Browsing by Author "Sempiira, E. J."

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    Assessing Energy Sources for Powering “Evakuula”
    (African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 2022) Sempiira, E. J.; Ononye, C.; Robinson, J.; Aralu, A.; Mugisa, D. J.; Katimbo, A.; Galiwango, J.; Gomillion, C.; Kisaalita, W. S.
    Technologies that are appropriate, affordable, and sustainable are needed to increase incomes and resilience among sub-Saharan African smallholder farmers. A combination of thermization and low-cost evaporative cooling, termed Evakuuling, was developed to enable rural smallholder dairy farmers to preserve their evening milk in the absence of grid-electricity. The “EvaKuula” was configured to be powered by biogas. Biogas is used for the thermization process of the system. The evaporative cooling component is powered by wind. Use of biogas from domestic biogas plants add circularity value to smallholder farms. However, domestic biogas plant set-ups are relatively high capital investments and as such, a financial barrier to co-adoption with the EvaKuula. To lower this barrier, other energy sources have been considered. The purpose of this study was to assess alternative energy sources to power the thermization component of the EvaKuula. The list of energy sources considered included biogas, butane, kerosene, charcoal, and firewood. These energy sources were assessed with respect to the sum of the social and market costs. The product of a unit of fuel cost and the units consumed represented the “market cost.” The product of the long-term social carbon cost and total carbon dioxide emission equivalence represented the “social cost.” Regular and improved stoves were included in the charcoal and firewood analysis. As expected, biogas ranked on top of the list, followed by butane and kerosene. However, butane and kerosene are not easily accessible in rural setting. Approximated 76% of farmers in rural sub-Saharan Africa rely on firewood to meet domestic needs like cooking. Butane and kerosene are the fuel sources predominantly used in urban and peri-urban areas, due to accessibility and affordability. Incomes are typically higher among urban dwellers. Therefore, with butane and kerosene not readily available to the target EvaKuula users, the next best option was firewood, provided it is combusted in improved efficient stoves such as Lorena type.
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    Quality assessment of butter produced using traditional and mechanized churning methods
    (African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 2017) Wasswa, J .; Sempiira, E. J.; Mugisa, D. J.; Muyanja, C; Kisaalita, William S.
    Traditional butter/ghee-making, predominantly done by women, is labor-intensive. To reduce this labor and/or increase incomes among these women, a hand-operated churner was previously developed with the capacity to reduce labor eight-fold. The present study was carried out to compare the quality of butter/ghee made using traditional churning in locally harvested plant containers (gourds and calabashes) and mechanized churning in the new device. As opposed to shaking the whole vessel, churning in the new device is achieved through a hand-operated crank connected to mixing baffles. Butter samples were aseptically collected from four locations (Kiboga1, Kiboga2, Kotido, and Ngoma) along the cattle corridor of Uganda. A “control” butter sample was made under laboratory conditions following standard procedure. The five samples were analyzed with respect to microbial safety, type and concentration of free fatty acids, and sensory attributes. Total viable count (TVC), Total coliforms (TC), Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, yeasts and molds counts were determined using International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. Fatty acid profile was determined by gas chromatography. Sensory evaluation of aroma, smell, taste, mouth feel, and overall acceptability of the products were also conducted. In the sensory evaluation, two commercially marketed ghee products (Sameer, and Lubega brands) were added. Total viable counts in all the samples were in the range of 102-107 cfu/g. Total coliforms were detected in Kiboga samples in the 101-103cfu/g range while none were detected from other regions’ samples. Yeasts and molds were detected in the 102-105 cfu/g range. Staphylococcus aureus was detected only in butter samples from Kiboga region (102 cfu/g) while Salmonella was not detected in any of the samples. The fatty acid profile consisted of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, omega 3 fatty acids, omega 6 fatty acids, and omega 9 fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids were most dominant in the butter and ghee samples ranging from 70-82% whereas trans-fatty acids were present in the least concentration. From the overall acceptability dimension, the butter/ghee made using traditional churning and the new device scored the highest. However, Student’s t-test analysis showed no significant difference in the organoleptic parameters analyzed in all the samples (p>0.05). Therefore, the butter/ghee produced using mechanized churning is as acceptable and as microbiologically safe as butter/ghee produced using traditional churning and two representative marketed products.