Manufacturing Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Manufacturing Strategy - Case Study Example The mining sector belonged to the state sector so as to increase prices of minerals and boost production of minerals The second strategy used by the manufacturing company is precise financial discipline. The company has embraced a shareholder value added that measures the difference between the company’s cost of capital and the operating company’s profit. It approximated cost of productivity by running through an essential analysis to resolve whether it can effectively compete. The Komatsu limited company allowed buying of machines and spare parts including up-front bidding process. The company pays its employees based on the ratio of company’s earning over the investment of the company. That presented the entire company with incentive to cut down costs. This strategy greatly reduced the deployed capital in the mineral mining. It has made the production function produce the right products faster and service to customers at the correct time. The third strategy used is having a balanced approach of investment. The company shifted production offshore and also decided to get resource from different offshore factories. The Komatsu limited company employs use of this strategy that comprised of a considerable reinvestment in the local market. As a way of example, the company built mineral mining in Australia, but shifted mineral production and processing in the Middle East nations to improve efficiency and trap energy sources. The company heavily invested in bringing the most advanced as well as modern productivity tools to the manufacturing factories to boost the operations in the production sector. This is aimed at improving home markets and emerging markets abroad. The fourth manufacturing strategy is having multiple export approaches and home markets. This Komatsu limited company located mineral manufacturing in the Middle East nations not only to satisfy customers’ demand, but also considered

Essay - Family Vacation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

- Family Vacation - Essay Example Firstly, most of my immediate family members have never been outside the US and a vacation in Ireland would surely be treasured for a change in their daily routine. This will convince them to change their ideas on the usual vacation hotspots in America, which are normally over booked in the summer. A change of scene would be refreshing to everybody giving us all a unique experience. There are many cheap flights to Ireland from America; this would ensure that the monetary cost is as slow as possible. With globalization happening all over the world, a return to America through the famous JFK international airport would be ideal for the family. The airport provides the first opportunities of international passengers and other foreign residents. Some of my family members prefer cheaper places in America because money is tight with the economy in poor shape. A few prefer to stay at home with the same old experiences. I have saved enough money, and I would convince them not to let this opportunity bypass them. I believe one cannot quantify the experience of visiting Ireland in monetary terms. Real life experience is better than information from magazines and books, and other secondary sources, the memories are vivid and long lasting. On landing in Dublin, we would first sample the city life especially in the nearby metropolitan area. Being a summer vacation, there would be many people including foreign tourists. To avoid the overcrowding in the city accommodations, we would book places in nearby cities to avoid price hikes and congestion in hotel bookings. Most people on vacation first make a stop over in cities before heading to unwind in less noisy and chaotic smaller towns. To sample the culture of a people, one needs first to visit the restaurants. These restaurants provide first glance on the delicacies and a quick observation offers insights into the mannerisms and cultures of Ireland. Furthermore, different restaurants serve different foods

Article I of the Constitution of America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article I of the Constitution of America - Essay Example In this context, Article-I is the most significant of the provisions of the Constitution of the US that vests the powers on the â€Å"Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives† and specifies the â€Å"unique and limited powers of the Congress† (Ritchie 50). The legislative branch is the most important branch of the government and as such Article-I, which defines their powers, is a very significant part of the US constitution. Article-I is divided into 10 sections, each defining the constitution, powers and functions of the legislative body of the government. The first section stipulates the bicameral division of the Congress into two houses, such as the â€Å"Senate† and â€Å"House of Representatives† to ensure a â€Å"compromise between the power of the state and the power of the people† (50). Such a balancing of power, through the provision of Article-I ensures that power is not misused. Thus, it can be construed that Article-I of the Constitution