Abstract: Sisal cultivation has the potential of contributing immensely towards the economic development of a given country, resulting to improved standards of living. The exportation of sisal fibre can be a great source of foreign exchange in a given country. Further, sisal related industry can be a great source of employment to the global economy. Moreover, sisal is a drought resistant crop, whose cultivation can lead to effective use of the greater arid and semi-arid land in the Sub-Sahar...
Abstract: Annually Kenya produces about 20 million tons of poultry meat worth KES 3.5 billion and 1.3 billion eggs worth KES 9.7 billion. However Indigenous chicken productivity has stagnated due to limited transfer and adoption of improved technologies such as biosecurity practices by rural households. The productivity of Indigenous chicken has been decreasing in Makueni County despite development agencies, both national and international and county government investing heavily in chicken e...
Abstract: The need to enhance food production and the efforts by stakeholders to introduce newfarming innovations in addition to enhancement of agricultural extension servicesin farming areas of Kenya is largely under reported. This study was undertaken at YattaDivision of Kitui County to assess new maize farming technologies, diffusion andadoption by farmers in Yatta Division. Specific objectives were to identify maize farmingtechnologies that exist in Yatta, to identify factors determining...
Abstract: Oviposition decisions are a prominent example of behaviour directly affecting the fitness, abundance, distribution, and population dynamics of holometabolous insects. Due to eggs being immobile and adult insects often not practicing biparental and/or maternal care, gravid females, when ovipositing, should select substrate(s) that maximise fitness of their offspring. Studies have revealed that this selection is influenced by biotic (intra and interspecific competition, parasitism, l...
Abstract: The importance of bananas cannot be underestimated worldwide. The main study objective was to assess the adoption and commercialization of tissue culture bananas in the riverine areas of the semi-arid areas of Lower Eastern region of Kenya. The specific objectives included determining respondents socio-economic, environmental and policy factors affecting adoption of tissue culture bananas in the region. This study was necessary due to the fact that there were many production gaps t...
integrating behavioural and physiological variables to predict avian responses to climate change in the Kalahari Desert Predicting how species will respond to climate change requires an understanding of how temperature affects behaviour, physiological tolerance limits and adaptive capacity. In this thesis, I investigated the temperature-dependency of physiology and behaviour of birds in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa
Abstract: Inadequate and erratic rainfall in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Kenya that are accompanied by long dry spells lead to drought. This leads to low feed availability. Inadequate quality and quantity of feeds is the major constraint to livestock production in the ASALs of Kenya. It is the major input factor to livestock production and accounts for 60-70% of the production cost. There is therefore a need to introduce climate smart forage species in order to expand the forage ...
Abstract: The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is a destructive pest when gregarious but harmless in solitary form. Reports demonstrate the involvement of aggregation pheromones in mediating behavior of the desert locust in the gregarious phase. Phenylacetonitrile (PAN), the major component of the adult aggregation pheromone, can act as an adult aggregant for both sexes and as a male homosexual avoidance pheromone. However, the origin of PAN and its biosynthesis p...
Abstract: Food security is a global problem despite the many efforts put to produce enough food to feed the ever rising global population. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is an important crop for food security and provision of proteins for poor households in sub Saharan Africa. In arid and semi-arid lands, beans are very important for they play a major role in food security and nutrition. However, its production in ASALs is constrained by erratic rainfall, moisture deficit, low nutrients ...
Abstract: Semi-arid peri-urban environment holds great potential for dairy development to meet the high demand for milk and become a livelihood support strategy. In support for dairy production, forage technologies were promoted among dairy farmers in order to improve the performance of the sector and contribute to poverty reduction. However, the level and determinants of adoption of selected forage technologies in relation to dairy production is still unknown. To address this, 150 dairy far...
Abstract: Green gram(Vigna radiataL.) has recently become an important crop in Kitui County because of its high economic returns and short growing season.The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a GIS-based Multi-criteria analysis for Green gram production in Kitui County using Geographic Information Sytem (GIS) based multi-criteria evaluation. Three main criteria were selected for analysis (soil, climate and topography) and 8 sub criteria (soil texture, soil depth, soil pH,...
Abstract: The Mara River is the lifeline of the Trans boundary Mara basin across Kenya and Tanzania. The basin is considered one of the more serene sub-catchments of the Lake Victoria Basin and ultimately the Nile Basin. The basin traverses the famous Maasai Mara and Serengeti National Parks in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. The basin also contains forests, largescale farms, smallholder farms, pastoral grazing lands, as well as hunter gatherers and fishers. There is growing concern however...
Abstract: Natural resource degradation and water scarcity are a global concern that threatens sustainability of smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). In ASALs, low adoption of Integrated Soil Fertility and Water Management (ISFWM) technologies has contributed to food and nutrition insecurity. A study was carried out to assess factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption decision of ISFWM technologies in Mwala and Yatta Sub-Counties. A questionnaire wa...
Abstract: Cereals are important crops grown and consumed globally, regionally and locally. However, world cereal yields have declined due to frequent droughts, erratic and unreliable rainfall especially in sub-saharan Africa. Pearl millet accounts for almost half of the global production of the millet species. Therefore, identifying high yielding pearl millet genotypes with farmer preffered traits and adapted to drought stress is key for food security. The objective of the field study was to...
Abstract: This thesis is a study of the occurrence, behaviour, spatial distribution, and temporal distribution of cetaceans in the Greater Dyer Island area, Western Cape, South Africa. Three main methods were used in the study: Analysis of data from a local whale-watching vessel (WWV) (2000 2012), visual land-based theodolite tracking (during four southern right whale seasons (August December) from 2011 2014 and one summer/autumn season in 2013), and passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) using a...