Chinhoyi University of Technology

Gut bacteria occupy the interface between the organism and the external environment, contributing to homeostasis and disease. Yet, the causal role of the gut microbiota during host aging is largely unexplored. Here, using the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), a naturally short-lived vertebrate, we show that the gut microbiota plays a key role in modulating vertebrate life span. Recolonizing the gut of middle-age individuals with bacteria from young donors resulted in life span extension and delayed behavioral decline. This intervention prevented the decrease in microbial diversity associated with host aging and maintained a young-like gut bacterial community, characterized by overrepresentation of the key genera Exiguobacterium, Planococcus, Propionigenium and Psychrobacter. Our findings demonstrate that the natural microbial gut community of young individuals can causally induce long-lasting beneficial systemic effects that lead to life span extension in a vertebrate model.

This paper is a review article on the impacts of technology adoption on agricultural productivity in smallholder agriculture in the sub-Saharan African region. The use of agricultural technologies determines how the increase in agricultural output impacts on poverty levels and environmental degradation. Experience and evidence from countries within and around the sub-Saharan African region indicate that returns to agricultural technology development could be very high and far reaching. The factors affecting technology adoption are assets, income, institutions, vulnerability, awareness, labour, and innovativeness by smallholder farmers. Technologies that require few assets, have a lower risk premium, and are less expensive have a higher chance of being adopted by smallholder farmers. There are certain traditional smallholder agricultural technologies in sub-Saharan Africa that also have their own merits. Some of these technologies are more efficient in their use of scarce production resources than modern technologies. Modern researchers should therefore seek to understand the rationale behind traditional smallholder farmer behaviour in technology use. This will make their future technological interventions in smallholder agriculture more effective.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of consumers’ intention to adopt mobile banking services in Zimbabwe. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 232 bank customers was conducted in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, using a structured questionnaire with Likert-type questions. Customers were randomly intercepted as they walked out of five major banks. Structural equation modelling, independent-samples t -test and one-way ANOVA were used to test research hypotheses. Findings The study found that perceived usefulness, perceived self-efficacy, social influence, relative advantage and perceived compatibility all have a positive effect, whilst perceived risk has a negative effect on behavioural intention to adopt mobile banking services in Zimbabwe. Perceived ease of use, facilitating conditions, perceived complexity, perceived trialability, awareness-knowledge and demographic factors (gender, age, education and income) did not significantly influence behavioural intention to adopt mobile banking. Perceived ease of use was found to positively influence perceived usefulness, while perceived self-efficacy was found to have a positive effect on perceived ease of use. Behavioural intention was found to positively influence usage of mobile banking services in Zimbabwe. Research limitations/implications Data were collected from bank customers in Chinhoyi, one of the emerging towns in Zimbabwe. Future research should be expanded to include other major cities in Zimbabwe and other countries. More similar studies should be conducted to test the factors identified in literature in different contexts and markets and on other innovations. Practical implications The study advises banks to pay particular attention to perceived usefulness, perceived self-efficacy, social influence, relative advantage, perceived compatibility and perceived risk when designing new mobile banking services. Originality/value There is not a unified position regarding factors influencing mobile banking adoption. Factors vary with contexts, markets, time and types of innovations. The study tested some major factors identified in literature in the context of Zimbabwe.

