Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is a open distance education university in Zimbabwe. Established in 1999, ZOU is the only distance education university in the country. Student enrollment at ZOU has been growing steadily from the time of its formation and in terms of enrollment it is the largest university in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Open University has seven faculties under which the academic programmes are conducted.
Lablab (Lablab purpureus) is a resilient, multipurpose legume with potential to improve food and feed security, enhance soil fertility, and support climate-resilient agriculture in Tanzania’s dryland regions; however, comprehensive syntheses of its agronomic, socioeconomic, and ecological roles remain limited. To address this, a scoping review was conducted of studies published between January 2000 and June 2025 in Tanzania and comparable dryland agroecological zones in Sub-Saharan Africa. Systematic searches in Scopus and Google Scholar used structured Boolean strings including keywords related to lablab, dryland farming, forage, fodder, intercropping, nitrogen fixation, soil fertility, pests, diseases, market access, and adoption potential, and reference lists of included studies were screened manually. Of 120 full-text articles assessed, 85 met inclusion criteria and were analyzed thematically. Results show that lablab is well-adapted to semi-arid and dryland zones, contributes to soil health, supports livestock feed and human nutrition, and enhances climate-resilient farming systems, while adoption is constrained by limited farmer awareness, inadequate agronomic knowledge, scarcity of improved seeds, weak market linkages, and climate variability. These findings provide a structured evidence map of lablab’s roles, challenges, and potential, highlighting opportunities for coordinated interventions targeting seed systems, value chains, and extension services to facilitate mainstreaming, promote resilient low-input agricultural systems, and support sustainable livelihoods.
Climate and land use/land cover (LULC) changes are reshaping water availability and quality across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where data scarcity and limited technical capacity complicate sustainable water resources management. Hydrological models integrated with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) provide essential tools to quantify and simulate these changes; however, no comprehensive synthesis has systematically assessed their application in SSA. This review investigates 165 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025, following the PRISMA guidelines. The results show that the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) dominate applications (75%), with WetSpass-M and HEC-HMS each accounting for approximately 17%. Research efforts are disproportionately concentrated in Ethiopia (49.7%), whereas West and Central Africa remain underrepresented. Key challenges, including sparse hydro-climatic data, weak calibration and validation, limited modelling expertise, and inconsistent methodological standards, continue to constrain progress. Simultaneously, promising innovations are emerging, including RS and Machine learning integration, ensemble climate modelling, and cloud-based platforms such as the Google Earth Engine. Strengthening automatic hydro-climatic observation networks, expanding regional calibration datasets, and promoting participatory and integrated modelling frameworks that bridge physical, socio-economic, and ecological dimensions will be critical for advancing evidence-based, climate-resilient water management in SSA’s drylands.
Childhood immunization through the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) remains central to reducing vaccine-preventable disease morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Zimbabwe’s national EPI coverage for pentavalent 3 stood at 83
This study investigated the relationship between body weight (BWT) and selected morphometric traits in young (2-year-old) and mature (4-year-old) females of indigenous Sabi sheep and Matebele goats. The aim was to identify the most reliable and biologically informative predictors of BWT for use in smallholder production systems. A cross-sectional observational design was applied to 60 Matebele goats and 53 Sabi sheep selected through purposive sampling of non-pregnant, non-lactating females exhibiting optimal body condition. Morphometric measurements included heart girth (HG), withers height (WH), body length (BL), and rump height (RH). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, stepwise regression, and path analysis to evaluate predictive accuracy and structural relationships between traits. Phenotypic correlations between BWT and morphometric traits were stronger in mature than in young females across both species. In young Matebele does, RH emerged as the best single predictor of BWT (R² = 0.71), whereas in young Sabi ewes, a combined model of HG and RH offered the greatest predictive accuracy (R² = 0.66). For mature Matebele does, HG and RH jointly accounted for most of the variation in BWT (R² = 0.69), while in mature Sabi ewes, HG alone was the most reliable predictor (R² = 0.53). Inclusion of additional morphometric traits yielded only marginal improvements in prediction models. Path analysis further showed that HG exerted the strongest direct effect on BWT, particularly among mature female sheep, highlighting age-dependent structural influences. Heart girth consistently emerged as the most stable and biologically meaningful predictor of body weight across age groups and species. These findings support the practical use of HG-based prediction models for estimating BWT in indigenous small ruminants, particularly in resource-limited smallholder production systems.
Biogas, produced through the anaerobic digestion of organic matter, serves as a vital renewable energy source, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and promoting energy independence. This review critically analyzes the current landscape of biogas upgrading technologies, categorizing them into physical, chemical, and biological methods. Also, the review evaluates and establishes techniques, including water scrubbing, pressure swing adsorption (PSA), chemical absorption, membrane separation, and cryogenic distillation, as well as emerging biological methods such as biofiltration. Evidently, the review highlights membrane separation as a technologically efficient, rapidly growing commercial alternative that has garnered significant recent research interest. This is thanks to its modularity, low energy intensity, and recent advances in materials, such as mixed-matrix membranes, which enhance selectivity across various scales. Though no single method obtained a generally accepted optimum, findings reveal that integration of hybrid configurations such as biofiltration coupled with pressure swing adsorption and smart control strategies is essential to optimize methane recovery and cost-effectiveness. However, these advancements remain limited by a lack of field-scale data and the need for degradation-resistant materials. Future research should focus on leveraging artificial intelligence, developing advanced materials, and designing hybrid systems to optimize biogas purification and support a sustainable circular bioeconomy.
