On-farm experiments were conducted to evaluate two jab planters for planting maize in the forest zone of Ghana in 2014 major season. One of the jab planters was imported from China; and we fabricated the other. The experiments were conducted at 3 farmers' fields (sites) and the design was a factorial with sites as replications. Factor A was method of land preparation (ridges and no-till with stubble mulch) and factor B was planting device (Chinese jab planter, Local jab planter and cutlass). On the average, it took about 9 hours, 11 hours and 23 hours 37 minutes to plant one hectare of maize with the Chinese Jab planter, local jab planter and cutlass in that order. Consistently, there were more hills with maize seedlings on the ridges than on the no till plots. At one site, pests removed maize from the entire no-till plots, but removal was very low on the ridges. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in yield among the treatments studied. Some farmers in Ghana now broadcast maize and cowpea seed due to scarcity and/or high cost of labour for planting. Economic analysis showed that it is about 100% cheaper to plant with the jab planters than with cutlass. The jab planters could be promoted to reduce drudgery, time and cost of planting maize.

Pollution from domestic wastes is a major environmental challenge in Ghana and many developing countries. Most of these countries depend almost entirely on landfills for waste management, which has proved to be expensive, inefficient and unsustainable. A sustainable solution to this problem is productive use of waste such as recycling. The main challenge that may limit recycling in Ghana and some of these countries is that a chunk of the wastes are littered on the environment, and the rest is collected in bulk in the same waste bin, thereby mixing them. The cost of collecting littered wastes, or separating mixed wastes could be prohibitive, making recycling uneconomical. In order to productively utilize wastes, adequate and separate waste bins must be provided for collecting the different components of wastes. However, budgetary constraints may not allow many countries to purchase expansive waste bins for the different components of wastes. Consequently, a simple waste bin, comprising a metal frame on which polypropylene sack (pp-sack) can be hanged to collect inorganic wastes has been developed by the author. The waste bin (new bin) can be manufactured industrially using plastic or fabricated by local artisans at an affordable price. This document describes the new bin. Experience in collecting organic and inorganic wastes generated in a house in separate waste bins (waste segregation) for the past 16 years is also highlighted.