Biogas produced during anaerobic digestion (AD) of biodegradable organic materials. AD is a series of biochemical reactions in which microorganisms degrade organic matter under anaerobic conditions. There are many biomass resources that can be degraded by AD to produce biogas. Biogas consists of methane, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. The gamut of feedstocks used in AD includes animal manure, municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, and various crops. Several factors affect the potential of feedstocks for biomethane production. The factors include nutrient content, total and volatile solids (VS) content, chemical and biological oxygen demand, carbon/nitrogen ratio, and presence of inhibitory substances. The biochemical methane potential (BMP), often defined as the maximum volume of methane produced per g of VS substrate provides an indication of the biodegradability of a substrate and its potential to produce methane via AD. The BMP test is a method of establishing a baseline for performance of AD. BMP data are useful for designing AD parameters in order to optimise methane production. Several methods which include experimental and theoretical methods can be used to determine BMP. The objective of this paper is to review several methods with a special focus on their advantages and disadvantages. The review shows that experimental methods, mainly the BMP test are widely used. The BMP test is credited for its reliability and validity. There are variants of BMP assays as well. Theoretical models are alternative methods to estimate BMP. They are credited for being fast and easy to use. Spectroscopy has emerged as a new experimental tool to determine BMP. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages with reference to efficacy, time, and ease of use. Choosing a method to use depends on various exigencies. More work needs to be continuously done in order to improve the various methods used to determine BMP.

Purpose There is a dearth of studies that have investigated mediators of the effect of service quality on customer loyalty under the conditions prevailing in Zimbabwe; where bank customers’ confidence in the banking system has been dented by bank failures. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediators of the effect of service quality on loyalty among bank customers in Zimbabwe. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey of 310 bank customers was conducted in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. A questionnaire with Likert type questions was used to collect data. Customers were randomly intercepted as they walked out of five major banks. Structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed relationships. Findings The study found that service quality, satisfaction and corporate image all have positive direct effects on loyalty. It was also found that satisfaction and corporate image all mediate the effect of service quality on loyalty. Research limitations/implications The study was conducted in Chinhoyi, one of the emerging towns in Zimbabwe. There is a need to conduct more similar studies in other parts of the world in future in order to have a better understanding of this subject. Practical implications Banks are advised to address issues to do with service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image when designing marketing programmes intended to increase customer loyalty. Originality/value Studies that have investigated mediators of the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in banking environments such as in Zimbabwe are scarce. This study was conducted to address this knowledge gap. Relationships among customer loyalty and its antecedents are not likely to change due to conditions prevailing in a particular banking environment.

Results from an 25 regional climate model simulations from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment Africa initiative are used to assess the projected changes in temperature and precipitation over southern Africa at two global warming levels (GWLs), namely 1.5 C and 2.0 C, relative to pre-industrial values, under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5. The results show a robust increase in temperature compared to the control period ranging from 0.5 C-1.5 C for the 1.5 C GWL and from 1.5 C-2.5 C, for the 2.0 C GWL. Areas in the south-western region of the subcontinent, covering South Africa and parts of Namibia and Botswana are projected to experience the largest increase in temperature, which are greater than the global mean warming, particularly during the September-October-November season. On the other hand, under 1.5 C GWL, models exhibit a robust reduction in precipitation of up to 0.4 mm day -1 (roughly 20% of the climatological values) over the Limpopo Basin and smaller areas of the Zambezi Basin in Zambia, and also parts of Western Cape, South Africa. Models project precipitation increase of up to 0.1 mm day -1 over central and western South Africa and in southern Namibia. Under 2.0 C GWL, a larger fraction of land is projected to face robust decreases between 0.2 and 0.4 mm day -1 (around 10%-20% of the climatological values) over most of the central subcontinent and parts of western South Africa and northern Mozambique. Decreases in precipitation are accompanied by increases in the number of consecutive dry days and decreases in consecutive wet days over the region. The importance of achieving the Paris Agreement is imperative for southern Africa as the projected changes under both the 1.5 C, and more so, 2.0 C GWL imply significant potential risks to agricultural and economic productivity, human and ecological systems health and water resources with implied increase in regional water stresses.

