Browsing by Author "Moto, E."

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    Potential, challenges and prospects of rabbit farming in urban and peri-urban areas of Dodoma city, Tanzania
    (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 2024) Moto, E.
    This study highlights the current status of rabbit production, potential challenges facing the industry and the prospects for rabbit farming in Dodoma city, Tanzania. Data from 60 individuals keeping rabbits were collected through a structured questionnaire and direct observation. Results showed that 60% of the respondents were men and 40% women. Rabbits were kept mainly as a source of meat for families and income generation. Main sources of rabbit stock were local breeders (55%) and missionaries (25%), while the remainder were from agricultural institutes. The dominant rabbit breeds reared were California white (50%), New Zealand white (30%), Chinchilla (10%) and Dutch (10%). Ninety-five percent of the farmers kept rabbits in cages, while 5% confined them at night and let them out during the day to forage for feed. Fifteen percent of the respondents fed commercial rabbit pellets, 5% vegetables and kitchen waste only, whereas 80% fed both rabbit pellets, vegetables and kitchen waste. The number of rabbits kept by an individual farmer ranged from 5 to 180, with mean stock size of 22.80±11.20 (mean±standard deviation). Rabbits were sold at 8 to 12 wk of age and each rabbit was sold for 20 000 to 30 000 Tanzanian shillings (8.00 – 12.00 USD). Major challenges in rabbit production were lack of feed resources, lack of readily available market, poor quality of breeding stock, low knowledge of rabbit production techniques and lack of technical support from extension services. Although rabbit farming in Dodoma is carried out at subsistence level, it is associated with a decrease in poverty among urban and peri-urban farmers. In conclusion, rabbit production in urban and peri-urban areas of Tanzania has the potential to contribute to food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation, thus improving living standards.
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    A review on the occurrences of persistent organic pollutants in corals, sediments, fish and waters of the Western Indian Ocean
    (Elsevier, 2021) Miraji, H.; Ripanda, A.; Moto, E.
    Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) present a class of synthetic chemicals that include organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins. They are characterized by environmental persistence, transboundary mobility, lipophilicity, and bioaccumulation that may induce fatality especially to top ranked biota due to biomagnification. The oceanic ecosystems are essential pools through which POPs accumulate. Despite the abundance and biotic effects caused by POPs, data on their occurrences as well as the fate of persistent organic pollutants in corals, sediments, fish and waters of the Western Indian Ocean are still scarce. The present review evaluates the status quo, equilibrium distribution of POPs among oceanic ecosystems, and future perspectives of POPs in the Western Indian Ocean. It was observed that some POPs such as DDT and PCBs reported across Africa were more of transformation products than fresh entities. Coastal corals and ocean waters were more contaminated than offshore areas as an indication of terrestrial anthropogenic-based pollution. The Indian Ocean ecosystem, especially fishes, had POPs residuals, whereby DDT and its metabolites were identified as the most frequently occurring POPs. This puts all the interacting ecosystems at high risk through biomagnification. Thus, the reduction of terrestrial contamination and monitoring the trends of POPs in oceanic compartments are necessary for the sustainability of the marine ecosystem.