundancy analysis (RDA) allowed for correlating ∼33% of the SRs with major environmental drivers. Inspection of some strong candidate genes from selection signature analysis and RDA showed highly relevant functions in relation to the major environmental drivers of corresponding ecotypes. This integrated approach offers a powerful tool to gain insight into the complex processes of adaptive evolution including the genotype × environment (G × E) interactions.

Fading Choice: Transport Costs and Variety in Consumer Goods

The lack of market development in remote areas is usually measured by spatial variation in prices for a given set of consumer goods. We focus instead on the way distance constrains the choices consumers can make. We construct a model of monopolistic competition between traders moving goods from market towns to rural areas. An increase in transport costs reduces consumer welfare not only through lower incomes for farm households and higher prices for manufactures but also through reduced availability of manufactures: choice fades with distance. The model allows for heterogeneity of villages in terms of market size and the distribution of income. We test the model using data from a purpose-designed survey of shops and consumers in rural villages in Ethiopia. Falling transport costs, larger market size and higher inequality dramatically raise variety of items and brands available locally. We use data on prices of matched source and destination goods to estimate similar tastes for variety across space and estimate an average markup of 10-15 percent. We use these results to estimate the welfare costs of falling variety at between 5-7 percent of expenditures on manufactured consumer goods. Our results suggest ignoring the costs of lower variety in remote places will mean that the level of poverty is underestimated while the rate at which poverty declines is underestimated as well.

Development of a chimeric odour blend for attracting gravid malaria vectors

BackgroundOdour-based tools targeting gravid malaria vectors may complement existing intervention strategies. Anopheles arabiensis are attracted to, and stimulated to oviposit by, natural and synthetic odours of wild and domesticated grasses associated with mosquito breeding sites. While such synthetic odour lures may be used for vector control, these may have limited efficacy when placed in direct competition with the natural source. In this study, workflows developed for plant-feeding pests was used to design and evaluate a chimeric odour blend based on shared attractive compounds found in domesticated grass odours.MethodsVariants of a synthetic odour blend, composed of shared bioactive compounds previously identified in domesticated grasses, was evaluated sequentially in a two-choice olfactometer to identify a ratio-optimized attractive blend for malaria vectors. During this process, blends with ratios that were significantly more attractive than the previously identified synthetic rice blend were compared to determine which was most attractive in the two-choice olfactometer. To determine whether all volatile components of the most attractive blend were necessary for maximal attraction, subtractive assays were then conducted, in which individual components were removed for the most attractive blend, to define the final composition of the chimeric blend. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine significance in all two-choice assays. The chimeric blend was then assessed under field conditions in malaria endemic villages in Ethiopia, to assess the effect of dose, trap type, and placement relative to ground level. Field data were analyzed both descriptively and using a Welch-corrected t-test.ResultsA ratio-optimized chimeric blend was identified that significantly attracted gravid An. arabiensis under laboratory conditions. In the field, trap captures of An. arabiensis and Anopheles pharoensis were dependent on the presence of the lure, trap type (CDC, BG Sentinel and Suna traps), placement relevant to ground level, with low release rates generally luring more mosquitoes.ConclusionsThe workflow designed for the development of chimeric lures provides an innovative strategy to target odour-mediated behaviours. The chimeric lure identified here can be used in existing trapping systems, and be customized to increase sustainability, in line with goals of the Global Vector Control Response Group.

Integrated Environmental and Genomic Analysis Reveals the Drivers of Local Adaptation in African Indigenous Chickens.

Breeding for climate resilience is currently an important goal for sustainable livestock production. Local adaptations exhibited by indigenous livestock allow investigating the genetic control of this resilience. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) provides a powerful avenue to identify the main environmental drivers of selection. Here, we applied an integrative approach combining ENM with genome-wide selection signature analyses (XPEHH and Fst) and genotype−environment association (redundancy analysis), with the aim of identifying the genomic signatures of adaptation in African village chickens. By dissecting 34 agro-climatic variables from the ecosystems of 25 Ethiopian village chicken populations, ENM identified six key drivers of environmental challenges: One temperature variable—strongly correlated with elevation, three precipitation variables as proxies for water availability, and two soil/land cover variables as proxies of food availability for foraging chickens. Genome analyses based on whole-genome sequencing (n = 245), identified a few strongly supported genomic regions under selection for environmental challenges related to altitude, temperature, water scarcity, and food availability. These regions harbor several gene clusters including regulatory genes, suggesting a predominantly oligogenic control of environmental adaptation. Few candidate genes detected in relation to heat-stress, indicates likely epigenetic regulation of thermo-tolerance for a domestic species originating from a tropical Asian wild ancestor. These results provide possible explanations for the rapid past adaptation of chickens to diverse African agro-ecologies, while also representing new landmarks for sustainable breeding improvement for climate resilience. We show that the pre-identification of key environmental drivers, followed by genomic investigation, provides a powerful new approach for elucidating adaptation in domestic animals.