We determined fall armyworm abundance, infestation and damage on maize in smallholder farmers’ fields in the Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. Data were collected through field measurements at four sites and interviews with 101 farmers. Fall armyworm abundance ranged from 13.7 to 33.3 larvae per 30 plants, with infestation exceeding 94% and leaf, silk and tassel damage levels ranging between 25 and 50%. Most larvae on maize plants (P < 0.05) were at instar stages 2 to 3. Estimated grain yield decrease was 58%. Echinochloa colona and Amaranthus spp. were also damaged by fall armyworm. Farmers experimented with 28 combinations of pesticides, ash, and washing powders. Sixty five percent of the farmers used restricted to highly restricted pesticides. High fall armyworm abundance, infestation and maize damage levels suggest that the Zambezi Valley could become a fall armyworm hotspot. Sequential damage of plant parts signified the persistence of this pest in the study area. We recommend large-scale interventions that include chemical and biological control methods as well as destroying ratoon hosts, publishing information about locally available pesticides for the control of fall armyworm, and farmer training on fall armyworm biology and correct use of pesticides.

Abstract Overexploitation is one of the main pressures driving wildlife closer to extinction, yet broad‐scale data to evaluate species’ declines are limited. Using African pangolins (Family: Pholidota) as a case study, we demonstrate that collating local‐scale data can provide crucial information on regional trends in exploitation of threatened species to inform conservation actions and policy. We estimate that 0.4‐2.7 million pangolins are hunted annually in Central African forests. The number of pangolins hunted has increased by ∼150% and the proportion of pangolins of all vertebrates hunted increased from 0.04% to 1.83% over the past four decades. However, there were no trends in pangolins observed at markets, suggesting use of alternative supply chains. The price of giant ( Smutsia gigantea ) and arboreal ( Phataginus sp.) pangolins in urban markets has increased 5.8 and 2.3 times respectively, mirroring trends in Asian pangolins. Efforts and resources are needed to increase law enforcement and population monitoring, and investigate linkages between subsistence hunting and illegal wildlife trade.

Wild harvested edible insects are characterised by high protein and mineral contents with potential to contribute substantially to nutrition security. However, nutritional content is only beneficial when proteins are digestible and minerals bioaccessible. This study determined the effects of domestic processing on protein digestibility and mineral bioaccessibility of two wild harvested insect species: Eulepida mashona (beetle) and Henicus whellani (cricket). Samples of both insects were subjected to boiling, roasting, or combined boiling and roasting, imitating the way insects are traditionally prepared in Zimbabwe. Moreover, they were in vitro digested according to INFOGEST protocol. Boiling of both insects resulted in loss of protein as it leached into the boiling water. The raw insects had a higher protein in vitro digestibility than the boiled and roasted insects, and the maximal decrease in protein digestibility was around 25% for twice boiling of the beetles and for boiled and roasted crickets. For both insect species, boiling resulted in non-significant loss of iron and zinc. Iron was the least bioaccessible mineral in both insects, based on the concentrations of soluble mineral measured by ICP-AES. However, beetles had a much higher iron bioaccessibility (30.7%) as compared to crickets (8.11%). Interestingly, boiling resulted in about 50% decrease in iron and zinc bioaccessibility in both species while roasting did not. The reduced protein digestibility and mineral accessibility with processing can be explained by protein modification and interactions of minerals with other food components, such as chitin and phytochemicals. Because of the reduction in protein digestibility and mineral accessibility during boiling, roasting should be favoured over boiling and in any case short boiling time is recommended.

