Agriculture Commons^™

Market Development In Support Of Sorghum And Millet Farmers In Tanzania And Zambia, J. Mark Erbaugh, Emmanuel R. Mbiha, Fredy T.M. Kilima, Precious Hamukwala, Gelson Tembo, Donald W. Larson

INTSORMIL Presentations

Problem: Sorghum and millet productivity, production and consumption have been stagnant or declining for 20 years.

Challenge: How to increase the productivity and incomes of sorghum and millet farmers to improve food security and accelerate economic growth.

Solution: Better technology and linking producers to markets are important parts of the solution to the problem.

Objectives

Examine the effects of new production and marketing technology on sorghum and millet producers’ income and productivity in Tanzania and Zambia.

Identify better technologies, enhance market linkages between producers and buyers, improve quality and diversify utilization to ensure food security and increase farm income.

Conclusions: …

Eagle Lager: A Sorghum Success Story On Many Levels, Ian Mackintosh

INTSORMIL Presentations

In 1999 in Uganda we were faced with a static but highly competitive market.

Needed to grow our market and to do this we needed to make beer cheaper

It was felt that a suitable local ingredient would reduce the cost of manufacture and stimulate local agriculture and the economy as well as provide opportunities for growth and profit for the company.

An extensive base line study of the Ugandan agricultural sector was undertaken to determine what was “out there.”

It was clear that there was enormous potential but little else.

Sorghum seemed the logical starting point because there was …

Virtues Of Sorghum: Utilization And Supply Chain Management, Lloyd W. Rooney

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the consumer demands, value-added supply chain, strategy for value-added products, functionality of sorghums and millets, sorghum food use in Central America, plant breeding and improvement of grain quality, sorghum image, special sorghums as a particularly healthy food item, food utilization, improving sorghum quality, effect of molds, insects, and weathering on grain quality, and mycotoxins.

Reflections On The Sua-Intsormil Project (2005-2011), Sokoine University Of Agriculture, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus R. Ballegu

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the Sokoine University of Agriculture-INTSORMIL Project that ran from 2005 to 2011. Covers training, research strategy, and stakeholders, and includes recommendations for future projects.

Food Entrepreneurship Curricula, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus R. Ballegu, Jeremia Makindara

INTSORMIL Presentations

SUA Food Entrepreneurship Program Mission Statement: To educate and assist entrepreneurs in developing their sorghum based food manufacturing business. Covers ideas generation, market research, business development, regulations, food safety, brand development, sales and distribution, and with a focus on product development.

Developing Entrepreneurship, The Tanzania Experience: Sua-Intsormil Project, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus R. Ballegu

INTSORMIL Presentations

Project Title: Building a Sustainable Infrastructure for Product Development and Food Entrepreneur/Industry Technical Support: A Strategy to Promote Increased Use of Sorghum and Millet in East Africa.

Long Term Program Objectives: Development of successful entrepreneurial businesses that add-value to sorghum and millet such that:

~Farmers have an established outlet for cash sales of high-quality sorghum and millet

~Small businesses or cooperatives develop processing capabilities enabling the incorporation of sorghum and millet into a wide variety of food products

~Markets and market channels for sorghum and millet-based products develop.

Further develop research, extension and marketing expertise of National Agricultural Research Institutes …

Economic Analysis Of Small Scale Sorghum Processing In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Jeremia Makindara, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus Ballegu

INTSORMIL Presentations

Due to small scale food processing initiatives, several entrepreneurs dealing in small scale sorghum processing have emerged in Tanzania and especially in urban centers such as Dar es Salaam. The recent initiative that has contributed to this is the SUA-INTSORMIL Project that started in 2005. However, despite such initiatives being received by many entrepreneurs, very few economic studies have been conducted to assess the benefits obtained by sorghum processing entrepreneurs and the challenges they face are not well explained. This study therefore assessed costs and benefits obtained by small scale sorghum processing entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam and the challenges …

Sorghum Millet And Other Grains Crsp, Leader With Associates Cooperative Agreement No. Eep-A-00-06-00160: The New Program, John Yohe

INTSORMIL Presentations

INTSORMIL was created in 1979 by USAID and BIFAD as a long-term mechanism for agriculture development. It is meant to utilize capacity of U.S. land grant universities increase research capacity Increase food production. INTSORMIL was replaced in 2006 by the SMOG, Sorghum, Millet and Other Grains CRSP. The focus of these programs in Africa has been on sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, tef, and fonio. The programs have facilitated investigation of soil and water (environmental considerations), integrated pest management, nutrition and health, broadening market access, mitigating post-harvest constraints, enhancing productivity and livelihood in marginal areas, increasing income, improving food quality, …

Sorghum And Pearl Millet Seed Value Chains In Zambia: Opportunities And Challenges For Smallholder Farmers, Priscilla Hamukwala

INTSORMIL Presentations

Sorghum and pearl millet rank second and third, respectively, as important staple cereals after maize.