facilitates a appropriate rights to the people so that any chances of misuse is obviated, which is important in a democratic set up. Section 2 of Article-I defines the term and qualification of the House of Representatives and thus plays a key role in determining that only suitable persons are selected for governance. On the other hand, Section 3 stipulates the terms, qualifications and functions of the members of the Senate. Both these sections of Article-I contain important provisions relating to the basic functions of the legislative branch, which is the most significant of the divisions of the American government. Thus, Article-I is very important. Section 4 of Article-I, prescribes the conditions and procedures of holding the elections Senators and Representatives, which, again, is a highly significant aspect of democratic set up. Section 6 describes the compensation of

Poem analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Poem analysis - Assignment Example The play has critical symbols, the cage, the bird, and the knot. The cage symbolizes the marriage that Minnie is trapped in. Her husband, John Wright, controls what she can and cannot have or experience, which is why he killed Minnie’s bird. The bird is Minnie. She used to sing like the bird. She also used to be free and have friends. After being married, John puts her in her rightful place as a woman- a place of constant submission. When the bird dies, her spirit dies too. Finally, at the end, when Mrs. Hale tells the County Attorney that Minnie was going to â€Å"knot† the quilt, she refers to both the rope that Minnie put around her husband’s neck and the silence that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale will preserve on their knowledge about the bird that reveals Minnie’s state of mind and potential motive. The play is saying that justice does not always come through men’s ways of investigation. These women became the jury for Minnie. They served as the police investigator and judge, where they knew that John deserves to die because he killed Minnie first. Their brand of justice may not be legal, but they followed what they thought was fair to women who live in a world that men control and where women are

UN Secretary Council Essay Example for Free

UN Secretary Council Essay If the UN Security Council decides a situation constitutes a threat to international peace and security, are there any limits on what it can do to address that threat? In your response, please refer to relevant provisions of the UN Charter. United Security Council constitutes of a group of representatives from United States organization member countries whose primarily responsibility as stated in the United Nations Charter as peace and security maintenance internationally. The intentions of United Nations founders were mainly to play a role in peace and security maintenance internationally through application of force where necessary. The charter of United Nations forbids the United security council from carrying out peace restoration operations using military efforts because the superpowers votoed most of such United Nations activities. This should mainly be applicable to the events of cold war crisis. For instance, on two occasions during the time of those regulations, in Lebanon and Congo, the United Security council gave out resolutions that demanded the missions to apply same measures of force so as to achieve their goal. Since the termination of that cold war, the United Nation Security Council gave authority to several United Nations operations which involved application of force to help in restoration and maintenance of peace. For instance, the United Security council authorized the application of force to restore peace in the former Yugoslavia and Somali which is quoted in the United Nation’s charter (Bailey 1998). It also authorizes actions with respect to peace threats, breach of peace and aggressive actions. Now given that the United Nations security council’s performance as the leader in operations of peace which involve application of force, most of the experts like the former United Nations Secretary General have in mind that it can be an appropriate organization in leading such a mission, although its operational structures and inadequacy of resources have been the major factor which limits the United Nations to perform effectively. Ban Ki Moon has just been elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. Some commentators have stated that he should be more of a ‘secretary’ than ‘general’; others say he should be more of a ‘general’ than ‘secretary’. What is the UN Charter basis for him to play either role? How much freedom does he have to define the role himself? The role of Secretary General of United Nations acts as the chief administrative officer in the organization. Ban Ki Moon who is currently the Secretary of United Nations should be governed by the principles stipulated in the UN Charter. Since the secretary is appointed by the General Assembly through the Security Councils recommendations, he is entitled to head the entire organization. As it has been commented by some individuals that he should play a role of a secretary other than General while others