Design of optimal hybrid power system to provide reliable supply to rural areas of Ethiopia using MATLAB and Homer

Integrating different energy resources, like solar PV, wind, and hydro is used to ensure reliable power to the rural community loads. Hybrid power system offers sufficient power supply for the rural villages by providing alternative supply for intermittent nature of renewable energy resource. Hence, intermittency of renewable energy resources is a challenge to electrify the rural community in a sustainable manner with the above sources. Thus, efficient resources management is a reasonable choice for intermittent renewable energy resources. The majority of rural villages in Ethiopia are suffering from lack of electricity. This causes deforestation, travel for long distance to fetch water, and no good social services, like clinic and schools, sufficiently. Therefore, the objective of this study was to maximize reliability of power supply by renewable energy sources. Data on wind speed and solar radiation are obtained from the NASA surface meteorological agency. While hydro data are obtained from physical measurements. Different configuration options are considered by Homer software to find the optimal configuration of hybrid system. The optimal configuration system is selected and hybrid components are sized. The optimal hybrid system consists of solar PV, wind, and hydro to supply a community load with a share of 13%, 52%, and 35% respectively. The fuzzy logic controller is designed to manage the intermittent nature of energies. Hence, the demand and energy sources are unpredictable; intelligent control system is important to manage the system accordingly. The control system is designed in MATALAB software. The result obtained from resource combination shows demand and supply are balanced. From the Twelve probabilistic combinations of demand and energy sources, one of the combinations shows that when 7.5 kW is demanded, the power generated/output from hybrid system is 10 kW which is greater than demand. To satisfy 7.5 kW demand control system takes 4.25 kW, 2.75 kW, and 1.08 kW share from wind, hydro, and solar sources respectively. The fuzzy logic control system is designed, to monitor the resource availability and load demand. This controller was managing the demand and the available resources according to the rule.

Rural electrification, migration and structural transformation: Evidence from Ethiopia

To what extent does rural electrification induce structural change and alter migration patterns? This paper addresses this question using a simple multi-sector spatial model and evidence from a panel of rural Ethiopian villages during its recent expansion of electricity supply. We find that electrification raised irrigation rates, agricultural yields and non-agricultural business activity. Furthermore, electrified villages experienced higher rates of in-migration and lower rates of out-migration. Each of these predictions is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of our model. Our results suggest that rural electrification helped facilitate structural transformation of villages economies in Ethiopia and slowed out-migration from rural areas.

Design of a small-scale wind turbine blade of glass fibre/epoxy composite for electrification of rural villages in Ethiopia: a case study

This paper targeted the design and stress comparison of a small-scale wind turbine blade which was constructed for the specific environmental conditions of the small rural village in Ethiopia. Firstly, the blade was designed from the characteristic of aerodynamic performance. Secondly, modelling and stress analysis of the windmills was conducted which is very significant for the further design and application of wind turbines. The material was epoxy-GFRP composite. The orthotropic mechanical properties of woven fibre epoxy polymer composite were created (ASTM D1683) with help of Autodesk Helius Composite V.16 software. The tensile and flexural testing specimens were fabricated by D3039M-17 and D7264M-15, respectively. Load, displacement, and modulus were investigated using UTM. Based on the parameters of the airfoil, the three-dimension and the assembly models of blades were mounted with the SOLIDWORK-V.16. Then the models were imported into ANSYS-V.15 WORKBENCH software for analysis. The displacement, Von Misses, and principal stress effects were determined.

Design of a small-scale wind turbine blade of glass fibre/epoxy composite for electrification of rural villages in Ethiopia: a case study

Design of a small-scale wind turbine blade of glass fibre/epoxy composite for electrification of rural villages in Ethiopia: a case study

Optimizing a cyanobacterial biofertilizer manufacturing system for village-level production in Ethiopia

A series of experiments in laboratory and hoop house environments was conducted to develop a cyanobacteria-based biological N fertilizer source that can be produced in Ethiopian villages, thus providing an alternative to expensive, imported urea. In the laboratory, factorial combinations of four Anabaena species strains (E-2, E-3, E-5, and E-9) isolated from Ethiopian soils and three water sources (river, lake, and ground water) were laid out in a complete randomized design in a light box constructed for this purpose with three replications. Factorial combinations of two pond-lining materials (transparent and black plastic sheets) and two aeration intervals (1-hour and 30-min intervals) were laid out in a complete randomized design with three replications in a hoop house using small ponds (1 m × 2 m × 0.25 m). Cyanobacteria strain E-3 performed best in the river water and was selected based on significantly higher values of optical density, growth rate, heterocyst frequency, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen than the other strains. DNA sequencing showed that clones of E-3 shared 99% similarity with Anabaena oscillariodes. Moreover, transparent plastic–lined ponds with a 1-hour aeration interval provided the best growing conditions for the E-3 strain based on its significantly higher dry biomass, optical density, and growth rate under these conditions as compared with ponds lined with black plastic or aerated in 30-min intervals. Therefore, transparent plastic–lined ponds with 1-hour aeration intervals are recommended for the mass production of A. osciolloides strain E-3 for use as a biofertilizer.

