Browsing by Author "Ngimba, Christopher"

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    Suppressive abilities of legume fodder plants against the invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae)
    (ELSEVIER, 2021) Ojija, Fredrick; Ngimba, Christopher
    The alien invasive plant Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) has been reported to impend smallholder farmers’ livelihood, and biodiversity conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. While earlier studies reported that the invasion may be supressed if plant density in invaded habitats is sufficiently maintained, only a few quantitative experi ments on competition between legume (Fabaceae) fodder plants and invasive plant species have been conducted. We determined whether three selected test legume fodder species, Desmodium intortum (greenleaf desmodium), Lablab purpureus (hyacinth bean) and Medicago sativa (lucerne), can suppress P. hysterophorus growth. These le gumes were selected because they have been used to suppress various weeds in sub-Saharan Africa owing to their rapid growth, strong root systems, bigger leaf canopy, high biomass production and capacity to form many branches. Also, they are used by livestock as forage when other fodders are dry and become limited. The legume fodder plant species and P. hysterophorus were grown as mono- and mixed cultures in pot experiments. Fifty-day old P. hysterophorus seedlings were harvested to determine any suppressive abilities of the legume species against the invasive. We found that the growth of P. hysterophorus was negatively impacted when grown with two or three test legume species compared with monoculture. Respectively, stem height, total fresh biomass and leaf chlo rophyll content of P. hysterophorus seedling were reduced by >60%, >59%, and >70% when grown in combi nation with all three legume fodder species compared with sole cropping or in mixture with just D. intortum or M. sativa. The results suggest that the selected legume fodder plants have the ability to suppress growth of P. hysterophorus. Further, this study demonstrates the potential importance of using legume fodder plant species in the management of alien invasive plants
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    What Accounts for Graduates Intentions of Being Self Employed? An Evidence of Mbeya University of Science and Technology and Teofilo Kisanji University, Tanzania.
    (IJMT, 2024-07) Mwidege, Asheri M.; Ngimba, Christopher
    It has been recognized that the route for young graduates from tertiary universities to the labor market is far from straightforward. However, little is known on what accounts for graduates intentions of self employment. This study therefore, assessed factors that account for graduates intentions to self employment along their specializations. This study employed quasi experimental approach and stratified purpose sampling plan to select finalist students from both Mbeya University of Science and Technology and Teofilo Kisanji University. Closed ended questionnaires were used to collect cross sectional data in which 388 students were interviewed. Descriptive statistics and non parametric approaches were methods for data analysis. Survey findings showed that there were an increase of interviewed respondents to become self employed from 29.4% to 39.7% before and after university studies. Also, there were an increase of respondents from 18.3% to 47.7% and 9.3% to 36.9% in business and technician activities accordingly before and after graduation. It is therefore concluded that specialization accounts for 32.7% and 100% to self employment and activities of graduates’ intentions, respectively. Thus, it is recommended that universities should associate specializations with self employment.