say he should play a role a General than Secretary, according to the UN Charter, neither can apply. This is because United Charter clearly states the duties of Secretary General which cannot be handled by either being in a Secretary or General. Some of his responsibilities in his duty performance as the overall head include, he should not seek or be instructed by any government or be authorized by an external organization. He should also refrain from actions reflecting his position as international official responsible to the organization. According to the above duties, he is entitled to play both roles of secretary and General. This is because, like in the work of report writing and presentation to the General Assembly, it shows a secretary related role. The case of heading all general meetings implies General related duties. Due to this reason, he should identify himself as a Secretary General. (http://www. burmalibrary. org/reg. burma/archives/199905/msg00161. html). What position does the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change take on the â€Å"doctrine of preemption† as articulated in the US National Security Strategy of 2002? Is the HLP’s position sound? The high level panel entreats, challenges and change is a body of United Nations which addresses and analyses the threats to the international security and peace and also knowing their root causes. It also recommends range from social and economic challenges to utilization of force. The article also discusses the tasks and roles that the High level panel envisages for Security Council in light of challenges and threats which are clearly identified. Nevertheless, the panel does not insist or recommend on fundamental changes of the international paradigms legal which include the collective use of force in peace restoration. The panel’s focus on security reforms composition instead of the system that it operates in does not handle the problems with the latter and also impossibility of the former achievement. The panel as articulated in the US National Security Strategy of 2002 plays the same role as in the case of United Nations Charter where by although both stresses on security maintenance worldwide, in US, it is more specific. The US report states how the state can apply protection control measures before seeking assistance from the UN Security Council. It shows also how the state is advanced through carrying out investigations and detentions of terrorism weapons and destroys them before use in attacks. These places the strategies in front line as much has been achieved. The high level panel’s position is sound because most of the evil activities have been adversely been reduced except the normal regional crisis which can be handled locally. Kenneth Abbott and Duncan Snidal summarize why states act through international organizations as follows (â€Å"Why states act through formal organizations†, p. 8): States consciously use IOs both to reduce transaction costs in the narrow sense and, more broadly, to create information, ideas, norms and expectations; to carry out and encourage specific activities; to legitimate or de-legitimate particular ideas and practices; and to enhance their capacities and powers. These functions constitute IOs as agents, which, in turn, influence the interests, inter subjective understandings, and environment of states. To what extent does that statement reflect a realist, institutionalist and/or social constructivist perspective on the role of international organizations? According to Kenneth Abbott and Duncan Suldal statement on why states act through international organizations, their main focus was to outline the benefits associated with formal organizations. The rational institutionalism is perceives international organizations as helping the state in achievement of its ends. Through distributive and power questions, the role of international organizations is perceived as in creation of norms and also understanding. Independence and centralization are outlined as the main properties in formal organizations. International organizations as a representative in community allows creation and implementation values which enforce the international commitments. In reduction of cost, international organizations has laid down principles which structure the agency relationships so as to contain institutional checks and balances which reduce opportunistic behaviors by agents. In a single organization, checks can be facilitated through empowerment of bureaus which have partially at least opposing mandates, for instance changing the production managers through maximization of outputs and changing controllers through maximizing cost of production in the firms. In creation of information, ideas, norms and expectations, the states are carefully designed as series to safeguard in the international courts of crimes. This is in relation to response of fear of runaway international courts. With rational perspective, international organizations enables achievement of states ends through creation of norms and other understandings. In carrying out encourage specific activities, international organizations have embarked on delegation principles where by a conditional