Objectives
The learners should be able to:
> Select and manage various tree regeneration materials.
Course outline
> Genetic diversity and variation, and objectives of biodiversity conservation at the national level;
> Provenances, plus tree selection and development of landraces;
> The role of tree improvement in afforestation: yield and forest health;
> Genotype-environment interaction;
> Breeding strategies and breeding populations;
> Seed orchards and breeding seedling orchards: location, establishment and management;
> Seed quality, yield variation, harvesting and storage;
> Traditional plant propagation and new biotechnology techniques;
> Clonal forestry, and;
> Design and/or achievement of: mating, fecundity, hybridisation, heritability, compatibility, controlled-pollination, cross-pollination,
outcrossing, back-crossing, full- and half-sib material.
Instruction
> Lectures, practical sessions and field visits.
> 10% of the credit hours for this course will allocated to work integrated learning (WIL) – relevant aspects will include communication, recording, monitoring and mentoring systems
Assessment
> Assignments, WIL report, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 16
Pre-requisite
> None
Objectives
The learners should be able to:
> Plan forest development, yield regulation and utilisation for multiple objectives on a sustainable basis.
Course outline
> Characteristics of sustainable forest management.
> Principles of forest management and their application
> Forest management planning.
> Forestry inventory, forest resources inventories for sustainable forest management, types and objectives of forest inventories.
> Forest growth and yield.
> Diagnostic sampling.
> Forest management operations
> Review of forest management activities.
Instruction
> Lectures, practical sessions and field visits
> 10% of the credit hours for this course will allocated to work integrated learning (WIL) – relevant aspects will include communication, recording, monitoring and mentoring systems.
Assessment
> Assignments, WIL report, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 16
Pre-requisite
None
Objectives
The learners should be able to:
> Introduction to remote sensing and GIS;
> Obtain and Integrate data from disparate sources to a GIS system;
> Import data from Microsoft Excel into a GIS;
> Integrate global positioning system (GPS) data into a GIS;
> Manage GIS data in a GIS system;
> Overlay spatial features and perform simple GIS analysis;
> Perform proximity analysis using buffering features to fixed and variable widths;
> Develop and present maps and layout using Quantum GIS, and;
> Apply GIS to solve simple practical problems in forestry.
Course outline
> Planning for a GIS system and its installation;
> Working with a GIS software: digitising maps and relating to GPS inputs;
> Handling GIS data: – importing/amalgamation and editing tables in GIS, and;
> GPS data collection and retrieval.
Instruction
> Case studies, laboratory practical’s and lectures
Assessment
> Assignments, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 16
Pre-requisite
> None
Objectives
> This course will provide students with an opportunity to enhance their understanding of the principles and processes of agricultural research. Emphasis will be placed on techniques used in identifying problems, forming hypotheses, constructing and using data-gathering instruments, designing research studies, and employing statistical procedures to analyse data and also communicating research findings and outcomes in both oral and written formats.
Course Outline
Introduction to Research
> Definition, Concepts, Ethics
Research methods
> Study the nature of research and the various methods for acquiring information
> Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Research design
> Concepts of design for experimental investigations
> Methods of data collection and organisation
Research proposal development
> The identification and definition of a research topic and its rationale
> Development of literature review and appropriate literature citation
Experimental design and statistics
> Experimental procedures, cause and control of experimental error
> Applications of statistical estimation and inference
> Use of statistical software for data processing
> Approaches to analysing data
> Analysis of variance, one way and multiple ways classification; factor experiments, split-plot designs and analysis of results.
Regression analysis, correlation analysis, Mean comparison techniques.
Data interpretation
Instruction
> In-class discussions, group activities, and case studies. On their own time, students must complete weekly course readings and written assignments
Assessment
> A written assignment in which students will be asked to develop a research proposal on a discipline related topic.
Credits
> 12
Pre-requisite
> None
Objectives
The learners should be able to:
> Plan and schedule operational activities;
> Produce a materials and labour unit budget;
> Forecast expenditures and revenues, and;
> Cost and control expenditure and inputs resources in operations at the forest level.