-There are new market developments in the beer industry requiring farmers to increase productivity and production

-These markets can significantly affect access to improved seed, and thus increase decisions on utilization

-Even though market developments indicate great potential for the two crops, their supply has remained erratic

-There was need therefore to identify the constraining factors to steady supply of sorghum & millet grain through conducting a seed value chain

-Little is known about the existing seed acquisition channels, extent of utilization, how they function …

Zamace: Zambia Agricultural Commodities Exchange, Brian Tembo

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses what ZAMACE is, the services it offers including commodities trading, ZAMACE and the smallholder farmer, partnerships, and challenges including dispute resolution.

Sorghum And Pearl Millet Improved Seed Value Chains In Zambia: Challenges And Opportunities For Smallholder Farmers, Priscilla Hamukwala, Gelson Tembo, Don Larson, Mark Erbaugh

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

Sorghum and millet are a very important source of food and farm income for smallholder farmers, which can be enhanced especially if linked to new markets. These two crops have been widely viewed as minor traditional crops in the Zambian food systems. The two crops were displaced by maize in the 1900s with the opening of the copper mines. However, they remain important food crops for semi-arid areas of the country. In recent years, there have also been new market developments requiring farmers to increase productivity and production. Unfortunately significant productivity enhancements are impeded by low access to improved technologies …

Grain Sorghum Opportunities For The Future, Stephen C. Mason

INTSORMIL Presentations

Contains statistics about sorghum growing in the United States and world wide, with a focus on Nebraska.

Grain sorghum is an important crop worldwide, but has become a minor crop in Nebraska

Largely replaced by maize and soybean as major commodity crops

Small investment in research in both private and public sectors

Yield has increased more slowly for grain sorghum than for other crops

Modern maize hybrids and soybean varieties have increased stress tolerance, thus reducing this advantage of grain sorghum

Management is easier for corn and soybean than for sorghum – particularly weed control

Grain sorghum has lower cost …

Harina De Sorgo Para Uso En La Industria De La Panificación, Laboratorio De Tecnología De Alimentos (San Andrés, El Salvador)

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

El sorgo o maicillo ha sido cultivado y utilizado en El Salvador por muchos años tanto para el consumo humano como animal. Existen variedades criollas y mejoradas que han sido utilizadas para la produccion de harina y la elaboración de alimentos, obteniendo muy buenos resultados. Con harina de sorgo se pueden elaborar muchos productos alimenticios, ya sea en combinación con harinas de otros cereales (harinas compuestas); o usando harina de sorgo pura, sin mezclas. La industria de la panificacion en El Salvador ya esta utilizando el sorgo para la elaboración de diversos productos tales como pan de dulce y pan …

Collaboration For Improved Soil And Water Management In Eastern And Southern Africa, Charles S. Wortmann

INTSORMIL Presentations

INTSORMIL Technical Focal Areas:

Enhancing productivity and livelihood in marginal areas

Soil and water management

Integrated pest management

Mitigating post-harvest losses

Nutrition and health

Food quality, processing and safety

Broadening market access

Increasing income

Breeding, biotechnology, and biodiversity

Following Tetraploidy In Maize, A Short Deletion Mechanism Removed Genes Preferentially From One Of The Two Homeologs, Margaret R. Woodhouse, James C. Schnable, Brent S. Pedersen, Eric Lyons, Damon Lisch, Shabarinath Subramaniam, Michael Freeling

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Previous work in Arabidopsis showed that after an ancient tetraploidy event, genes were preferentially removed from one of the two homeologs, a process known as fractionation. The mechanism of fractionation is unknown. We sought to determine whether such preferential, or biased, fractionation exists in maize and, if so, whether a specific mechanism could be implicated in this process. We studied the process of fractionation using two recently sequenced grass species: sorghum and maize. The maize lineage has experienced a tetraploidy since its divergence from sorghum approximately 12 million years ago, and fragments of many knocked-out genes retain enough sequence similarity …

A Comprehensive Index For Assessing Environmental Stress In Animals, Terry L. Mader, Leslie J. Johnson, John B. Gaghan Dr

Nebraska Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

Numerous models and indices exist that attempt to characterize the effect of environmental factors on the comfort of animals and humans. Heat and cold indices have been utilized to adjust ambient temperature (Ta) for the effects of relative humidity (RH) or wind speed (WS) or both for the purposes of obtaining a “feels-like” or apparent temperature. However, no model has been found that incorporates adjustments for RH, WS, and radiation (RAD) over conditions that encompass hot and cold environmental conditions. The objective of this study was to develop a comprehensive climate index (CCI) that has application under a wide range …

Good Agricultural Practices For Food Safety Of Fresh Produce, Laurie Hodges

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

What are the guiding principles of food safety for fresh produce?

