Southern Africa Journal of Education, Science and Technology

Soyabean response to rhizobial inoculation under contrasting smallholder agro-ecological conditions in Zimbabwe

T. Kainga — 2022-09-07

Soyabean is grown widely with rhizobial inoculants on commercial farms in Zimbabwe, but its inoculation response in smallholder cropping environments is poorly characterized. Symbiotic interactions of six rhizobial strains (MAR 1305,1306,1326,1494, 1497 and 1515) from the Grasslands Rhizobium Collection were evaluated under contrasting soils and rainfall zones (natural region) in Zimbabwe. The rhizobial strains were evaluated on one specific and three promiscuous soyabean varieties (SC Saga and TGX (1740-2F/ 1987-628/ 1987-11E). The study was conducted over two rainfall seasons namely 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Field experiments were set up as a randomized complete block design with two factors (soyabean variety and rhizobial strain), a negative control without inoculation and a positive control inoculated with commercial inoculant strain MAR 1491. All treatments were replicated three times. Nodulation was significantly (P< .0001) influenced by rhizobial strain inoculation with nodulation ranging from 28 to37 nodules per plant. Over the two seasons, soyabean inoculated with MAR 1305, 1306, 1494 and 1515 consistently gave higher grain yield higher (average of 600kg/ha) compared to that inoculated with commercial inoculant strain MAR 1491 (average of 400kg/ha). Nodulation of both promiscuous and specific varieties decreased with annual rainfall amounts in the order: Natural Region (NR)II> NRIII> NRIV. Rhizobial strains MAR 1305, 1306 and 1494 were superior in NR II and NRIII while rhizobial strain MAR 1515 was superior in NR IV. Our results show that identification of superior strains best suited to smallholder cropping environments and inoculation response are crucial for increasing soyabean productivity in these environments.

An evaluation of the operational efficiency of pizza restaurants in Zimbabwe

P. Mukucha — 2022-09-07

The study sought to test the industry wide claim in the fast-food restaurant industry that they deliver pizza within 10 minutes of waiting. The study further sought to assess the extent to which the actual waiting period for pizza differs from the perceived waiting time. A sample of 500 pizza transactions had their order cycle time measured, and the corresponding perceived waiting time was also recorded from the surveyed respondents who had initiated the transactions. The study revealed that there are statistically significant differences between the prescribed standard waiting time and actual waiting time, and between the actual waiting time and perceived waiting time. This study therefore recommends that restaurateurs in the pizza industry must assess their human and equipment resources in order to reduce the variances in lead times. They must as well provide various materials and activities that occupy customers in order to reduce the perceived waiting time.

The moderating effect of demographics and institutional characteristics between religiosity and cost management accounting practices of rural SMEs

L. Mandongwe — 2022-09-07

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the direct and indirect effects that owner/manager demographic attributes and firm characteristics have on the relationship between religiosity and the two dependent variables, cost accounting and management accounting in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of subsistence economies. Self-administered survey was used to draw responses from 100 SMEs in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe. To facilitate the analysis of the data, given the moderation effect that sought to be tested, both IBM SPSS Statistics v26 and the Hayes Process Macro for SPSS were used. The moderation effect was validated through general linear factorial MANOVA. The study provided evidence on the significance of education in moderating the relationship between religiosity and cost and management practices (CMAPS). However, two demographic variables (age and gender) and three firm characteristics (revenue, number of employees and years in business) were not statistically significant and therefore had no interaction effects between these independent and dependent variables. It was recommended to encourage on lifelong learning and education to entrepreneurs as a way of enhancing the use of cost and management accounting practices in subsistence markets so as to boost their financial performance.

