Browsing by Author "Balde, Issa"

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The Potential of Biodiversity Utilization and Sustainable Development in Ghana
(Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania, 2020) Asiamah, Joshua Yeboah; Kyei, Foster; Obeng Apori, Samuel; Agbeko, Rosemary; Hanyabui, Emmanuel; Danquah, Andrews; Balde, Issa
The search for sustainable economic growth and development in Ghana commenced in 1957 when the country gained independence. After the first president, Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, the nation witnessed a significant setback in terms of development which affected all aspects of the society including utilization of biodiversity and its sustainable development. Sustainable development is a kind of development that helps to meet the present’s needs without preventing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The biodiversity in Ghana is very rich. It plays a significant role in ecosystem services and functions by providing food materials, medicine and industrial raw materials. This paper seeks to review the potential utilization of Ghana’s biodiversity and its sustainable development. In this paper, a broad literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles that correspond to the main topic. The results indicate that Ghana has rich biodiversity and it is the potential heritage and valuable asset for the country’s ecological integrity and economic reformation, if only it is managed properly. The country’s biodiversity also underpins ecosystem resilience which plays a critical role by reducing disaster risks and peace-building strategies. It was found that the forests, wetlands and mangroves which form part of the biodiversity help to reduce the impact of floods, drought and tsunamis. For successful sustainable development of Ghana’s biodiversity, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should collaborate with main stakeholder agencies that are more concerned about biodiversity. In other to achieve sustainable utilization, resourcing research institutions and universities to join the regional tray of biotechnology studies should be of great interest to the government and policymakers.
Potential of coffee grounds as a sandy soil amendment and its effect on growth and fruit quality of strawberry
(International Scientific Research and Researchers Association, 2023-11-03) Nababi, Joyce; Murongo, Marius; Obeng Apori, Samuel; Balde, Issa; Ssemakula, Joseph
Coffee grounds are discarded as solid waste in landfills which makes them an environmental hazard since it contains great quantities of caffeine and tannins. The efficiency of coffee grounds use in sandy soils is still scientifically unsupported and still lacks confirmation on its effect on fruit crops. The study aimed at assessing the potential of Coffee grounds (fresh FCG vs. composted CCG) as a sandy soil amendment and its effect on strawberry growth and fruit quality. The experimental design was a two factorial design conducted in a green house in a Randomized Block Design. Treatment ratios were 3kg of sandy soil as constant mixture with 1kg and 2kg of Coffee Grounds (composted and fresh) and control (Co), replicated 16 times for each treatment. The sandy soil nutrient content (N, P, K, Mg and Ca levels) were significantly high (P-value < 0.05) in CCG (2kg) and FCG (2kg) than in the FCG (1kg), CCG (1kg) and control (Co) at post-harvest analysis. Both CCG treatments produced strawberry plants with highest germination percentage and seed vigour indexat 14 days after planting. FCG treatments inhibited plant growth in the first 2 weeks after planting which improved greatly thereafter with no significant difference with the CCG treatments in plant vegetative growth by week 12. CCG (2kg) produced the best significant value for total number of fruits at 86.33 and fruit weight at 7.907. The FCG (2kg) and CCG (2kg) had the highest titratable acidity, soluble sugars and total soluble solids. CCG (2kg) had the highest mean value at 64.61 of ascorbic acid. This study delivered new understanding that experimental treatment of composted coffee grounds in rates of (2kg) gave significantly better results for strawberry in sandy soils compared to the lower rates of (1kg) and the control treatments.