A study was conducted during the year 2000 to investigate flock size and egg production performance of backyard chicken maintained by woman in rural areas of Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan. One hundred and thirty female farmers were selected at random from 13 randomly selected nearby villages of Peshawar city. Average flock size maintained by a household in rural areas of Peshawar was 26.1 ± 0.69 chicken with a higher number of adult birds (14.5 ± 0.50) than chicks (11.6 ± 0.41). Fewer chickens was found in flocks given no housing facility (24.3 ± 1.02 ) than those given part time housing facility (29.4 ± 0.85). Higher number of chickens/household was found with flock owners vaccinating their chicken against ND+Fowl-pox than those not vaccinating their chicken against these diseases. On the average 2315 ± 66.2 eggs were obtained by a household. Egg production/bird irrespective of the breed was found to be 142 ± 3.17 eggs. Of the total eggs produced, 703 ± 3.8 eggs were consumed by the household on annual basis. More eggs per bird were produced by Rhode Island Red (RIR) than Desi chicken. Flocks given a part time housing facility produced more eggs/bird than those given no housing. Flocks reared in normal human dwellings also produced higher number of eggs per bird than those given no housing. More eggs/bird were obtained from flocks vaccinated against ND+fowl-pox disease than non-vaccinated flocks. RIR produced higher number of eggs/bird under scavenging conditions than desi, Fayumi and White Leghorn chickens. Effective health coverage, housing facilities and rearing of highly productive chicken will improve backyard chicken production in rural areas of Peshawar.

Information from 400 randomly selected female farmers was obtained during the year 1997 to assess the production performance of backyard chicken in Charsadda district, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan. Only 16.3% of the farmers were regularly vaccinating their flocks. The majority of the farmers initiated immunization only at the time of disease onset (29.7%) followed by those (28.5%) who did not vaccinate. A high proportion (53.3%) provided no housing, 29.8% provide night shelters and 17% had no housing. Average flock size was 22.0 birds, comprising 8.86 chicks, 2.03 pullets and 11.1 layers. The local Desi chicken dominated the flocks (10.2 birds) followed by Fayumi (6.76), Rhode Island Red (4.20) with White Leghorn least popular (0.83 ). Average mortality in a flock was 23.6%. Mortality was higher in layers (28.1%) than in pullets (18.7%) and chicks (24.2%). Significantly higher losses were found in White Leghorn (35.6%) than in Desi chicken (17.5%). Similarly, higher mortality was found in chicken without housing facilities (26.7%) than in those with access to houses (21.6%). Regular vaccination was associated with higher productivity than vaccination at the onset of disease or no vaccination. Average annual egg production was 76.4 for Desi, 109 for Fayumi, 169 for Rhode Island and 153 for White Leghorn. Mean hatchability was 61.2% with an annual frequency of 4.6 settings and 15.1 eggs set per broody hen. Farmer preference for the "local" Desi chicken reflected their greater capacity to survive and adapt to scavenging management systems. Fayumi and Rhode Island chickens appear to merit further studies as breeds that could improve the productivity of scavenging systems, as they had higher egg production and only slightly higher mortality than Desi chicken.

During the last decade economy of Latvia has experienced a decrease, crises and also depression. Further development process of Latvia could lead to a rapid economical boom. The application of scientific researches into the development of nationaly economy of Latvia is one of the important aspects. Though the globalisation and commercalisation of scientific researches must be taken into account as well. Science development is opening wide range of possibilitities for research perfection. Most of the Latvian, Lithuanian and Slovakian entrepreneurs are 30-40 years old, who suddenly appeared in the circumstances of conventionally free economy in their twenties.

The Programme de Microfinance Rural (PMR) was implemented in the rural, impoverished regions of Koulikoro, Kayes, Ségou, Sikasso and Mopti in Mali with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This paper shares the results of a qualitative study designed to improve understanding of the programme’s delivery and explore its impacts in terms of collective agency and efficacy, as well as the use of resources in households, with attention paid to the role of gender in addressing these issues. The findings suggest that the PMR actively engaged women and expanded access to loans through community-based credit groups. It also overcame negative community experiences with previous microfinance programmes to maintain a positive local reputation. In many cases, the PMR led to significant economic benefits for women but, in other cases, loan repayment terms posed a challenge. The collective agency of PMR credit groups built upon progress made by similar community groups in existence prior to the arrival of the PMR. The resources provided by the PMR strengthened these groups and helped enable them to expand their collective efficacy and ability to benefit the community more broadly. Women were most often the target loan recipients and frequently had a strong voice in the PMR groups, which were influential in the community. There is little evidence, however, that the PMR activities and credit group participation spilled over to strengthen either women’s political power in the community or their influence and empowerment in their own households. The paper concludes with specific recommendations for strengthening future iterations of the PMR or similar programmes.