ABSTRACT Over the last decade Kenyan government has been supporting rabbit research and development activities. The efforts were aimed at raising the productivity of the small holders rabbit producers as a cheap and ease source of animal protein in the rural areas of Kenya despite presence of pulses. But inspite of the efforts rabbit production in Buuri Sub county stands at 1.2 Metric tons of meat against a potential of 8.4 Metric tons per year. This productivity gap is wide and indicative of...
ABSTRACT Agriculture plays a vital role in the Kenyan economy. It helps in poverty mitigation and ensuring food security. In agriculture, women constitute the majority of small-scale farmers in Kenya, providing 89% of subsistence farming labor force and 70% of the cash crop labor force. However, they have limited access to land which hinders them from making the most constructive use of their time and energy in the agricultural sector and thus affecting household nutritional outcomes. Therefo...
ABSTRACT This study was done to evaluate the effects of agronets on insect pests and crop performance on cabbage production under Kenyan conditions. Two experiments were conducted over a span of two seasons at the Horticulture Research and Teaching Field, Egerton University. The objectives were to determine the effects of agronets on (1) microclimate modification, (2) insect pest population and damage, and (3) the subsequent effect on seedling performance, crop growth, yield and quality of ca...
ABSTRACT Kenyan smallholder cotton production has remained low despite the spirited effort by the government and the private sector to revive the sector. Several factors combined seem to be responsible for this perpetual low production. Among the factors are constraints ranging from, inadequate extension services, limited access to information on production and poor marketing systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate how these selected factors (cluster group extension approach, in...
ABSTRACT Climate and land use are the two most significant factors that influence watershed hydrology globally. The impact of climate variability on streamflow arises from changes in precipitation and temperature, leading to the adjustment of the physical and biological processes of ecosystems. Land use change impact on streamflow however varies across different regions and environments to warrant a universal theory, making it subject of scientific interest to hydrologists. The aim of this st...
ABSTRACT The main Karoo Basin of South Africa contains a relatively continuous sequence of continental deposits that accumulated over a 100 million year period from Permo-Carboniferous (280 Ma) to early Jurassic (180 Ma). In the southwestern region of the basin the Karoo succession is approximately 4 000 m thick, the upper half of which consists of vertebrate fossil-bearing fluvial rocks of the Beaufort Group. This study deals with Lower Beaufort (Adelaide Subgroup) strata belonging to the Te...
ABSTRACT Vegetable production is of great importance in terms of nutrition improvement, income generation and food security. Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISNG) action research project actively integrates vegetable farming and marketing practices in order to reduce the vulnerability of indigenous populations of Babati district located in the Manyara region of Tanzania. In Tanzania smallholder vegetable famers receive asymmetrical and inc...
ABSTRACT Over the years, Njoro Sub-County in Kenya has become increasingly urbanized, transforming from a transcendently rustic, horticultural territory, to dominatingly urban non-agrarian locale; driven mainly by growth of population. Agriculture being the main source of livelihood for the rural and semi-urban residents is being acutely jeopardized by rapid urbanization. Despite extensive studies on agricultural land conversion, there exists a knowledge gap on the extent of agricultural land...
ABSTRACT The role of agricultural extension is vital to the diffusion of new technologies, but extension is currently not very effective in many African nations, with conventional extension approaches having minimal impact. In Kenya, there have been gaps on the availability of studies and documentation of the specific extension approaches and their influence on the acquisition of knowledge and skills for improved farm productivity despite the various extension efforts and resources put in pla...
ABSTRACT Spider plant (Cleome gynandra) is among traditional leafy vegetables whose consumption is increasing in Kenya. Characterization of spider plant ecotypes has not been exclusively done even though a collection exists at the national museums of Kenya. Production of spider plant as a vegetable is constrained by low leaf yields resulting from lack of improved planting materials and a short vegetative phase of the plant. The objective of this study was to morphologically characterize 36 sp...
ABSTRACT Leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major foliar diseases contributing to yield losses in wheat worldwide. Objectives of this study were: (i) to determine genotypic variation among Kenyan wheat genotypes against leaf rust at adult plant stage (ii) to determine genotypic variation among Kenyan wheat genotypes against leaf rust at seedling stage (iii) to determine leaf rust virulence in Kenya using leaf rust differential sets. Three experiments...
ABSTRACT Lameness is a cause of worry to dairy producers for being indicative of welfare problem with resultant economic losses from reduced milk yield, veterinary cost or premature culling. Risks for lameness are both animal and herd level factors, but the magnitude varies with housing conditions of the cows. This study compared farmer estimated and observed prevalence, types of lameness, risk factors and economic losses from lameness of cows in farms practicing zero- and pasture grazing. T...
ABSTRACT This study examined the percentage distribution of benefits obtained from Ibadan urban forest reserves across policy relevant socio-economic classes of the populace in order to draw research and policy implications. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse data obtained from a multi-stage random survey of 397 residents of Ibadan metropolis. The results show that benefits obtained from the urban forest reserves do not depend significantly on gender (x2=2.57; p>...
ABSTRACT Rice productivity is low in Nigeria, and NERICA was introduced by West Africa Rice Development Agency (WARDA) to solve this problem. This study focused on NERICA productivity and efficiency in Kaduna State. A three-stage sampling technique was used with Kaduna State being purposively selected. Igabi and Soba Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected. Five villages were randomly selected from each LGA, with a total of 129 NERICA farmers selected and used for the analysis. ...
ABSTRACT The importance of forests, forest management and related information to human sustainable development cannot be overemphasized. This paper reports the analyses of forestry-related news source and their geographical focus in Guardian and Tribune Newspapers in Nigeria between June, 2009 and May, 2014. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the two National dailies because both have column for environment issues, they are available and their continuous existence for the period...