authority is granted to an agent which empowers the agent to act on behalf of the former. For this case, the agents and principals mutually constitute to each other. Here, the relationship between agents and principles is governed by contracts be it the agreement is not formally acknowledged. All forms of delegations are conducted through divisions of labor which gains from specialization whereby the gains interact with all the other benefits from delegation. The essence of delegation is mainly to focus on how principles should be designed to control their agents. Some benefits attributed with delegation include; specialization which is achieved through division of labor, policy externalities which benefits through cooperation and can delegate to an international organization in case of big policy externalities. There is also an advantage of decision making collectively whereby states can also delegate to the international organizations especially when they pose a socially intransitive preference or in case of problem encounter. Another one includes dispute resolution whereby a state can delegate the authority to international agent to help in resolving differences between themselves. The statement why states act through international organizations reflects reality because in most of institutions, such benefits have been achieved and yielded positive results. This is because although the role of international organizations differs fro state to another depending on the interests of a certain state, many states have achieved their goals for instance, in economic activities, rights of residence among others. Recent years have seen a growing trend towards the use of so-called ‘hybrid’ peace operations, in which more than one organization or mission is deployed, either sequentially or side-by-side. Discuss the reasons for this trend and the pros and cons of hybrid operations. Please illustrate your response with examples. Hybrid piece operations essentially entail application of joint force in peace keeping whereby unprecedented operations which include troop’s locations challenges are used. The commanding structure in hybrid operations has been unified and agreed between United Nations and the African union so as to function effectively aiming at the single mission even if it is reporting to different organizations. Most of limitations have been associated with hybrid peace operations for instance, around 11 years ago, Francois Mitterrand who is a French president vigorously requested the Africans to apply their own means in conflict resolution and at the same time have their own organized security. Also other skeptics like Walter Dow equally place argumentations which were against practices regionalized peace operations which includes employment of sub-regional or regional organizations to conduct peace operations which reach from low intensity to high intensity peace keeping, continued presence of conflicts resulting to human tragedies, all over the world combined with UNs uncap abilities to address the issue has shown negative attitude towards the regional peace operation. This also led to respectfully disagreement with arguments Don among others regions cap tics. According to the recent intervention by sub regional and organizations in Burundi, Sudan, Liberia and Cot d’Ivore, the change of defunct OAU in to a better promising African Union (AU) and other international programs intended to develop capabilities regionally. This shows that, in Africa, the delegation of peace operation aspects to such organizations can’t be considered as effective or undesirable. Instead, the increasing capacity and willingness of regional organizations in Africa should step to modified security challenges in the continent which are coupled with United Nation’s current overstretch and notable absence of many problems which are foreseen by regiosceptics for future regional peace operations within Africa. Also, according to many regiosceptics, no existing regional organization has the required capacity and experience to place meaningful conflict resolution and prevention through use of military without assistance from outside. They apply that the continent’s sub-regional and regional organizations suffer from resource and capacity constrants in interoperability, training sustained readiness among others. This brings doubt in the potentiality of improvements in the short term. In Germany institute of international security policies, another study shows massive weaknesses in control and commanding intelligence in gathering and analyzing and also doctrinal preparation. As many regiosceptics have had that weakness into account, they concluded that, the African militaries are left with no choice other than returning to outdated models of welfare where by the combatants utilize weapons from the Korean war which were the tactics of the first world war and the form of treatments used in the 19th century. The hybrid peace operation having more disadvantages than the advantages, I prefer the cons of hybrid operations as it has not fully achieved its goals http://www. stimson. org/fopo/? SN=FP20021018422 . References: Bailey S, (1998). The Procedure of the UN Security Council. Oxford.

