Browsing by Author "Kabeere, F."

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    A study on the management and quality of farmers’ home-saved bean seeds in Lira and Masindi Districts
    (Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2003-01-01) Kabeere, F.; Mutyaba,, C.J.; Agona,J.A.; Komurembe, M.; Muyinza, H.
    A baseline study was conducted in Lira and Masindi districts to determine farmers’ practices of harvesting, processing, storage and protection of home-saved bean seeds. Two parishes from two counties in each district were selected as sampling sites. Farmers’ seed source; seed preparation and planting practices; bean harvest and harvesting techniques; primary processing, storage and seed protection methods were investigated. Representative seed samples were obtained from farmers in March and in August 1999, the months preceding the first and second planting seasons, for quality analysis in the laboratory. The blotter method was used to determine seed health status. The results showed the predominant reliance on home- saved seeds as source of planting materials by farmers. Seeds were salvaged from grains, only at the time of planting. The quality of farmers’ home-saved seeds was poor and this was compensated for during planting by high seeding rate. The main constraint to bean storage were bruchids and they adversely affected the germination capacity of seeds. Improved grain processing, storage and protection technologies that are “seed friendly” have been recommended for application on home-saved seeds.
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    Blackwell Publishing Ltd Ethnopathology: local knowledge of plant health problems in Bangladesh, Uganda and Bolivia
    (Plant Pathology, 2009) Bentley, J. W.; Boa, E. R.; Kelly, P.; Harun-Ar-Rashid, M.; Rahman, A. K. M.; Kabeere, F.; Herbas, J.
    All peoples have names for and knowledge of plants, animals and other things in the real world. An ethnopathology (or, more strictly, ‘ethnophytopathology’) – study in Bangladesh, Uganda and Bolivia revealed that smallholder farmers label plant health problems with meaningful names. A local name for a plant health problem typically has two kinds of meaning. The first is a literal translation of the name, often a kind of shorthand description of the symptom. The second and most important kind of meaning is the denotative meaning (the thing in the real world which the name actually refers to). Local words for plant health problems often label the symptom rather than the actual disease. This is logical, since smallholders cannot observe microscopic causal organisms. Local concepts for plant health problems do not necessarily classify the natural world in exactly the same way that scientists do, yet local terms for plant health problems are still meaningful. It is not clear if folk classifications of plant health problems are phylogenetic classifications (e.g. ‘mammals’ vs. ‘fish’) or ecological (e.g. ‘seafood’ vs. ‘meat and poultry’). Cross-culturally, local knowledge recognizes that plants are alive, and that they may be ill or healthy, perhaps in analogy with human health.