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Sokoine University of Agriculture Institutional Repository (SUA IR). This repository was built and is maintained by the university library (Sokoine National Agricultural Library-SNAL) , in order to collect, preserve and disseminate scholarly output generated by University research community (staff and students) members.
This repository hosts a variety of openly accessible materials including: scholarly articles and books, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings and technical reports. For assistance about depositing your research output in the repository click here. SUA IR Policy click here or any queries contact us at snal@sua.ac.tz.
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Recent Submissions
The role of intermediary microfinance institutions in providing financial services in rural areas
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2008) Msemwa,Cornel
Microfinance is access to financial' services by poor households. The essence of
microfinance is uncollateralized loans to borrowers who have not a constant source of
income from income generating activity or from a wage job. Microfinance can help
small farmers and the self-employed individuals who cannot or will not post standard
physical collateral such as a mortgage or real estate. In fact, lenders may not accept
collateral for small loans since the cost of seizure and sale may exceed the debt owed.
Lack of collateral, however, increases the costs for lenders to judge risk and to enforce
repayment (Nagarajan and Meyer, 1995).
Microfinance aims to provide financial services to those who do not have the possibility
to obtain them from the informal and the formal financial markets. The formal financial
sector (banks and other financial institutions) is largely urban-based and organized
primarily to meet the financial needs of the modern sector. Many MFI clients do not
have any experience with formal banks, or do not qualify for services (lack of collateral
and lack of business license). For others, the next bank is simply too far away. Informal
financial markets arc ubiquitous; they are generally characterized by personal
relationships,, ease of access, simple procedures, rapid transactions, and flexible size and
terms of loans. However, not all households have access to informal money sources.
Even close family members or good friends are often reluctant to lend money.
Moreover, the amounts of money available from friends and relatives are often too smallii
to be used as a business investment. Of the various services offered by micro-finance
institutions, clients mainly use credit services; savings and advisory services, including
tiaining. aic also quite frequently used. Formal banks lend to operate in urban areas
leaving rural areas short of sources of finance. This situation causes the emergence of
SACCOS as an alternative aiming at filling the gap left by the formal financial providers
in rural areas.
1 his research paper highlights the operation of intermediary microfinance institutions in
Mbcya region which arc in the partnership with CRDB Microfinance Company Limited.
The study is focused on the provision of microfinance services in rural areas. It includes
the challenges and the alternative solutions to solve them. The information used in this
research paper was collected by conducting physical visit to the selected intermediary
microfinance institutions which are working in partnership with CRDB Microfinance
hub at CRDB Bank Mbcya branch. The source of information was from monthly report
of the microfinance institutions, and focus group discussions with managerial team that
were held during the visit. Also some information was collected from Microfinance
office at the hub.
During the study, it was observed that the main challenges faced by these intermediary
microfinance institutions included; lack of innovation and creativity to come up with
reliable and relevant products and services to the clients, technical know-how of MFIs
staff was still low, working on voluntary basis which could in long run undermine theiii
morale of MFIs staffs, and weak MFIs outreach. The paper stipulates some of alternative
solutions to improve the situation of these microfinance institutions.
