West Kordofan State Research Articles

Farmers’ perceptions towards agroforestry systems in Babanosa Area, West Kordofan State

This study was conducted in Eltemada, Boli and Umghoghai villages at Babanosa area in El-salam locality, South Kordofan State during 2012 and 2013. The objectives were to (1) identify and assess the most important agroforestry systems, (2) to investigate the main factors that affecting the sustainability of the systems, (3) to determine the important field crops that cultivated with trees and (4) to evaluate the effect of the agroforestry systems on the yield of the traditional field crops. For accomplishment of these study 80 questioners was designed and distributed in the selected villages. After the data collection data was analyzed by using descriptive statistic. The results showed that the most important agroforestry systems in the study area are parkland cropping system (58%), boundary planting (26%), wind-breaks (13%) and alley cropping (3%).The most important forest trees in the study area are Acacia senegal (32%), Ziziphus spina- christia (28%), Balanites aegeyptiaca (26%), Sclerocary birrea and Guera senegalensis (3%). The main field crops in the study area are groundnut (44%), sorghum (35%) and roselle (21%). The results showed that yield of groundnut and sorghum is higher under agroforestry systems compared with the mono-cropping system. The results showed that the majority of respondents (70%) prefer to cultivate field crops in agroforestry system, while (30%) prefer to cultivate the field crops in a mono-cropping system. The cultivation methods used in the study area include shifting cultivation (52%), mono-cropping (36%) and intercropping (12%).The majority of respondents (94%) showed that trees improve soil fertility in their farm land. The benefits from trees in farm land include improvement of soil properties (36%), protecting the farm land from wind erosion (28%), improvement of micro-climate (24%) and source of income which was indicated by (12%) of the respondents. The study recommended that modern agroforestry system such as improved fallow system and alley cropping should be introduced in the study area and multi-purpose trees such as Acacia senegal, Fedherbia albida and Sclerocarya birrea that improve soil fertility and diversify farmers income should be maintained. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i2.12633 International Journal of Environment Vol.4(2) 2015: 136-146

An Outbreak of Pestivirus Infection in Sheep in West Kordofan, Sudan

During AprilMay 2010 an outbreak of a disease with obvious nervous and respiratory signs in sheep was reported in west Kordofan State in western Sudan. Four flocks at four different locations in the State were investigated. The deaths by the disease versus the total number of animals in the different areas were 18/150, 1/200, 3/280 and 17/300. The main clinical symptoms observed in adults and young lambs were central nervous signs and respiratory signs; most lambs were weak and emaciated with rough coats. Sera were collected from 11, 18, 19 and 4 of animals in the four Original Research Article Ali et al.; BMRJ, 8(4): 540-545, 2015; Article no.BMRJ.2015.146 541 flocks, respectively. Bacteriological examination on tissue samples did not reveal any positive results. Using competitive ELISA, antibodies against pestivirus were detected in 10/11, 7/18, 7/19 and 1/4, respectively of examined sheep sera in the different locations. RT/PCR using pestvirus specific primers to examine the lung and sera samples showed positive results for one lung and 17 sera samples, and sequence data indicated that the causative agent was Bovine viral diarrhea virus-1 (BVDV-1). This is the first report of BVDV-1 outbreak in sheep in Sudan.

Determine Phosphorus and Calcium in Soil of the Grazing Area, El-Khuwei locality, west Kordofan State, Sudan

A two stages flowering and seed setting field experiment was conducted to determine of some macro minerals in soil phosphorus P and calcium Ca in the natural range land, during 2011 in El-khuwei locality, west Kordofan State, Sudan. The data was analyzed used a completely randomized design (CRD) with the effect of stages as the whole plots and effects of sampling as the sub-plots. Sampling was done on two stages at the flowering and seed setting in selected locations (2km2 each), within each stage randomly selected and collected thirty samples of soil. (SPSS) Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for the statistical analysis. The results indicated that growth stages were effect of macro minerals in the soil phosphorus concentrations and calcium concentrations in the natural range land was significantly difference (P<0.001) higher phosphorus P (0.15-0.10ppm) level at the flowering stage and least phosphorus P level at the seed setting stage respectively, also growth stages were effect of calcium Ca (110.22-99.75ppm) level was higher calcium Ca level at the flowering stage and least calcium Ca level at the seed setting stage respectively.