The current review focuses on characterization and conservation efforts vital for the development of breeding programmes for indigenous beef cattle genetic resources in Southern Africa. Indigenous African cattle breeds were identified and characterized using information from refereed journals, conference papers and research reports. Results of this current review reviewed that smallholder beef cattle production in Southern Africa is extensive and dominated by indigenous beef cattle strains adaptable to the local environment. The breeds include Nguni, Mashona, Tuli, Malawi Zebu, Bovino de Tete, Angoni, Landim, Barotse, Twsana and Ankole. These breeds have important functions ranging from provision of food and income to socio-economic, cultural and ecological roles. They also have adaptive traits ranging from drought tolerant, resistance to ticks and tick borne diseases, heat tolerance and resistance to trypanosomosis. Stakeholders in the conservation of beef cattle were also identified and they included farmers, national government, research institutes and universities as well as breeding companies and societies in Southern Africa. Research efforts made to evaluate threats and opportunities of indigenous beef cattle production systems, assess the contribution of indigenous cattle to household food security and income, genetically and phenotypically characterize and conserve indigenous breeds, and develop breeding programs for smallholder beef production are highlighted. Although smallholder beef cattle production in the smallholder farming systems contributes substantially to household food security and income, their productivity is hindered by several constraints that include high prevalence of diseases and parasites, limited feed availability and poor marketing. The majority of the African cattle populations remain largely uncharacterized although most of the indigenous cattle breeds have been identified.

This paper reviews the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in insects, rodents, and pets. Insects (e.g., houseflies, cockroaches), rodents (rats, mice), and pets (dogs, cats) act as reservoirs of AMR for first-line and last-resort antimicrobial agents. AMR proliferates in insects, rodents, and pets, and their skin and gut systems. Subsequently, insects, rodents, and pets act as vectors that disseminate AMR to humans via direct contact, human food contamination, and horizontal gene transfer. Thus, insects, rodents, and pets might act as sentinels or bioindicators of AMR. Human health risks are discussed, including those unique to low-income countries. Current evidence on human health risks is largely inferential and based on qualitative data, but comprehensive statistics based on quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) are still lacking. Hence, tracing human health risks of AMR to insects, rodents, and pets, remains a challenge. To safeguard human health, mitigation measures are proposed, based on the one-health approach. Future research should include human health risk analysis using QMRA, and the application of in-silico techniques, genomics, network analysis, and 'big data' analytical tools to understand the role of household insects, rodents, and pets in the persistence, circulation, and health risks of AMR.

Potato peels which are a low cost, renewable agroindustry by-product were used for the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous effluents. Batch experiments were carried out with an artificial effluent comprising of potassium dichromate in deionised water. The effects of the initial hexavalent chromium concentration, dose of biosorbent, and removal kinetics were explored. An adsorbent dosage of 4 g/L was effective in complete removal of the metal ion, at pH 2.5, in 48 minutes. The kinetic process of Cr(VI) adsorption onto potato peel powder was tested by applying pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models as well as the Elovich kinetic equation to correlate the experimental data and to determine the kinetic parameters. The adsorption data were correlated by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. A maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 3.28 mg/g was calculated using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, suggesting a functional group limited adsorption process. The results confirmed that potato peels are an effective biosorbent for the removal of hexavalent chromium from effluent.

Realizing integrated biorefineries producing multiple fuels, chemicals and materials from sustainable biomass feedstocks holds promise for transitioning industries onto low-carbon trajectories. However, widespread commercial implementation remains elusive despite two decades of technological advancements. This review synthesizes current literature to provide a comprehensive analysis of key multi-dimensional barriers inhibiting the scale-up of biorefineries. The review discusses the technical challenges around biomass conversion processes. Economic viability concerns such as high capital costs and lack of market competitiveness are also assessed. The review also evaluates the regulatory and policy complexities that poses risks and uncertainties in the scaling up of biorefineries. Socio-political acceptance hurdles including community engagement and public perception are also reviewed. The interconnected nature of these challenges is emphasized and strategies are recommended to enable full potential realization, covering areas such as enhanced stakeholder collaboration, advanced process intensification, supportive policy frameworks, innovative financing models and strategic marketing initiatives. International pilots and cross-sectoral knowledge exchange are highlighted as priority enablers. In conclusion, this review synthesizes insights from extensive demonstration efforts to identify priorities and pathways for accelerating the global commercial transition towards sustainable biorefinery implementation. It aims to inform strategic decision-making and collaborative actions amongst stakeholders in research, industry and policy domains.

