Abstract: The study was undertaken in selected districts of East Hararghe Zone of Oromia Region, with objectives to assess and describe wheat production and marketing systems in the area. As sampling procedures, three stage sampling procedures were employed to select a total of 253 sample farmers. Primary data were collected from sampled households through a household survey, and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. On average about 0.48 hectares of land was allocated to wheat, and the average productivity of wheat was 20.87 quintals per hectare in the study area. The survey result also indicated that about 63.7%) of the farmers have used improved wheat seeds. Moreover, the survey result indicated that six major wheat-marketing channels were identified to deliver the product from producer to consumers in the study area. Diseases, shortage of improved seeds, timely unavailability of inputs, and lack of access to pesticides were found as the main constraints in the area. To address these constraints and to enhance wheat production and productivity in the area, recently released improved wheat varieties (rust resistant, adaptation and good yield potential) should be introduced and delivered to farmers to ensure increased wheat productivity, and research centers and Universities has been striving toward releasing improved wheat varieties. The extension system, Research centers and other stakeholders need to place a greater emphasis on improving availability of improved seeds, and dissemination of knowledge that will help the farmers in the access and use of inputs. The government gives emphasises to improving access to tractors and combine harvesters, and promotion of wheat row planters and small scale wheat threshers in the area.Abstract: The study was undertaken in selected districts of East Hararghe Zone of Oromia Region, with objectives to assess and describe wheat production and marketing systems in the area. As sampling procedures, three stage sampling procedures were employed to select a total of 253 sample farmers. Primary data were collected from sampled households through a...Show More
Abstract: This study was carried out to evaluate a newly developed local geoid model for the Khartoum State. Firstly, the geoid heights were obtained from the differences between observed WGS84 ellipsoidal heights and Khartoum State known orthometric heights. Secondly, the global well known EGM2008 geoid model was used to extract the geoid heights at 48 ground control stations, followed by generation of a geoid surface corrector. Thirdly, the geoid heights were also obtained by using an interpolation method. The three methods used for geoid determination were compared and evaluated. The geoid models’ uncertainties were evaluated at 6 test ground control points. The average difference between the derived geoid heights obtained from the geometrical geoid model, and their corresponding EGM2008 geoid heights was determined with a bias of about -0.28m. EGM2008 geoid model values in the area were corrected by the local bias value of 28 cm. The same known ground control points were used for the implementation of the interpolation geoid model. The differences between the geometrical geoid heights obtained from the differences between WGS84 ellipsoidal heights and orthometric heights at the given ground control points were compared with the geoid height values obtained from the improved local EGM2008 geoid and the interpolation method, the differences were found to be in the range of 4 cm and 5 cm respectively. This study showed that, the geoid heights in Khartoum State can be determined with the above two methods, namely the improved EGM2008 and the interpolation method with typical accuracy of better than 5cm.Abstract: This study was carried out to evaluate a newly developed local geoid model for the Khartoum State. Firstly, the geoid heights were obtained from the differences between observed WGS84 ellipsoidal heights and Khartoum State known orthometric heights. Secondly, the global well known EGM2008 geoid model was used to extract the geoid heights at 48 grou...Show More