African animal trypanosomosis is a great obstacle to livestock production where tsetse flies play a major role. Metekel zone is among the tsetse-infested areas. Community-based tsetse fly and trypanosomosis control using targets was conducted from June 2011 to May 2012 in Metekel zone, Ethiopia, to decrease trypanosomosis and tsetse fly. Cloth screen targets were developed, impregnated with 0.1 % deltamethrin, and deployed alongside rivers by the research team together with the community animal health workers. Monthly parasitological and entomological data were collected, processed, and compared with similar data collected before control. Overall average tsetse fly (Glossina tachinoides) density decreased from 1.13 to 0.18 fly/trap/day after control. The density was decreased in all sites with no significant difference among the sites. However, higher decrements were observed in the dry and late dry seasons by more than 12 and 6 times, respectively. The reduction in overall apparent prevalence of trypanosomosis caused by Trypanosoma congolense, Trypanosoma brucei, and Trypanosoma vivax from 12.14 % before to 3.61 % after control coincides with the tsetse fly reduction. In all the study sites, significant reduction was observed before and after control. The highest decrement was observed in the late dry season when the apparent prevalence was reduced from 7.89 to 1.17 % before and after control, respectively. As this approach is simple, cost-effective, and appropriate for riverine tsetse species, we recommend to be scaled up to other similar places.

Tsetse-related trypanosomosis threatens integrated crop-livestock production system in Ethiopia. Metekel zone is among the tsetse-infested areas in Ethiopia. Community-based tsetse fly and trypanosomosis control using targets was conducted from June 2011 to May 2012 in the zone. In coordination with the control project, a questionnaire survey was administered to assess the economic importance of the tsetse fly and trypanosomosis control conducted in the Zone. On average, there were 3 livestock deaths/household before control and this was decreased to 0.07 after control. This death was contributed from all possible livestock diseases. A household loss 4380 (95% CI = 4223.98-4541.79) EB (1 US$ = 17.9 EB) only due to the deaths of his/her livestock was reduced to 90.78 (95% CI = 89.15-92.42) EB after control. Morbidity of oxen in the study areas was significantly decreased by 70.7%. As a result, the monetary loss to rent for healthy draught oxen was decreased by 96.4%. When a household with one cattle harvest 10.9 quintals (1090 kg), his neighbor's household with ten cattle maximize his/her yield to about 50.5 quintals (5050 kg) of crops indicating that trypanosomosis has great economic impact in crop-livestock production system. As the community-based tsetse fly control approach is simple, cost effective, and appropriate for riverine tsetse species, we conclude that farmers can minimize the negative impact of tsetse flies and trypanosomosis in the tsetse-infested areas of African countries.

The study was conducted with the objective of assessing factors associated with farm households' food security status using primary data collected from 220 sample households from Walmara district, central Ethiopia. The multistage sampling technique was the sampling procedure followed to take the required sample. Descriptive and econometric data analyses were executed. The descriptive result revealed that sex of the head, access to credit services, access to extension contact, educational level of the household head, livestock holding, and land owned were positively related, while the occurrence of crop pests, age of the household head, dependency ratio, family size, market distance, and irrigation distance negatively related to household food security status. Logistic regression was the model used, and the result revealed that sex of the household head, livestock holding, land owned, access to extension contacts, access to irrigation services, and access to credit services showed a positive association, while the family size and dependency ratio negatively and significantly associated with household foods security status. Therefore, policies and strategies focusing on the provision of gender-based training, establishing irrigation facilities, promoting mixed farming of crop and livestock, and availing institutional facilities that providing financial and technical services to farm households are recommended as they contribute more in improving the food security status of farm households.

Small-scale irrigation is among the feasible way in which agricultural production and productivity can be boosted to meet the ever-growing food demand of least developed countries like Ethiopia. But, unlike the potential, the level of utilization is very low. This study was conducted to assess the impact of small-scale irrigation on household food security using the primary data collected from 220 sample households from Walmara district, Finfinnee surrounding Oromia special zone. Descriptive and econometric data analyses were executed. Logistic regression was the model used and propensity score matching (PSM) was the method used to measure the impact of irrigation use on household food security. Using the result of PSM, 118 irrigation non-irrigators were matched with 83 irrigators by discarding 19 observations that are out of the common support. Then, the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) was estimated and the result was 529kcal. Finally, the sensitivity analysis was done and the result showed that the estimated ATT was insensitive to unobserved bias up to 200%. This means family members of irrigation user households on average consume more calories of 529 kcal than irrigation non-users per day and this result is statistically significant. Therefore, agricultural policy interventions giving priority to small-scale irrigation facilities are recommended for their contributions in improving household food security in the study area.

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