Virulence pattern of circulating aeromonads isolated from farmed nile tilapia in Tanzania and novel antibiotic free attenuation of aeromonas hydrophila strain tzr7-2018
(Aquaculture Reports, 2020) Mzula, Alexanda; Wambura, Philemon N; Mdegela, Robinson H; Shirima, Gabriel M
Aeromonads are gram-negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobes bacteria known to cause motile aeromonads
septicemia diseases (MAS) in warm freshwater farmed fish. Outbreaks are associated with pathogenicity of
aeromonads in fish which is partly contributed by virulence characteristics of the etiological agent. The objective
of this study was to assess the virulence characteristics of the previously isolated and identified aeromonads, and
attenuate potential Aeromonas hydrophila strain TZR7-2018 to serve as local vaccine candidate. Six virulence
genes and other virulence characteristics were molecularly and phenotypically assessed both using in-vitro and
in-vivo approaches. Attenuation of A. hydrophila parent strain TZR7-2018 + was performed by passaging through
thermal continuous sub-culturing 40 times in Tryptic soy agar (TSA). Bacterin was prepared by formalin in-
activation from the same parent strain. Humoral responses were assayed using quantitative serological agglu-
tination test (qSAT) while protective efficacy was measured through relative percent survival (RPS). A total 240
Nile tilapia fingerlings with an average weight of 8.1 ± 0.4 g were used in all in-vivo studies. The presence of
aerolysin (aer), cytotoxic enterotoxin (act), elastase (ahy), haemolysin (hly), serine (ser) and polar flagella (fla)
genes were determined using PCR. Out of 201 isolates, 75.1 % (151/201) of the aeromonads possessed virulence
genes (120=A. hydrophila and 31=Aeromonas veronii). The virulence gene pattern of aer/hly/fla was the most
prominent with the prevalence of 12.6 %. The attenuated strain TZR7-2018 − showed reduced: colon size,
multiplication rate, cell size and loss in; haemolysis, motility and capsule. Humoral responses increased gra-
dually and reached maximum at day 28 in both attenuated and bacterin formulation given through in-
traperitoneal (IP) injection and immersion (IM). A RPS of 82.3 %, 71.4 % and 85.1 %, were recorded to the
attenuated vaccine given through IP and IM and bacterin provided through IP respectively.
Therefore the attenuated strain TZR7-2018 − obtained through thermal continuous subculture technique and
the bacterin proved to be efficacious and can serve as vaccine candidate.
Current state of modern biotechnological-based aeromonas hydrophila Vaccines for aquaculture: a systematic review
(Hindawi BioMed Research International, 2019-07-29) Mzula, Alexanda; Wambura, Philemon N; Mdegela, Robinson H; Shirima, Gabriel M
This systematic review describes what “the cutting edge vaccines for Aeromonas hydrophila are”. The focus is on types of high
tech biotechnological based vaccines, target gene or antigen in developing these vaccines, and challenge model fish species used
in vaccines efficacy testing. Vaccines delivery methods, immune response, and their efficacy, adjuvant or carrier systems used, and
the overall experimental setup or design of the vaccines under investigation are also described. The search for the original papers
published between 2009 and 2018 was conducted in June of 2018, using the PubMed and Google scholar electronic database. Twenty-
three (23/4386) studies were included in the final assembly using PRISMA guidelines (Protocol not registered). Recombinant
protein vaccines were the highly experimented type of the modern biotechnological based vaccines identified in the selected
studies (16/23; 70%). Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of different β-barrels were shown to be a potential antigenic entity for
A. hydrophila vaccines (57%). Intraperitoneal route with conventional carries or adjuvants was the highly applied delivery system
while very few studies used herbal based vaccine adjuvants and nanomaterial as a vaccine carrier. Variation was observed in
terms of protection levels in the selected studies. The experimental designs partly contributed to the observed variation. Therefore,
recombinant vaccines that use new carrier system technologies and delivered through oral route in feeds would have been of great
value for use in the prevention and control of A. hydrophila infections in fish. Despite the usefulness as academic tools to identify
what is important in pathogenicity of the etiological agent to the host fish, these vaccines are only economically viable in very
high-value animals. Therefore, if vaccination is a good option for A. hydrophila group, then simple autogenous vaccines based on
accurate typing and evidence-based definition of the epidemiological unit for their use would be the most viable approach in terms
of both efficacy and economic feasibility especially in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).