Daignosis of Pi in Life of Pi Essay Example for Free

Daignosis of Pi in Life of Pi Essay Piscine Molitor Patel, after floating on the ocean for 227 days, was discovered exhausted and pale. There is no abnormalities in vital signs discovered, which indicates that with proper cares and rest, his body will function well. In spite of his physical health, his mental health should be particularly examined in detail. Without precedent case, more details and aspects should be included to consider, when evaluating if Pi is suitable to integrate to society again. Furthermore, since the incredible survival is told by Pi in first person point of view, we have reason to take a skeptical attitude on the truth of the story. It is best to present both pros and cons before jumping into the judgment. Regarding the opinion of pi developing an even stronger personality, evidences are obvious. The survival fully proves that Pi kept wisdom and logic under such terrible condition. Being with the fiercest animals and floating on the ocean for 227 days, most people can not suffer the mental pressure, and collapse even before they get to land. People are defeated by loneliness, desperation and mental disorder caused by physical illness. Pi is not one of them. Base on the fact that he not only survived but also is able to tell and remember the whole experience, it is unquestionable that Pi went through the hardship with an active and positive attitude. He himself even claimed that â€Å"with time and experience, I became a better hunter. I grew bolder and more agile. I developed an instinct, a feel, for what to do. (Chapter66)† In addition, Pi thought about helping others in the future, while his own destiny was still a mystery. In Chapter 71, he provided nine advices for those who should ever be in the same circumstance as he did. It suggests that Pi was sober enough to even consider contributing back to the society in the future. Although Pi underwent miseries and adversity, he overcame all the challenges and developed a stronger personality to face the life in modern society. Nevertheless, more worries and suspicions are discovered. Pi will face the grief of losing the whole family, which he ignored due to the desire for survival. Meanwhile, he also has to envisage the fact that being a vegetarian; he committed the unpardonable crime, killing animals. Moreover, aking into the consideration of mental disorder; some parts of the dictation would be doubted as psychological disorder, such as delusional disorder. To begin with, when he saw the death of zebra, it reminds him again of his family’s death. He was over whelmed when he mourned his family, as he said â€Å"It is like losing—I’m sorry, I would rather not go on. I lay down on the tarpaulin and spent the whole night weeping and grieving, my face hurried in my arms. (Chpater46)† Losing family is hard and cruel to accept. When he was on the boat, life was on the top of the list. However when he came back to modern society, without accompany, the horrible memory would torture him to death. To make the situation even worse, Pi still held hope that his family somehow is alive when he saw the ship. Hope collapses when he discovers the truth. Not only he has to face the fact that everyone he loved and loved him dead, but also, he as a vegetarian inevitably has to confess his guilty of killing animals. No matter whether he keeps being a vegetarian or not, Pi suffers from repentance and ambivalence. After getting used to kill, he repented by saying â€Å"To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal’s neck. I descended to a level of savagery. † When Pi returns to modern society, how should he persist what he used to believe? Above all, according to the dictation of Pi, he suffered from the illness during the drifting; it is likely that Pi developed delusional disorder. When Pi cheered for the appearance of a ship, he blazed with joy. However the ship missed them and even bore down on them. It is had to believe that such conspicuous lifeboat could be missed as there was a tiger on it. As people lost in desert see mirage, Pi might also saw the ship because his desire for survival was so strong that it drove him crazy temporarily. Based on the diagnosis criteria of delusional disorder, â€Å"Apart from the impact of the delusion(s) or its ramifications, functioning is not markedly impaired and behavior is not obviously odd or bizarre. †(1), we suggest that Pi take a series of examination to determine whether he is mentally healthy. As was previously stated, such experience with no doubt is a life-changing experience. Although adversity stiffened his spine, Pi’s psychological health was unconsciously devastated. The sudden change of environment would result in the failure of self recognition. His formal value of life was destroyed during the disaster. However he himself also can not accept the way of life in wild. We conclude that bring Pi back to society requires a series of procedures and treatment. With proper Psychological counseling, Pi would be able to reconstruct his life and value, until then, we do not suggest Pi get back to society immediately.