• Once contaminated, removing or killing pathogens on produce is very difficult.

• Preventing microbial contamination at all steps, from production to distribution, is strongly favored over treatments to eliminate contamination that may have occurred.

• Document the implementation of prevention programs, and educate workers at all levels of the agricultural and packing environments on food safety.

Key Signatures of a Credible Food Safety Program

The following is a condensed checklist of practices and conditions that reduce the potential for fresh produce to be exposed to pathogenic microbes. Review …

What Contributions Are Invasive Plant Species Making To Ecosystem Services?, Stephen L. Young

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Invasive plant species can establish in diverse environments, and, with the increase in human mobility, they are no longer restricted to isolated pockets in remote parts of the world. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) in rangelands, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.) in wetlands, and tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) in riparian areas are examples of invasive plant species that are common to the United States and can be found in monocultures and patches covering many thousands of hectares. Across the world, invasive plant species like water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica), and mile-a-minute weed …

Proceedings Of The 37th Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (March 10-11, 2010, Pensacola Beach, Florida), Jason Bond, Boyd Padgett, Clayton A. Hollier, Alemu Mengistu, Cliff Coker, Stephen R. Koenning

Southern Soybean Disease Workers: Conference Proceedings

Contents

SSDW treasury report

Southern United States Soybean Disease Loss Estimates for 2009. Compiled by SR Koenning

Green Bean symposium (Jason Bond, moderator)

Factors Contributing to Green Plants at Maturity. DJ Boquet, RL Leonard, GB Padgett, RW Schneider, J Griffin, J Davis, and R Vaverde

The Green Stem Disorder Enigma in Illinois. C Hill and G. Hartman

The Influence of Fungicides, Herbicides, and Their Interactions on Green Bean Syndrome. GB Padgett, DJ Boquet, RW Schneider, and MA Purvis

Association of Stink Bug Injury with A "Green Plant" Malady in Soybean. JH Temple, BR Leonard, J Davis, P Price, and J …

Narrated History Of Wcrec, Cathy Fox

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte--History & Publications

No abstract provided.

Rna Interference As A Method For Target-Site Screening In The Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Analiza P. Alves, Marce D. Lorenzen, Richard W. Beeman, John E. Foster, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

To test the efficacy of RNA interference (RNAi) as a method for target-site screening in Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) larvae, genes were identified and tested for which clear RNAi phenotypes had been identified in the Coleopteran model, Tribolium castaneum. Here the cloning of the D. v. vergifera orthologs of laccase 2 (DvvLac2) and chitin synthase 2 (DvvCHS2) is reported. Injection of DvvLac2-specific doublestranded RNA resulted in prevention of post-molt cuticular tanning, while injection of DvvCHS2- specific dsRNA reduced chitin levels in midguts. Silencing of both DvvLac2 and DvvCHS2 was confirmed by RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR. As in T. …

2009-2010 Annual Report

Lancaster County, Nebraska Extension: Reports

Extension Strengthens Nebraska by Extending the University's Research-Based Resources
Know how. Know now.
Benefits of Land-Grant Universities
UNL Extension Utilizes Multiple Delivery Methods to Impact People
http://lancaster.unl.edu is Your 24/7 Local Extension Connection
Lancaster Extension Education Center Conference Facilities
Honors, Awards and Accomplishments
4-H Youth Develop Positive Skills for Life
AmericCorps Member Part of Go-Green Initiative
Nutrition & Food Safety
Yard & Garden
Farms & Acreages
Plant and Pest Diagnostic Services
Pests & Wildlife
Home & Family Living
Family & Community Education (FCE) Clubs

Efficacies Of Habitat Management Techniques In Managing Maize Stem Borers In Ethiopia, Difabachew K. Belay, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Habitat management techniques to control maize stem borers were tested in eastern (Melkassa and Mieso) and western (Sibu-Sire) Ethiopia. These techniques consisted of using mixed cropping of maize with haricot beans at different maize:bean ratios and a ‘‘push–pull’’ (PP) strategy utilizing Napier grass as a trap plant around maize plots as the ‘‘pull’’ and Desmodium in between maize rows as a deterrent or ‘‘push’’. In Melkassa, pest infestations were too low for the cropping system to significantly affect pests, plant damage and yields while in Mieso, where the pest densities were high, intercropping of maize with beans at ratios of …