Antibiotic-resistant microbial populations in urban receiving waters and wastewaters from Tanzania
(Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, 2023) Ripanda, Asha Shabani; Rwiza, Mwemezi J; Nyanza, Elias Charles; Miraji, Hossein; Bih, Numfor Linda; Mzula, Alexanda; Mwega, Elisa; Njau, Karoli N; Vuai, Said Ali Hamad; Machunda, Revocatus L
Antimicrobial resistance against certain medications in the pathogenic microbial community is globally increasing
due to the continual discharge and disposal of pharmaceuticals in the environment. The phenomenon resulted in
significant antibiotic resistance among several exposed Enterobacteriaceae species, with wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs) and rivers serving as significant reservoirs. Despite antibiotic resistance being a tragedy, particularly in
treating diseases by using antibiotics, local and regional studies indicating the severity, resistant species and the
molecular level insight into these pathogens are scarce, thus requiring immediate intervention. This study, therefore,
investigated wastewater from wastewater treatment ponds and receiving waters for the presence of resistant patho-
gens through phenotypical and molecular approach screening of their genes. Among the 57 analyzed samples,
18 (67%, n = 27) isolates of Klebsiella spp.., 4 (80%, n = 5) isolates of Proteus spp., 1 (100%, n = 1) of isolated
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 6 (18%, n = 34) of E. coli found were resistant to at least 1 among the tested antibiotics.
E. coli had an 83% higher proportion of multi-drug resistance (MDR) than Klebsiella spp.., which had 68.5%, and no
MDR was shown by P. aeruginosa isolates. Among the 20 bacterial isolates of antibiotic-resistant genes, showed that
E. coli harboured 39%, followed by 22% of Klebsiella spp. Eleven (11) isolates of these 20 (55%) contained
sulphonamides resistant genes: Sul 1 (n = 4) and Sul 2 (n = 7). Ten (10) isolates (50%) contained the tetracycline-
resistant genes in which 4 isolates showed the Tet A, Tet B – 1 and 5 isolates contained Tet D. β-lactamases (bla
CTX-M and bla SHV) were found in 7 isolates (35%). The existence of these antibiotic-resistant species in the urban
receiving and wastewater presents a threat of transmission of diseases to humans and animals that are not cured by
the existing medications, jeopardizing public health safety.
Sanitary practices and occurrence of zoonotic conditions in cattle at slaughter in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania: implications for public health
(Tanzania Journal of Health Research, 2012-04) Komba, Erick V.G; Komba, Ewaldo V; Mkupasi, Ernatus M; Mbyuzi, Albano O; Luwumba, Denice; Busagwe, Zablon; Mzula, Alexanda
As meat consumption is increasing worldwide to cover for protein demands, also raise
concerns and challenges regarding meat hygiene and safety. The current one year follow up study
aimed at investigating on sanitary practices and occurrence of zoonotic conditions, during post-
mortem examination, in cattle at slaughter in Morogoro Municipality abattoir. Sanitary practices were
assessed through direct observation where as routine post-mortem inspection procedures were
employed to detect zoonotic conditions in cattle at slaughter. During the study period a total of 30,713
cattle were slaughtered and inspected at the abattoir. Results revealed poor hygienic practices at the
level of abattoir surrounding, the slaughter operation area, personnel as well as meat vans. Whole
carcasses, lungs, livers, hearts and heads were condemned due to zoonotic conditions at rates of
0.026%, 1.96%, 1.61%, 0.02% and 0.21% respectively. Bovine tuberculosis, Cysticercus bovis cysts,
fasciolosis and hydatidosis were the responsible zoonotic conditions for the condemnations. Bovine
tuberculosis was a leading zoonotic cause of condemnations accounting for 95.7% of lungs and 100%
of all head and carcass condemnations. Cysticercus bovis cysts were ranking the second in serving as
causes of condemnations closely followed by fasciolosis and lastly hydatidosis. Occurrence of disease
conditions with zoonotic implication in cattle at slaughter, meant for human consumption, may pose
significant economic and public health risks to especially disaster-prone marginalized communities.
Thus, there is a need to introduce appropriate control measures of livestock diseases to minimize the
rate of infection; and eventually reduce economic losses and safeguard public health.
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