Challenges and Opportunities of the Ethiopian Coffee Sector

Challenges and Opportunities of the Ethiopian Coffee Sector Coffee farmers all over the world face different challenges related to the availability, cost and quality of labor, land, water, inputs, access to reasonable production credit, and proper technical advice in response to diseases and pests. Ethiopia has a reputation of high quality coffee due to its branded varieties of coffee. But, most of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia are not capable of getting the benefits connected with production and marketing of a finest quality product. There is production, processing, storage and functioning of domestic and international market related constraints for this fact (ODI, 2009). Regardless of huge potential for collective production of coffee in Ethiopia, the average yield per hectare remains very low at 0.72 metric ton per hectare. Abu and Tedy (2013) revealed three major factors for the basis of low coffee production. First, there is a direct and increasing competition of Khat (Cata edulis), a plant with mild narcotic effects, with coffee for farmlands in different areas of the country particularly in the Hararge region. Khat is chosen by many farmers because it is more profitable and brings a consistent income during the year. Second, the farm management system of coffee and the agronomic practices in Ethiopia are traditional. In addition to this, coffee producing farmers do not get adequate extension services. Lastly, there is no specialized institution that offers extension support for production of coffee in the country. According to Taye (2010), in Ethiopia, there are several attributed factors for the low level of average production and income of coffee by the world standard. These includes insufficient credit and distribution of input devices for coffee growing farmers, principal use of conservative husbandry and processing as well as unimproved local coffee landrace practices, which in turn extremely hinders the national production and productivity of coffee produced by small-scale farmers in the country. Harvesting, post-harvest storage and processing is important in order to assure the quality of coffee. Non-selective picking practice is common by smallholder farms which contributes to poor quality coffee regardless of whether it is wet or dry processed. In addition, sorting and grading of coffee berries before further processing is a practice that is long forgotten among most smallholders because of low net earnings, high cost of labor and lack of incentives for high quality coffees. Most of the coffee growing farmers in Ethiopia have traditional and temporary storages which have its own negative effect to maximize the quality of coffee, with implications for price, profit and income (ODI, 2009). The conventional coffee value chain in Ethiopia involves a large number of intermediaries and is largely state-controlled. Licenses are required for every function in the market chain (Petit, 2007). The Ethiopian government issuing licenses for direct export has changed recently. The former system was exposed to rent seeking and political control and did not offer an inducement for quality. Coffee deliveries for export markets have adversely been affected by lack of price incentives to farmers, fluctuation of production supply due to climatic variations and unstable prices (ECX, 2009). According to the Ministry of Agriculture (2013), the Ethiopian coffee sector faces persistent challenges. The major ones include very low quality control, the deficiency of a strong coffee seed supply system, inadequate consideration to the input credit provision for efficiency and quality enhancement, and lack of strong vision and path in order to support the coffee sector. Limited use of enhanced technology; land degradation and population pressure; limited access to inputs such as fertilizer, seeds, credit and irrigation; and high costs of quality coffee production and processing are also mentioned as the major challenges of the coffee sector of the country (Taye, 2013). According to Jim and Ruth (2012), the challenges to the coffee sector in Ethiopia looked devastating. They pointed out the constraints as low and inconsistent coffee quality due to poor processing; regulation of export sales through a national auction that mixed coffees from different places into a single portion and forbidden cupping earlier to sales; coffee cooperatives were technically and institutionally weak; loan capitals for production, processing and marketing investments in were absent; and lack of international market demand understanding leads to focus on quantity rather than quality. Despite the challenges, there are several opportunities of the coffee sector in Ethiopia. The country has fertile soil, optimum temperatures, sufficient rainfall and suitable altitude for coffee production. It has diverse agro-ecology and climatic conditions, genetic biodiversity and sole distinctive characters of quality coffee. Fine specialty coffee can be produced and supplied sustainably, with producing potentially all the various types of coffee