The influence of outbound logistics on utility

P. Mukucha — 2022-09-07

Outbound logistics is one of the prime business functions that are pillars in customer value delivery. In this study the investigation sought to determine the influence of outbound logistics on economic utility: form utility, place utility, time utility, and possession utility. A Sample of 300 respondents was surveyed from the residents of Bindura urban area using convenience sampling method. ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD post hoc multiple comparisons tests were used for hypotheses testing. The study revealed that outbound logistics for bread has a significant effect on all the forms of economic utility save for possession utility. It was therefore recommended that bakeries must deliver their bread through the use of tuck-shops, convenience stores and supermarkets with their order of importance in order to enhance the perceived value in the form of economic utility that accrues to the customers who buy bread.

Migration dynamics and the devolution agenda in Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe

N. Mtombeni — 2022-09-07

Economic challenges in Zimbabwe have seen most people relocating to different countries in a bid to earn a decent living. These movements are done at all levels, whether learned or general/ domestic workers. In doing so, a lot of brain drain is witnessed where many technical and expert personal are no longer offering their services to their home countries but elsewhere. The government of Zimbabwe has come up with a statutory instrument to grow the Zimbabwean economy at Provincial level so as to become an upper middle economy by 2030. With this challenge at hand, migration of these people has a lot of implication on the government’s devolution agenda as the local people are moving away from developing their area. Against this backdrop, the paper seeks to bring out migration dynamics in Matabeleland South Province which may hinder government efforts in achieving the agenda in the Province. Most of the people in the province are a source of cheap labour in the neighbouring South Africa and possibly Botswana. Using qualitative research methods, the researchers purposively sampled some families in Gwanda and conveniently selected some government departments to establish the purpose and impact of the devolution program. Through some interviews carried out, the research established that many people especially youths in the Province migrate to South Africa as cheap labour and that impacts negatively on the devolution agenda and the vision 2030 in the Province. As a result the researchers therefore recommend that the government of Zimbabwe should put in place stringent measures at the boarder places so that the easy flow of human traffic as boarder jumpers is curbed.

The Effect of Different Substrates Found in Zimbabwe on the Growth and Yield of Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus Ostreatus

G. Zhou — 2022-09-07

The research was carried out to investigate the effect of different substrates on the growth and yield of P. ostreatus. Locally available agricultural wastes such as saw dust (S1), cotton waste (S2), wheat straw (S3) and corncob (S4) were tested for parameters such as days required for spawn run, primordial formation, harvest days, total yield and biological efficiency. Biological Efficiency (BE) was calculated as the ratio of fresh fruiting body weight (g) per dry weight of substrates (g), expressed as a percentage. Before substrates were used in this study they were subjected to nutritional (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Zn) analysis. The highest yield of 1275.45 g was obtained in saw dust and the lowest yield of 1058.7 g was obtained in cotton waste. The highest carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio was found in saw dust (53:0.1) and the least C/N ratio was found in cotton waste (39:1). There were 19 spawn run days in saw dust and 24 spawn run days in cotton waste. Stem width (2.6 cm) and cap diameter (9.7 cm) were greatest in cotton waste and low in saw dust with stem width (2.3 cm) and cap diameter (7.4 cm). Substrates with a higher C/N ratio had the greatest yield and biological efficiency. The higher C/N ratio favoured mycelium growth and lower carbon to nitrogen ratio favored fruiting body growth. In this study saw dust had the highest C/N ratio and it had the greatest yield and low spawn run days yet cotton waste had the least C/N ratio but its fruiting body measurements were very high. There was no significant difference at p≤0.05 between wheat straw and corn cob in terms of growth parameters and yield as their C/N was significantly high at (44:1) and (49:1) respectively. The results signifies that apart from soya beans and maize stalk which were widely used by farmers as substrates of choice, saw dust, cotton waste, corn cob and wheat straw were good alternatives for the growth of P. ostreatus mushrooms. Saw dust was very good in the total yield obtained but cotton waste had the best quality of mushrooms with very big stipes and cap diameter. These locally available substrates in Zimbabwe were recommended for use by small scale farmers for sustainable production of oyster mushrooms as they produced good yields at low cost.