ABSTRACT Potatoes are crops that although perishable can be stored easily with minimum loss of quality and quantity. Potato storage in Kenya is not common with the few farmers that practice it doing it traditionally and are therefore exposed to risks and consequently losses. Studies have indicated that the storage of potatoes is a means of protecting farmers from seasonality in supply and price fluctuations constraints. Studies in Tunisia, India, and USA have shown the benefits of potato sto...
ABSTRACT Livestock production in Semi-Arid Lands (SALs) of Kenya has continued to decline over the past decade, thereby threating the livelihood of pastoralists. In the recent past, there have been concerted efforts by the Government to supply more hardy cattle breeds with ability to produce enough meat and milk for pastoral communities. Despite introduction of high perfoming breeds such as Sahiwal, the dissemination of this genetic material among the pastoralists remain low. Whereas pastora...
ABSTRACT Kenya has the potential to produce enough wheat for its domestic consumption, but over the years wheat consumption has continued to outstrip local production thus, making Kenya a perennial net importer of wheat. Current annual wheat consumption is estimated at 600,000 metric tonnes against a production of 365,696 metric tonnes. Though low wheat productivity can be attributed to many factors, little is known about the attitudes to and adoption of improved wheat production technologie...
Abstract The rural people have been recognized as knowledge holders on climate change. This work examines the socio-economic imperatives of such knowledge particularly as it affects livelihood in selected forest fringe communities in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was adopted in which 4 Local Government Areas (LGAS): Odigbo, Akure North, Owo and Idanre were randomly selected in Ondo state. In each of the LGAs, a forest reserve (Oluwa, Ala, Owo and Idanre, respectiv...
ABSTRACT The value chain approach embraces the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the intermediary phases of production, delivery to final consumers, and final disposal after use. Traditionally extension agents have concentrated their efforts on technology transfer that targeted production aspects of a poultry and ignored other factors of the value chain. Most farmers specialize in production and may be excluded from decision ma...
ABSTRACT In spite of the efforts and the emergence of numerous group based interventions for technology dissemination, the productivity and technology uptake levels of smallholder farmers of South Kivu, democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) still remain low. The objectives of this study were therefore to describe the changes in input use, value of production and incomes, determine changes in institutional linkages resulting from group based interventions, quantify the economic gains from the gr...
ABSTRACT Worldwide, young people and mainly the rural youth face challenges in trying to earn a livelihood, yet agriculture offers a lot of opportunities for investment and their livelihood. Malawi economy is predominantly agricultural. Young people form more than 50 per cent of the country’s population. Despite the Malawi government efforts to enhance youth participation in the agriculture sector through policy support, only few youths participate actively in this sector. This study sough...
ABSTRACT The existence of genetic diversity in germplasm collections is crucial for cultivar development. The objectives of this study were to determine genetic diversity of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L) Verdc.) landraces from Kenya using genetic markers and characterize bambara groundnut landraces from Kenya using morphological markers. Genetic and morphological relationships among bambara groundnuts accessions, were evaluated using morphological and microsatellite markers. Twelv...
ABSTRACT East Coast fever (ECF) is a current threat to smallholder cattle keepers in the eastern, central, and southern Africa regions; as it causes substantial economic losses. Infection and Treatment Method (ITM) is considered to be the best method for ECF control. ITM has potential benefits of improving the livelihood of cattle keepers; through improving cattle productivity and reducing cost of production. However, since its commercialization in 2010, not all the cattle keepers in the tar...
ABSTRACT Citrus is a major source of income in Kenya for both large and small scale farmers. However, citrus productivity has been declining over the years mainly due to pests and diseases, particularly the African Citrus Trioza (ACT), Huanglongbing (HLB) and False Codling Moth (FCM). Management of pests and diseases is sorely dependent on synthetic pesticides, which not only increases production costs but also are associated with high health and environmental risks. Use of integrated pest m...
ABSTRACT Recently, there has been emergence in the use of semi-formal credit provided by devolved government in enhancing farm and off-farm enterprises. Despite the potential of the credit offered by devolved governments in terms of enhancing rural farm household welfare, little is known about the effect of this type of credit on household income. This study therefore, examined the effect of semi-formal credit use on household income in Kakamega County, Kenya. The study aimed to contribute ...
General Information Bushmeat consumption, the consumption of meat from wild forest animals, is an important part of livelihoods in rural West- and Central Africa. In the Congo Basin, bushmeat protein supply was estimated at 30 g person'1 day'1 (Democratic Republique of Congo) to 180 g person'1 day'1 (Gabon) (2002-2003). Based on extraction-production models it has been suggested that supply would drop by 81% by 2050 in a ‘no-change’ scenario of current extraction levels (Fa et al. 2003). ...
ABSTRACT Indigenous chicken contribute significantly as a source of animal protein but productivity in Kenya is low due to inadequate feed supply and high cost of commercial feed. Prosopis juliflora pods is an alternative local and nutritive feed resource that can be used as a feed ingredient in poultry to increase productivity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess performance of laying improved Indigenous Chicken (IC) fed on diets containing ground mature Prosopis juliflora pods (...
ABSTRACT Tenure issues in natural resources management and control limit agricultural enterprise and effective land use. Conflicts arising from land tenure and tree tenure were examined in eight (8) communities across Northern and Southern Nigeria. The research included preliminary surveys, interviews and questionnaires to obtain relevant information on tenure conflict history, agricultural enterprises, resource user groups and rights exercised in land use and management. Root cause analysis ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture continues to be the key driver of the Kenyan economy. However, the sector faces challenges in production due to frequent and prolonged droughts. This calls for farmers to adopt more drought-tolerant crops like cassava. Cassava farmers face a number of socioeconomic and institutional factors that influence their production decisions. This study sought to contribute to improved food security of smallholder farmers in rural areas by improving production policies through det...