Food security in the East African Highlands is dependent upon the productivity of lands managed by smallholders who face difficult challenges in maintaining the fertility of their soils. A study was conducted to identify indicators of soil fertility status that are consistent with farmers’ perceptions of soil fertility. Physical, chemical and biological properties of soils were measured from pa...

The estimated relationship between the number of children and female labour supply is often negative; however, it is not clear whether this arises because of a causal effect of children on labour supply, or whether it is the result of heterogeneous preferences (women who have a preference for home-based activities have more children and a lower preference for market work). The fact that parents...

Termites can play a localized prominent role in soil nutrient availability and cycling because mound materials are often enriched nutrients relative to surrounding soil. Mound may thus prove be useful amendments, though evidently spatial arrangement needs considered as well. Furthermore, it is not known if gradients of properties exist from termite interspace sites. Studying both aspects would ...

In decision making, crisp ranking is not possible when the entire attribute characteristics and their degree of importance are known precisely. In real world situations decision making takes place in an environment where the goals, the constraints, and the consequences of possible actions are not known precisely. Thus the best condition for classic decision making problem may not be satisfied w...

Soil fertility is a comprehensive reflection of soil properties, and its variation has been a central issue in the field of soil science. Most of current research on Variation of the soil fertility are most for a single time and place, and using expertise, simple mathematical model approach that can not effectively simulate the temporal and spatial variation of soil nutrients law. Therefore, th...

The origins of agriculture involved pathways of domestication in which human behaviours and plant genetic adaptations were entangled. These changes resulted in consequences that were unintended at the start of the process. This paper highlights some of the key innovations in human behaviours, such as soil preparation, harvesting and threshing, and how these were coupled with genetic ‘innovation...