Nudging farmers in crop choice using price information: Evidence from Ethiopian Commodity Exchange

AbstractThe lack of reference price information is often regarded as one of the most pervasive aspects of incomplete commodity markets in developing countries. Previous studies on the effects of price information emphasize the market participation and performance of rural households. This paper argues that access to reference price information influences farmers’ crop choice decisions, the most important decision in farming activity. The study exploits the variation in timing and spatial distance of the publicly run Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) price tickers as an indicator for variation in the intensity of access to reference price information among rural villages in Ethiopia. The paper finds that access to price information increases the average farm‐gate prices for traded commodities and incentivizes farmers to allocate more land, fertilizer and improved seeds to commodities traded in the ECX. It also nudges farmers to produce more of the traded commodities, increasing the output share of ECX‐traded commodities.

Forest commons, vertical integration and smallholder’s saving and investment responses: Evidence from a quasi-experiment

Abstract As the result of prohibitively high transaction costs, smallholder farmers are only partly integrated into agricultural and forest commodity markets, a situation that may leave them in a lower level of development equilibrium (i.e., a poverty trap). For the most part, many users of forest commons extract forest products, typically non-timber products, for subsistence use or safety net purposes. To overcome this problem, in recent years, collective vertical integration (VI) of forest product marketing cooperative structures have been promoted and, in some cases, adopted by users of forest commons. Although this type of program has been observed to raise smallholder incomes, there is little evidence available on saving/investment responses to such income gains. This paper investigates precautionary saving and investment responses to collective forest product marketing programs among users of forest commons in Ethiopian villages. To identify the causal effects of the program, I applied propensity score matching, difference-in-difference (DID) and change-in-change (CIC) estimators to household survey data collected from randomly selected households in the Gimbo district (south-western Ethiopia). I find strong evidence that participation in the program reduces savings in the form of livestock holdings and that effect is limited to non-poor households. When interpreted in terms of the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH), the results imply that participants felt the current income gains to be non-transient, which led to reduced precautionary savings and to a gain in consumption/welfare. Moreover, I found that the program has spurred investment in child education and participation in off-farm self-employment. These results point to the importance of the safety net/insurance channel of the program. Overall, the findings underscore the program’s potential to raise the standard of living via ancillary mechanisms beyond directly raising income outcome.

Participatory identification of breeding objective traits and selection criteria for indigenous goat of the pastoral communities in Ethiopia.

A structured questionnaire, own-flock ranking experiment, and group discussions were undertaken to assess goat breeding practices and to identify traits of interest for genetic improvement of indigenous goats. Four pastoral villages in Ethiopia, namely, Jarso, Mesoya, Eleweya, and Dharito were selected based on their goat production potential, accessibility, and suitability to implement community-based breeding programs. A survey and flock ranking experiment involving 70 households and 199 goats were used. In flock ranking experiment, goat owners were asked to choose the first three superior and the worst doe within their own flock. They were also asked to provide their reason for ranking the animals. In addition, data on size traits, kid growth, kid survival, reproduction traits, and milk yield were recorded for each doe. Data obtained from questionnaire, flock ranking, and measurements were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Large variation was observed between top and last ranked does in most of the traits and price, for example, in body weight (33.6 ± 0.88 vs. 25.2 ± 0.93kg), doe's kid survival (92.1 ± 4.01 vs. 59.6 ± 4.48%) and doe's price (1367 ± 46.5 vs. 833 ± 46.9 (US$1 = 28.4 Ethiopian Birr) Ethiopian Birr). Mobility is practiced with a defined and known pattern; therefore, recruitment of mobile enumerators for data recording would assist in implementation of breeding programs. Breeding objective should emphasize mothering ability (kid growth and survival), milk yield of does, and coat color in all areas. Due to its good correlation with other traits like kid growth and pre-weaning kid survival, considering milk yield alone as selection criteria or giving more weight for milk yield in the breeding program could generate better genetic benefit. Setting-up breeding program should be based on full participation and context of pastoralists.

Collective action and heterogeneous welfare effects: Evidence from Ethiopian villages

In this study, welfare and distributional impacts associated with a forest users cooperative (FUC) programs in Ethiopian villages were examined. We employed covariate balancing propensity scores (CBPS), instrumental variable (IV) and selection models to estimate both the average treatment effect and quantile treatment effects. Our results revealed that the program was found to raise the welfare of the average program participating households and that result is robust to alternative specifications. Furthermore, the analysis confirmed that no-targeted households would similarly benefit from the program, underscoring the importance of expanding the current programs. Results of quantile treatment effect evaluations confirmed that return to the program participation is heterogeneous across income distribution. Specifically, the program was found to raise welfare only for households in the middle and uppers spans of income distribution, without bearing effect along the bottom income quantiles. This suggests that FUC programs is not pro-poor, and, therefore, is not equity enhancing.