Indigenous legume crops are pivotal in providing proteins and food security to sub-Saharan African rural communities, but most of these crops are underutilized because of the so-called hard-to-cook (HTC) phenomenon in combination with inadequate processing techniques. This review studies the case of bambara groundnut, which is third in importance after groundnut and cowpea and especially adapted to semi-arid areas. Published data on the HTC phenomenon implicate microstructural and compositional changes as factors leading to its development. Useful and sustainable techniques to process HTC legumes in developing countries include cooking with alkaline salts, milling, roasting, fermentation, and malting. Improvement of these processing techniques in relation to nutrient bioaccessibility, safety, and consumer acceptance of the products is urgently needed. Recommendations are to lessen the problems of food security in sub-Saharan African countries through, amongst other means, the optimization of bambara groundnut processing methods.

Customer experience, satisfaction and word-of-mouth intention contribute a crucial part in enhancing customer loyalty in the banking sector. This study examines the moderators of the effect of customer experience, satisfaction and word-of-mouth intentions on customer loyalty. Data were collected from bank customers (n = 650) using a structured questionnaire through a cross-sectional survey in Harare, Zimbabwe. Customer experience, satisfaction and word-of-mouth intention were found to have a direct positive effect on loyalty. Age was found to moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on loyalty. However, gender, education and income did not moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on loyalty. These results contribute to the existing body of services marketing literature. Banks are advised to consider customer experience, satisfaction, word-of-mouth intention and age when designing strategies to improve customer loyalty.

Understanding local community perceptions on impacts, causes, and responses to climate change is vital for promotion of community resilience towards climate change. This study explored local ecological knowledge (LEK) held by local communities on climate change trends and impacts in the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve (MZBR), Zimbabwe. The objectives of the study were to (i) investigate local community perceptions on trends and causes of climate change, (ii) identify biophysical impacts of climate change at the local level, and (iii) explore the ecosystem-based adaptation strategies towards climate change. The study used a mixed methods approach where a household questionnaire survey (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>320</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>), key informant interviews (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>12</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>), and focus group discussions (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>8</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>) were used to collect data between April 2015 and October 2016. Results from the study show that local communities have observed decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures as key indicators of climate change. Local communities observed water scarcity, changes in vegetation phenology, livestock and wildlife mortalities, and food shortages due to drought as the major impacts on their livelihoods. LEK can contribute to adaptive management strategies that enhance resilience of socioecological systems (SES) in the face of climate change by providing information on the status and use of biophysical components of the environment and by highlighting potential local adaptation strategies that can sustain key livelihood practices.

Edible insect consumption is a traditional practice in many countries and has the potential to contribute to food security. The aim of this study is to obtain insight into insect consumption patterns amongst rural and urban populations, and into factors that may influence these patterns. For this purpose, a case study was made in Zimbabwe. A literature-based conceptual model indicated that motives for consumption, individual characteristics, consumer environment, availability, food characteristics, and indigenous knowledge could affect edible insect consumption. A survey amongst 200 urban and 175 rural respondents showed that insect consumption was significantly higher in rural (89.7%) than in urban (80.0%) areas. Rural respondents (63.9%) consumed insects more than three times a week on average as compared to urban (14.5%) respondents. Quantities consumed as snacks are significantly different between urban and rural respondents. Taste was the main motive of respondents in both the rural (89.2%) and urban areas (74.4%). Respondents in urban areas more often reported nutritional value (74.4%) and medicinal properties (28.1%) as important motives for consumption compared to rural respondents (51.0% and 15.3%, respectively). For rural areas, socio-demographics did not relate to consumption of edible insects whereas in urban areas, insect consumption was negatively related to education, main livelihood source and monthly income. Availability of edible insects influences both urban (64.0%) and rural (83.0%) respondents’ consumption of insects. The lower consumption of specific insect species in urban areas could hamper the potential contribution of insects to food security in these areas. Therefore, promotion of entomophagy by marketing and maintaining traditional knowledge on insect processing should target urban people through provision of tasty products, communicating nutritional value.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of the current life in which we live. However, it may result in more impacts through its application as the modern mode in invention and bring a new perspective of the existing innovation processes in the organization of R &amp; D. Application of machines' intelligence such as robots from the recent development is a vivid example of invention brought about by the innovation filtered via artificial intelligence. Innovative ways through invention have a sense of replacement in man's duties in the world's varied economic sectors. Large datasets and algorithms will be used in research industries, and the latter will result in potential racing, monitored incentives by large companies, and particular algorithms. However, transparency and transfer of information between public and private will be the engine source to stimulate healthy inventions and innovation programs shortly. Rapid advancement in the artificial intelligence arena has significant sound impacts on society as far as the economy is concerned. Production and characteristics of many products and services have a high potentiality to be directly influenced by these innovations, and important productivity, competition, and employment implications. Even though these innovations will positively influence the largest proportion of human lives, artificial intelligence (A.I.) can potentially change its innovation processes, accompanied by approximately thoughtful consequences, and may gradually dominate the direct consequence.