in world coffee cultivating origins. Ethiopia has an ordinary benefit in organic coffee markets as over 90% of coffee production is de facto organic (Mekuria et al. 2004). Moreover, Ethiopia is the only producer of natural forest coffee Arabica, providing scope for shade-grown coffees sale, for instance, through the certification of Rainforest Alliance. The government’s decision to allow cooperatives to directly export is significant because it opened a potentially new channel of value chain for export of coffee (USAID, 2010). Positive image of the country as origin of coffee and a strong indigenous coffee culture, well established coffee brand, prospective for expansion of volume and quality coffee due to existence of adequate land and low-cost labour, high commitment of government and favourable policy environment are among the major opportunities of the coffee sector in Ethiopia (Ministry of Trade, 2013). CHAPTER THREE MATERIALS AND METHODS This chapter presents a brief profile of Ethiopia, describes the study area, the type of data collected, sampling procedure followed and analytical methods used to analyze the data. 3.1. A Brief Profile of Ethiopia Ethiopia is among the countries that have a history of early civilization.It is the only African country never been colonized. It was previously known as Abyssinia. It is geographically located in the Horn of Africa, 3 and 14.8 latitude and 33 and 48 longitude. The country is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Kenya to the south, South Sudan and Sudan to the west and Djibouti and Somalia to the east. It is the second most populous country in Africa with over 91,195,675 (2012 est.) inhabitants. It covers an area of 1,104,300km2. Addis Ababa is the capital city, also known as â€Å"the political capital of Africa†. Ethiopia is a mountainous and landlocked country. It is situated at an altitude that ranges from 4620 meters above sea level at Ras Dashen in the Northern part of Ethiopia to 155 meters below sea level in the North east where the great Danakil depression is situated. The climate condition is hot in the lowlands and temperate in the highlands. Temperature ranges from 10oc to 30oc while rainfall ranges from 200mm to 2000 mm per year. Ethiopia is basically stated as the â€Å"water tower† of Eastern Africa for the reason that several (14 major) rivers that discharge off the high plateau, including Blue Nile river. The country has the highest water reserves in Africa, but it is not utilized through irrigation systems. It is only 1.5% used for irrigation and 1% for power production. Ethiopia is a multilingual and multi ethnic country in which around 86 ethnic groups are found. The majority of the population is Christian while a third of it is Muslim. The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic, even if English, Italian, French and Arabic are fairly spoken. Ethiopia uses a slightly modified form of the Julian calendar, which consists 12 equal months of 30 days each and a thirteenth month of five days (six days in a leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is eight years late with the Gregorian (Western) calendar from September 11 to December 31 and seven years in the rest of the year. Ethiopia is an independent republic functioning under the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) constitution. The President is head of state whereas the Prime Minister is the head of government. The country is divided into nine autonomous regional states and two special city administrations. The two cities administrations as well as the nine national regional states are further divided into 800 Woredas/districts and around 15,000 Kebeles (5,000 Urban and 10,000 Rural). Agriculture is the foundation of Ethiopia’s economy, responsible for 45.6% of GDP, 80% of employment, 80% of exports and 52% of exports for foreign exchange. Industry and services cover 13.4% and 41% of GDP respectively. Coffee, pulses, oil-seeds, hides and skins, khat, cut flowers, gold, meat, live animals and textile garments are major export items of the country. Rural Ethiopia contains about 84% of the country’s population. Banking, insurance and micro-credit industries in Ethiopia are regulated to domestic investors; however the country has attracted substantial foreign investment in leather, textiles, manufacturing and commercial agriculture. All the land is owned by the state which is state in the constitution. The government provides long-term leases to the tenants and distributes the land use certificates which help the tenants to have more recognizable rights to persistent possession and hence make more rigorous efforts to expand their leaseholds. According to the IMF report (2012), the growth of Ethiopian economy was one of the fastest in the world. The country registered over 10% economic growth for six years between 2004 and 2009.It was a non-oil-dependent economy in Africa with the fastest-growing rate in the years 2007 and 2008. However, thegrowth has slowed temperately to 7%in the year 2012 and is projected to be 6.5% in the near future.The country faces high inflation challenge and balance of payment difficulties. Inflation is projected to be at about 22 percent for the year 2011/12. The economy still faces a number of serious structural problems. The per capita income of the country is one of the lowest globally even if the GDP growth has remained high. There is low productivity of agriculture and frequent droughts which strictly affected the country. 