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 ...
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...
ABSTRACT Rain water harvesting technologies (RWHTs) known as Zai pit and Half-moon have been embraced by small-scale farmers as a solution to climate related shocks. However, little is known on the socio-economic, institutional and technological aspects affecting farmers demand for the technologies as well their effects on farmers’ income. This study was meant to fill this knowledge gap. The general objective was to contribute towards improved food security through enhanced use of Zai pit ...
ABSTRACT The growing population in developing countries has necessitated a shift in preference for indigenous food. Small ruminant meat being one of the preferred indigenous products has registered huge increase in demand over the last few years. Therefore, demand for sheep and goat meat is predicted to rise predominantly in Arid and Semi- Arid Lands (ASAL), thereby creating new meat markets as well as expansion of the existing small ruminant value chain. Isiolo- Nairobi small ruminant value...
ABSTRACT Dissemination of push-pull technology (PPT), continued use and expansion of land area under PPT remain critical requirements in addressing the major constraints facing maize production. These include infestation by Striga weed and stem borers, coupled with declining soil fertility conditions which jointly result in low yields and poverty in many developing countries. Despite the extensive literature on PPT adoption, its impacts as well as wider dissemination, little is known about d...
ABSTRACT With the declining public investments in extension services in Kenya, smallholder farmers are accessing inputs and advisory services from private sector through diverse business models, namely producer organization driven, milk processor driven or direct procuring. However, farmers‟ choice of the business models and their influence on dairy performance and technical efficiency is empirically unclear. Using data from random sample of 246 smallholder dairy farmers in a cross- sectio...
ABSTRACT Despite the acknowledged importance of agricultural science and technology (AS&T), little is known about the structure and performance of AS&T policy system in developing countries. The structure and performance of this policy system in Kenya and Uganda was analysed using a preliminary ‘system components-shift effects’ framework. The system components comprised of agricultural research, extension, education and transboundary technology transfer. The impact of these components wa...
ABSTRACT Measuring market integration is one of the most important aspects that can be used to assess the impacts of market development and liberalization policies. The study used cointegration approach to evaluate market integration in the sugar industry in Kenya. The approach used appreciates the existence of transaction cost and other determinants of market integration including effective communication as well as good transport network. The nature of movement of sugar prices in different ...
ABSTRACT More than 80 percent of the population in Ethiopia lives in rural areas and their main source of income is agriculture. Agriculture accounts for 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 85 percent of the labour force.Export of agricultural products constitutes 86 percent of the total foreign exchange earnings. The country has taken different measures to diversify and increase the contribution of the export sector to economic growth such as; export trade duty incent...
ABSTRACT Maize is the main staple food crop in Kenya and the government policy objective is to increase maize production in order to achieve food self-sufficiency and security. The government has been applying import tariffs on maize, procuring maize at support prices, and imposing non-tariff barriers on maize imports as measures aimed at motivating farmers to produce more maize. Maize production has not, however, substantially improved in the last 13 years, and consumption demand has remain...
ABSTRACT Evidence has shown that Time Allocation (TA) to various activities by gender has implications for the poverty status of households. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the influence of TA on household poverty in rural Nigeria. Hence, the influence of gender TA on the poverty status of rural farming households in Southwestern Nigeria (SWN) was investigated. Oyo and Osun states were randomly selected from SWN. Two rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly chosen from eac...
ABSTRACT Rural development has been erroneously equated to agricultural development. The former works to diversify income through non-farm activities to complement proceeds of the latter. However, the actual role of non-farm income in poverty alleviation is not yet known among rural households. There is therefore the need to critically explore the roles of non-farm income diversification in rural poverty alleviation. The patterns and contributions of nonfarm income diversification to poverty...
ABSTRACT East Africa region has imbalances in the supply and demand of common bean. This can be offset by improving marketing infrastructure. The objectives of the study were to determine the characteristics of common bean traders, to determine the constraints to the observed trade in common bean varieties and finally to assess the extent to which markets have integrated in key selected markets. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 240 respondents (120 traders from th...