Bishop Stuart University

Background: Aquaculture intensification generates nitrogenous and phosphorus-rich effluents that threaten aquatic ecosystems. Fermented plant-based feeds are increasingly used to enhance nutrient digestibility and protein availability, yet their impact on effluent water quality remains poorly understood. Understanding how substrates such as banana, jackfruit seeds, and sweet potato influence ammonia, nitrite, BOD, and phosphates is critical for developing sustainable feeding strategies and minimizing environmental pollution in intensive African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) culture. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of solid-state fermented ripe banana, jackfruit seeds, and sweet potato tuber feeds on effluent water quality in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus), focusing on ammonia, nitrites, phosphates, BOD, copper, EC, and microbial composition to identify environmentally safer feed options. Methods: African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings were stocked in 50 L glass aquaria and fed either fermented ripe banana, jackfruit seeds, sweet potato tubers, or commercial feed as control. Each treatment was triplicated in a completely randomized design. Effluent water was sampled weekly for four weeks to measure total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), nitrites, phosphates, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), copper concentration, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and microbial composition. TAN and nitrites were determined using colorimetric HS aqua test kits, phosphates and copper via Palin 7100 photometer, BOD₅ with a magnetic stir BOD system, and microbial counts on nutrient agar. Statistical differences were assessed using Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn's post hoc tests (p < 0.05). Results: Effluent water from tanks fed fermented banana and sweet potato exhibited lower total ammonia nitrogen (0.2–0.3 mg L⁻¹) and nitrites (0.01–0.12 mg L⁻¹) compared to jackfruit seeds (TAN 1.3 p < 0.05 mg L⁻¹, nitrites 0.75 p < 0.05 mg L⁻¹) and commercial feed (TAN 2.7 mg L⁻¹, nitrites 0 mg L⁻¹). Phosphate concentrations and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) exceeded regulatory limits in all treatments except partial reduction in sweet potato tanks. Copper concentrations and electrical conductivity remained below permissible limits across all feeds. Microbial analysis revealed dominance of Bacillus and Lactobacillus species, with highest Bacillus counts in jackfruit seed tanks and Lactobacillus in banana tanks. Kruskal-Wallis tests confirmed significant differences (p < 0.05) among treatments for TAN, nitrites, phosphates, BOD₅, copper, EC, and microbial counts. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the potential of specific fermented plant-based feed ingredients to mitigate nitrogen pollution in aquaculture systems. In particular, the inclusion of fermented ripe banana and sweet potato tubers in fish diets was shown to reduce ammonia and nitrite concentrations in culture water and effluent. However, high BOD and phosphate persisted, revealing a knowledge gap on nutrient release and effluent dynamics, guiding future sustainable feed research.

Urban farming integrated with Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices offers a pathway to enhanced food security and climate resilience in rapidly urbanising Uganda. However, the extent of women’s engagement with CSA practices and the factors influencing their participation is not well understood and it is not clear in empirical literature. This study focused on urban women farmers in Mbarara City, Western Uganda. Specifically, it identifies practices currently used, establishes the extent of participation, and determines the factors influencing the adoption of CSA practices. Data were collected from 150 women farmers using a cross-sectional survey. Descriptive statistics and a Likert scale were used to assess the extent of participation, while a Multivariate Probit (MVP) model was employed to identify influencing factors. Results indicated that 74.15

Refugee women in Uganda, face systemic challenges that undermine their ability to achieve economic autonomy despite their resilience. Drawing on testimonies from 39 respondents at the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, this study examines how personal agency, institutional support, and community-based systems interact to shape economic empowerment within Uganda’s refugee policies. The narratives were analyzed thematically through the lens of the right to stay, migrate, and return framework, while allowing respondents’ voices to challenge and refine its assumptions. Findings show that while women demonstrate self-determination through entrepreneurial initiatives and collective savings groups, their autonomy is constrained by gendered inequalities, limited access to financial resources, and insufficient institutional support. Women consistently described fear of gender-based violence and economic insecurity as decisive factors shaping mobility decisions, underscoring that migration is perceived less as opportunity than as survival necessity. Existing programs such as microfinance and savings groups provide short-term relief but fail to enable business scaling, leaving women confined to survival strategies. The study critiques the right to stay framework, arguing that autonomy cannot be fully realized without addressing structural constraints and gendered barriers. Policy implications include expanding access to larger loans, integrating business training and financial literacy, and strengthening community-based support systems. Ultimately, the respondents’ experiences compel a feminist refinement of the right to stay: autonomy must be understood as relational, structurally contingent, and gendered, with dignity rather than survival at the heart of the right to remain.

This study examined the relationship between parental contribution and the management of teacher staffing gaps in government-aided primary schools in Isingiro District, Uganda. A cross-sectional design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches was used. Quantitative data were collected from 139 teaching staff across 12 sampled schools using a self-administered questionnaire, while qualitative data were obtained from head teachers, School Management Committee/Parent-Teacher Association representatives, and District Education Office staff through face-to-face interviews. Composite parental-contribution and staffing-gap-management scores were correlated using Pearson's r, and financial and non-financial contribution strategies were entered as predictors in a multiple linear regression model. Findings revealed a weak, negative, and statistically non-significant relationship between parental contribution and the management of staffing gaps (r = -.073, n = 139, p = .396); neither financial contribution nor non-financial contribution significantly predicted staffing outcomes when entered jointly (F(2,136) = 0.736, p = .481). Qualitative evidence indicated that government staffing policy and household economic status moderate this relationship. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Sports and the District Education Office issue clear policy guidance ensuring parental contribution complements, rather than substitutes for, government staffing.

This study examined the determinants of market access among smallholder onion and carrot farmers in Wanale Sub-county, Mbale District, Uganda. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected from 250 smallholder farmers who completed and returned questionnaires out of a target sample of 285 farmers, representing an 87.7% response rate. The farmers were selected through multi-stage sampling, while qualitative data were obtained from 15 key informant interviews and three focus group discussions. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and linear regression, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. The findings established that market infrastructure significantly influenced market access among smallholder onion and carrot farmers in Wanale Sub-county (β = 0.406, t = 3.783, p = 0.001), explaining 40.6% of the variation in market access. Descriptive results showed mean scores ranging from 3.74 to 4.17, indicating general agreement that road conditions, transport availability and affordability, and storage facilities affect market access. Qualitative findings further revealed that poor roads, high transport costs, inadequate crop-specific storage, and limited collection and loading facilities increase post-harvest losses, constrain access to better-paying markets, and weaken farmers’ bargaining power. The study recommends improving rural feeder roads, promoting affordable and reliable transport services, developing crop-appropriate storage facilities, establishing produce collection and loading centres, strengthening collective marketing through farmer groups, and enhancing access to timely market information to improve market access among smallholder onion and carrot farmers in Wanale Sub-county.