Impacts of Oil Exploration on the Livelihoods of agro-pastoralists in Western Kordofan State-Sudan

Mostly local communities perceive oil discovery in their areas as an opportunity to improve their livelihoods. They expect better access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living, though that might not always be the case. Pastoralist and subsistence farming have traditionally been the two main livelihood systems in the study area, however their life began to change recently as a result of oil exploration. In spite of the huge resources generated from the area still communities are lagging behind and suffering from the lack of basic social services. The study intended to answer the following question: What is the impact of oil exploration on the livelihoods of agro-pastoralists in West Kordofan State-Sudan? The overall objective of the study is to investigate the oil exploration and its impact on Agro-pastoralists in West Kordofan State and scrutinize the character of the changes occurred in various aspects of their livelihood. The study opted for qualitative descriptive survey approach, deploying primary and secondary data. Using the structured interviewing technique 200 households and 30 key informants were interviewed at Kailak and Elsalam localities. In addition focus groups discussions were carried out with stakeholders in the selected villages. The study disclosed that three out of the five livelihood asset types need to be strengthened in order to come up with the desirable development. Livelihood outcome within communities were very weak as there was no major positive change in economic and livelihood situation. It seems that intervention towards improvement of traditional production system and technology used in agriculture was insufficient. It is evident that lack of coordination with the localities’ authorities in the infrastructure and social services provision has resulted in unsustainable deliverance. However, both official and traditional local institutions are too weak and of very limited capacity to be effectively engaged in the development process. Improving livelihoods outcome will require a multi-stakeholder approach to oil exploration involving the local government, oil companies and host communities. Inevitability this will entail capacity building and training of local communities to enable them to actively participate in the sustainable development of their areas.

Vision on the Identification of the Roles of Producers Concerned to Increase the Productivity of Gum Arabic: A Case Study of West Kordofan-Sudan for the Period 1994-2008

This study aims to determine the roles of the parties concerned in order to raise productivity of Gum Arabic, in West Kordofan State as the most important producing region in the Sudan. The study was conducted in some areas of production. Chose the multi-stage random sample due to the lack of a framework for the research community as well as the homogeneity of this community. Some statistical methods are used to test the hypotheses of statistically significant relationships between the views of respondents and the productivity of Gum Arabic, in order to find out the reasons for low productivity, and the roles of the concerned parties with both production and marketing. The study reached the following results: 1 - The reluctance of youth category for the production of gum. 2 - Lack of availability of necessary inputs such as improved seeds and seedlings with the appropriate distances, and production tools developed and the necessary funding. 3 - Purchase prices are unprofitable and burdened with a lot of fees and taxes. 4 - Lack of provision of basic services (water). 5 - Lack of services of cooperatives. 6 - Producers have not received training on the quality technology as Ranking-staging of gum.The study concluded with several recommendations including: 1 - The need to provide necessary inputs with quality, as improved seeds, seedlings production tools developed, and funding. 2 - Determine the price paid and protected from the imposition of taxes and fees. 3 - The provision of basic services (e.g water). 4 - The need to mainstream societies of producers for solving problems of finance, production and marketing. 5 - Adopting training programs of quality for production and marketing.

Cooperative Societies and Their Role in Raising Productivity, Case Study of Producers Cooperatives of Gum Arabic in West Kordofan State of Sudan

This study aimed to uncover the role of Gum Arabic Producers Associations in contributing to solve the problems of production and producers alike. The study sample is a multi-stage random sample which was chosen from the community of producers. A (Chi-square) test has been applied to study the correlation between variables. The most important findings show that, the majority of producers did not join the co-operative societies. And the existing ones are enabled, which did not contribute to obtain necessary services, support production and marketing for members, and could not facilitate the operations of credit. Also, did not contribute to the dissemination and application of agricultural quality technology in coordination with the concerned authorities. The study, recommended the need to mainstream the co-operative societies of producers, activate, involve them in solving the problems of production, marketing and providing innovative financing guarantees, such as ensuring acacia forests and ensure the co-operative societies, and contribute to the dissemination and application of quality technology.

Social Responsibility between the Voluntary and Compulsion: A Case Study of Gum Arabic Company in West Kordofan Sudan

The aim of this study was to determine the social responsibility of the Gum Arabic Company Ltd (GAC) in terms of the mandatory law to meet them or leave them due to choice of the company in West Kordofan state. Some Statistical methods have been used . Results shows that Gum Arabic Company did not meet social responsibility in these areas. The absence of obligating the company to fulfill the social responsibility towards producers was behind the lack of contribution to the various service facilities. There is a positive correlation between social responsibility and profitability in the long run. The study recommended companies that operating in the field of Gum Arabic to provide basic services over the relative distribution of the burden of social responsibility, should be addressed by the State according to the priorities of producers.