The queen bee is the sole reproductive female in the honey bee colony. That’s why the queen is very important to the colony due to her main task of laying eggs. If the queen's ability to lay eggs is disturbed, a new queen is needed for the colony. This technology...

The honeybee suffers from diseases. In many parts of the world, research is underway for means of combating or preventing them. However the African bee industry is in its infant stage and not much research has been carried out on bee diseases in Africa. It is believed that some of...

Most fish farmers believe that a fish is a wild animal. They think that once put in pond water, it will survive naturally without adding any food supplement. This has resulted in pond fish taking a long period to reach a reasonable size. Most farmers add manure like cow dung and...

The practice of using bees to pollinate fruit crops is as new as the beekeeping industry in most parts of tropical Africa, although the practice has started in a few places in northern and southern Africa. This technology describes how farmers could utilize bees for pollination for their advantages via...

Root starch production is a long-established industry that has seen little development in recent years. In developing countries it has been estimated that five million tonnes of starch are produced annually in developing countries, half of which is produced from cassava representing a major market for small-scale root crop growers....

The preservation of fruit and vegetables by simple sun drying is practiced widely throughout arid and semi-arid areas, for example in Uganda. The use of low cost, solar-drying technologies can significantly improve product quality. This provides practical opportunities for developing small-scale enterprises, particularly in rural areas, and creating employment for...

Fish is important for good nutrition and fishery activities generate income and employment. However, industrial and intensive fishing and also wrong fishing methods deplete fish stocks. In Uganda, the major fishing activities are on Lake Victoria, one of the African great lakes and the second largest in the world. These...

Highest grades of cassava starch are processed from freshly extracted starch. In many cassava processing factories, extracted starch is stored in tanks under wet conditions during the peak harvesting period (two to five months). Long-term storage of cassava starch under wet conditions results in adverse quality changes which reduce the...

Mukene, also called Dagaa or Omena, is found in Lakes Victoria, Kyoga and Nabugabo and in the Victoria Nile. It is among the three most important commercial fish species in Lakes Victoria and Kyoga. The mukene fish is fished by light attraction. Compared to gillnetting, light fishing is relatively new...

Globally an estimated 20 to 60 million hectares of land in developing countries are acquired by foreign companies and investors. This so-called “land grabbing” has taken place for various reasons. The most obvious one is the hunger for maximising profit. The devastating effects on deforestation for the expansion of biofuels,...

The following information from The Serere Agricultural and Animal Research Institute (SAARI), provides information on different groundnuts varieties, management and post harvest in Uganda.

Mechanical transmission by tabanid flies, especially Tabanus occidentalis is likely to be the principal method of trypanosomes transmission in Bolivia. Specifically control regimes based on fly avoidance strategies, could result in a significant reduction of tabanid flies’ direct effects and eventually decreasing transmission risk.

This technology discusses different methods for honey and bee wax extraction. Traditional methods are critically reviewed and contrasted with other easily applicable methods such as hot bath method and Ocloo’s method. This technology is part of a series on hive management derived from the FAO publication ‘Beekeeping in Africa’.

Rinderpest is a serious contagious disease of cattle, Asian buffalo, yak and many other herbivores both domesticated and wild, including swine, African buffalo, giraffe and lesser kudu. Rinderpest is caused by a virus which is related closely to that of human measles, canine distemper, pests de petits ruminants (PRP) and...

In this technology both the timing, the scope of the harvest, which can be expected, the dangers as well as the procedures for honey harvesting are discussed. It gives details on how to harvest honey during night and daylight. This technology is part of a series on hive management derived...

Tsetse flies (Glossina species) infest over 11 million square km of Africa and are vectors of Trypanosomosis (or Trypanosomiasis) in both humans and domestic livestock. It is estimated that tsetse occurs in over seven percent of Zimbabwe and 60 percent of United Republic of Tanzania territories. Hence Trypanosomosis has an important negative...

The Cajuns Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (KARDC) is the government research centre that is carrying out research on solving problems associated with fish growing in ponds. The KARDC has prepared this technology to address the concerns of four common predators of fish growing on ponds. The production of this...

All different varieties - with fruits of varying colour, shape and crispiness – lined the pathways of her tiny backyard garden in western Flanders. Over the span of her life, she had steadily collected them by exchanging cuttings with friends, neighbours and other amateur horticulturists. Having nursed them into full-grown...

A beekeeper with a colonized hive must remember that the success in keeping bees depends on the colony management. This technology describes important colony management processes including keeping colony record, brood nest control, and robbing and its prevention. This technology is part of a series on hive management derived from...

This technology provides information and advice on egg production and sale in developing countries with an emphasis on marketing, i.e. producing in order to meet market demands. Market-led egg production enables long-term business survival, higher profits and improves the egg producers’ living standards. Improvement measures discussed in this publication have...