Abstract The sustainability of agriculture is questioned due to major negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts. To improve the state of agriculture, various management changes have been proposed. Different tools, with varying characteristics, sustainability framing and indicators, have been used to evaluate the impact of these changes on sustainability. Here, we review 119 tools for farm sustainability assessment and compare their use, sustainability dimensions, themes and types of indicators used for biodiversity conservation, farm viability and gender equity. Our main findings are that (1) tools could be classified into five groups that differ in stakeholder participation and model used for calculating sustainability, (2) seven different sustainability framings are used and (3) only two out of 29 indicators screened address impacts of farming system while the others address drivers, pressures or states of the system. The tools were grouped in “Long-term monitoring of farm activities” (11%), “Ex-ante assessment of sustainability with bioeconomic models” (9%), “Survey- and indicator-based assessment of tools” (41%), “Consultation-based assessment” (25%) and “Active engagement of stakeholder-based assessment” (14%). The “classical view of sustainability”, with the economic, social and environmental pillars, was used in 61% of the papers. Based on these findings, we suggest (1) development of temporal dynamic assessment of farm sustainability with active involvement of stakeholders in the framing of sustainability and design of indicators to achieve reliable and relevant assessment outcomes. We recommend (2) adoption of more complex sustainability framings dealing with emerging system properties, namely resilience, viability and stability. In these, (3) governance/institutional dimensions should be emphasised, and social themes targeting farmers’ characteristics should be included. Finally, (4) use of impact indicators in farm sustainability assessments is critical, and they should be designed to contribute to scientifically rigorous and relevant assessments of farming system sustainability.

Significant efforts have been made to understand impacts and how communities adapt to climate change impacts, yet there is an urgent need to interrogate the capacity of institutions and institutional arrangements in local level adaptation processes. Literature highlights that the success of these adaptation efforts generally hinges upon the nature of existing formal and informal rural institutions. This paper uses largely a qualitative approach to understand institutional structural issues and the role of institutions and institutional arrangements in facilitating local level adaptation. From our research we note three salient findings and their implications for incorporating institutions in local level adaptation. First, the public and private institutions in the study areas play a key role in facilitating adaptation, which appears to be in contrast to previous research in which societal configurations indicate greater state retreat over the past two to three decades. Second, while there appears to be a straightforward distinction between public, private and civic institutions in terms of their functions, we suggest caution given the fuzziness and fluidity of institutional categorization on the ground. Third, it appears that institutions and institutional arrangements of an informal nature foster collective action, that they have remained important over the past decades and remain a critical entry point into dealing with exclusionary tendencies against the vulnerable in communities. Within a broader discussion of the role of institutional frameworks in facilitating adaptation our case contributes to the broader issues of the inevitability of ultimately dealing with development challenges in the process of fostering local level adaptation.