Course outline
> Forest operation costing and budgeting;
> Use of spread sheets in forestry as a planning tool for work quantification, scheduling and progress monitoring;
> Building data sheets: operational cost elements;
> Assessment of standard tasks and standard costs;
> Method study, labour/machine utilisation;
> Problem analysis tools: cause-effect diagrams and flow charts;
> Machinery replacement, depreciation and hiring/ownership costs;
> Financing choices and economic costing;
> Inventory control: economic order quantity and upper/lower controls;
> Sensitivity analysis: cost minimisation/profit maximisation;
> Activity based costing (ABC), zero budgeting, break-even analysis, ;
> Costing operational plans for a forest management unit (FMU): calculation of labour, equipment and time requirements for an annual plan of operations (APO);
> Analyses of operational cost data using graphs and pivot tables;
> Production budget and cost/revenue budget variance analysis, and;
> Business performance and the strategic business unit concepts.
Instruction
> Lecturers, practicals, case study.
> 10% of the credit hours for this course will allocated to work integrated learning (WIL) – relevant aspects will include communication, recording, monitoring and mentoring systems
Assessment
> Assignments, WIL report, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 16
Pre-requisite
> None
Objectives
The learners should be able:
> To demonstrate proper application of national and regional forestry related policies and legislation
Course Outline
> Economic development context;
> Forest development proposals;
> Management of forest property associations;
> Interpretation of environmental impact assessment report and directives;
> Checking compliance of new forest development projects;
> Preparation for forest certification, and;
> Responding to corrective action requests (CARs) in audit reports.
Instruction
> Lectures, practical sessions and field visits
> 10% of the credit hours for this course will allocated to work integrated learning (WIL) – relevant aspects will include communication, recording, monitoring and mentoring systems
Assessment
Assignments, WIL report, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 16
Pre-requite
> None
Objectives
The learners should be able to:
> Identify/formulate the research question or problem statement
> Formulate a research topic, hypothesis and justification
> Set specific, measurable, accurate, realistic and time-frame based research objectives
> Review literature and synthesise it in line with the set topic and outlined objectives and be able to determine information gap
> Set the experiment/study through defining materials and methods (methodology), collect and analyse data through academically acceptable methods (e.g. statistical, socio-economical, econometrical, geo-statistical etc.).
> Report and discuss the research results
> Draw conclusions as guided by classical model (abductive, deductive and inductive), pragmatic model or logical model (logical empiricism)
> Develop recommendations as guided by the research results at least to address knowledge/information gap, policy reference, or practice improvement proposals, affirmations etc.
Course outline
> Identification/formulation of problem
> Formulation of a research topic, hypothesis and justification
> Setting research objectives
> Literature review and synthesis
> Setting the experiment/study
> Defining materials and methods (methodology),
> Data collection and analysis (e.g. statistical, socio-economical, econometrical, geo-statistical etc.).
> Reporting and interpretation of the research results
> Drawing conclusions as guided by classical model (deductive and inductive), pragmatic model or logical model (logical empiricism)
> Develop recommendations as guided by the research results Analysis of research data, as appropriate to the research project undertaken
Instruction
> Each student selects and executes a special project under a supervisor. Duration of the project is 2 semesters
Assessment
Submission of research project report, Oral presentation
Credits
> 16
Pre-requisite
> None
Objectives
The learners should be able:
> To provide practical understanding of the principles and techniques of project management as a fundamental management tool in matching scarce resources with ever-tight deadlines
Course outline
> History
> Economic principles of project management
> Project selection
> Project lifecycle
> Work breakdown structure
> Critical path analysis and optimization
> Management techniques
> Effective project control.
Instruction
> Lectures/week, tutorials ( project proposal, project planning, project monitoring and evaluation)
Assessment
> Assignments, Tests and Examination (3-hour paper).
Credits
> 12
Pre-requisite
> None
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