3.2. Description of the Study Area: Mana District of Jimma Zone This study was conducted in Manna district of the Jimma administrative zone in the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. The area was selected on the grounds that these villages would provide a picture of the range of production and employment options available to households in a coffee producing area, with reasonably good links to the wider economy. They also needed to be accessible during the rainy season when the study was carried out. Oromia Regional State has 12 administrative zones and 180 woredas. It is the largest Regional State in Ethiopia in terms of population and area. It covers an area of 367,000 km2 (about 30% of the total area of the country) and a population of more than 26 million inhabitants (35%). From the total population, 88 percent lives in rural areas where the average household size is 5 persons and 35 percent lives below the absolute poverty line (CSA, 2008). Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of Oromia region. It is considered as fragmented and subsistence farming. The majority of the farmers depend on coffee. Farmers producing â€Å"Arabica† coffee in Oromia region are 424,309 and 95 percent of the production is done by small-scale farmers. From the total amount of marketed coffee that is produced in the region, 85 percent is sun dried or unwashed (IPMS, 2007). Jimma zone is one of the 12 administrative zones in Oromia Regional State. It is located in the Southwestern part of Ethiopia between 7 ° 13’ and 8 ° 56’ N latitude, and 35 ° 52’ and 37 ° 37’ E longitude. It has an area of approximately 19,300 Km ². Jimma town which is 335 Km southwest of Addis Ababa, is the capital and administrative center of the zone. Its population is around 2.4 million, of which approximately 5% lives in Jimma town. Crude population density is 106 persons per km2. There are approximately 644kms of all-weather roads and 447km of dry weather roads in the zone (CSA, 2008). The Altitude of Jimma zone varies from 880 to 3,340 meter above sea level. The topography includes dissected plateaus, mountains, plains, hills, gorges and valleys. There are many intermittent streams and perennial rivers. The zone is characterized by its humid tropical climate with heavy annual rainfall ranging from 1200 to 2400 mm per year, with a long rainy season from February/March to October/November. The temperature ranges from 25 to 30 °C with a minimum temperature of 7 °C. The agro-climatic divisions of the area are classified as Kolla (14.9% lowlands), Woinadega (64.4% mid highlands) and Dega (20.5% highlands). High forest, shrubs, woodland and man-made forests are found in the zone. Out of the 13 Woredas of the zone, only 7 focus on coffee production. Manna, Gomma, Limmu Seka and Limmu Chekrosa woredas are well-known as mainly coffee growing areas (Jimma Zone Agriculture, 2010). Manna Woreda is one of the 13 woredas of Jimma zone known for its predominant coffee cultivation. It is located between 7 °46.5 and 7 °51.5 in North while 36 °40 and 36 °42 in East and found in central parts of the zone. The woreda is located at 35 km west of Jimma town and about 6 km from Yebu town which is the woreda capital. The total area of the woreda is 480 km2 (48,000 ha) of which 12% is highland, 65% intermediate highland and 23% lowland. It lies between 1,470 and 2,610m altitude. It has an average annual rainfall of 1500 mm with mean average temperature of 19oc (ARDO, 2008). It occupies loamy soils with production of coffee, cereals and vegetables. Coffee accounts for 80% of the production. Distric Nitosols and Orthic Acrisols are the dominant soil types with slightly acidic PH, which is suitable for coffee production found in the woreda (ORG, 2003). Manna Woreda (district) is most densely populated district in Jimma zone with 308 persons per Km ². The total population of the woreda is estimated at 146,675 inhabitants (CSA, 2008). 89% of the district area is arable (with 86% under cultivation), 2.7% is grazing and 2.8% forest lands. The major cash crop commodities which are cultivated in the district include coffee, chat (Catha edulis), tropical and sub-tropical fruits (mango, avocado, papaya, banana, orange, pineapple) and spices (mainly ginger and Ethiopian cardamom). Among cereals, maize, teff, wheat, barley and sorghum are grown in the area; amongst of which, maize is the dominant cereal crop in the farming system. Livestock commodities include cattle, small ruminants (sheep and goat), apiculture, poultry and equines. Lady bird beetle, Stalk borer, ape, pig, warthog, and porcupine are major crop pests. Compared with other woredas in Jimma zone, Manna has a high population density, smaller size and relatively better access t o infrastructure and services (IPMS, 2007).