Rna Interference As A Method For Target-Site Screening In The Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Analiza P. Alves, Marce D. Lorenzen, Richard W. Beeman, John E. Foster, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

To test the efficacy of RNA interference (RNAi) as a method for target-site screening in Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) larvae, genes were identified and tested for which clear RNAi phenotypes had been identified in the Coleopteran model, Tribolium castaneum. Here the cloning of the D. v. vergifera orthologs of laccase 2 (DvvLac2) and chitin synthase 2 (DvvCHS2) is reported. Injection of DvvLac2-specific doublestranded RNA resulted in prevention of post-molt cuticular tanning, while injection of DvvCHS2- specific dsRNA reduced chitin levels in midguts. Silencing of both DvvLac2 and DvvCHS2 was confirmed by RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR. As in T. …

Effects Of Maternal Nutrition On Conceptus Growth And Offspring Performance: Implications For Beef Cattle Production, Richard N. Funston, David M. Larson, K. A. Vonnahme

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Developmental programming is the concept that a maternal stimulus or insult at a critical period in fetal development has long-term effects on the offspring. Historically, considerable effort has been made to understand how nutrition influences health and productivity during the postnatal period. Whereas maternal nutrition during pregnancy plays an essential role in proper fetal and placental development, less is known about how maternal nutrition affects the health and productivity of the offspring. Conceptus growth is sensitive to direct and indirect effects of maternal dietary intake. Even from the earliest stages of embryonic life, when nutrient requirements for conceptus growth are …

Tillage And Crop Residue Affect Irrigation Requirements, Simon Van Donk

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Practicing less tillage and retaining more crop residue on the soil surface can reduce the rate of evaporation of water from the soil. These practices also increase the amount of soil water by increasing the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil and decreasing the amount that runs off across the soil surface. Less tillage and more residue coverage can significantly reduce the amount of irrigation water needed to grow a crop.

Effect Of Crop Residue On Soil Water Content And Yield Of Deficit-Irrigated Corn And Soybean, Simon Van Donk, Steven R. Melvin, Jim Peterson, Don Davison

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

It is believed that reduced tillage, with more crop residue on the soil surface, conserves water, especially in arid and semi-arid climates. However, the magnitude of water conservation is not clear. In 2007, a study was initiated on the effect of residue on soil water content and crop yield at North Platte, Nebraska. The experiment was conducted on plots planted to field corn (Zea mays L.) in 2007 and 2008, and soybean (Glycine max) in 2009. There were two treatments: residue-covered soil and bare soil. Bare-soil plots were created in April 2007 by using a dethatcher …

Price Discovery In Nebraska Cattle Markets, Matt Stockton, David A. Bessler, Roger K. Wilson

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Monthly observations on prices from 10 weight/gender classifications of Nebraska beef cattle are studied in an error correction model (ECM) framework. This study attempts a replication of the 2003 paper on Texas prices by Bessler and Davis, where they find medium heifers (600–700 lb) at the center of price discovery. Using the ECM results Nebraska light steers are found to be weakly exogenous, with the innovation accounting results showing marked differences. Industry structure, production choices, and animal type and breeding herd differences between Texas and Nebraska are proposed as plausible reasons for partial (or incomplete) success at replication.

Resource Management Plan: Calamus Reservoir, Nebraska Great Plains Region, Bureau Of Reclamation

United States Bureau of Land Management: Staff Publications

The Calamus Reservoir Resource Management Plan (RMP) serves as a guidance document for land and resource management at the Calamus Reservoir and Kent Diversion Dam project areas. Calamus Reservoir and Kent Diversion Dam are components of the features and facilities constructed as part of the North Loup Division. This RMP has been developed cooperatively between the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (Commission). The Commission manages both Calamus Reservoir and Kent Diversion Dam for Reclamation under a long term lease agreement.

The RMP provides information regarding project characteristics, land and water use, cultural resources, endangered …

Genomic And Transcriptomic Studies In Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis, J. P. Bannantine, Adel M. Talaat

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Microarray technology is an important tool in functional genomic research. It has enabled a deeper analysis of genomic diversity among bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). In addition, the expression of thousands of genes can be studied simultaneously in a single experiment. With the complete genome sequence of a bovine isolate of M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis, and the independent construction of DNA microarrays in our laboratories, transcriptomic studies for this veterinary pathogen are now possible. Furthermore, the bovine genome sequence project is completed and bovine arrays have been developed to examine host responses to infection with M. avium …