ABSTRACT Nature provides ecosystem services (ESs) which benefit humans for socio-economic development. However, ecosystems degradation has impacted negatively on people’s livelihood leading to increasing global concern to rethink on sustainable conservation-livelihood mechanisms. Lake Naivasha basin has been undergoing ecosystem degradation threatening ecological functional capacity to provide ESs. As a result, it has increased food insecurity, poverty levels, decreased income and destabili...
ABSTRACT Market access is a major constraint facing agricultural commercialization in Kenya. The pressure on arable land and market changes are mainly felt by the smallholder farmers who are faced with high transaction costs such as information access and transport costs. In addition, these farmers face a number of institutional and technical factors putting their market survival at stake. To curb these challenges, formation of farmer groups and organizations has become important in bringing ...
Women farm enterprises in Kenya have in the recent past gained considerable prominence and attention. Several research studies have underpinned the role they can play in economic development and poverty reduction through increased production and employment. However,these farm enterprises have had limited access to credit to enhance their growth. Table banking (TB) is a concept that has been promoted, particularly among women, to enhance access to credit. The role of women farmers’ fin...
ABSTRACT The National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP) utilizethe Shifting Focal Area Approach (SFAA), to build the capacity of Common Interest Groups (CIGs) for performance improvement. A number of institutional factors play a role in determining how the CIGs perform. NALEP was designed to explore some of the institutional factors which include access to agricultural credit, commodity markets, and training among others so as to improve the performance of CIGs. Inspite of...
Smallholder farmers in Southern Mali mainly in the cotton production zone are facing decreasing income over time. This constraint makes producers resort to alternative sources of income to supplement agricultural activities to sustain and secure their livelihoods situation. However, the diversified crops and having multiple sources of agricultural income constitute the significant opportunity for smallholder farmers to ensure food security and reduce over dependency on income from cotton...
INTRODUCTION Wood-cement bonded particleboard, was originally invented in Germany about eight decades ago. Since then it has been gaining acceptance in many parts of the world as a sheet element or the building construction-industry. The" interest in the board can be associated with a number of factors. It is highly resistant to flre, insect aud fungal attack and has excellent weather ability and good accoustic insulation properties (Deppe,1974; Dinwoodie, 1978;1981). With respect to the afor...
A deterministic bio-economic model that incorporates risk for pasture-based dairy cattle production in the tropics was developed. Two production circumstances were considered: fixed pasture (FP) and fixed herd size (FH). In each circumstance, efficiencies (both economic and biological) and profit were calculated based on milk marketing on volume, and on volume and butter fat content. Additionally, a profit function was used to estimate risk-rated profit(s) where the intensity of the farm...
Developing countries, Kenya included are mostly affected by food problems and poverty as a result of high dependence on agriculture. Agriculture in Kenya is dominated by smallholder farmers, whose production is hampered by climate variability, declining land sizes and low agricultural technologies. Agricultural intensification is aimed at solving the problem of low agricultural productivity and poverty through increasing farm output per unit land area. However it is still not clear the e...
ABSTRACT Nutrition influences postpartum ovarian activity but the effects of pre and postpartum feeding on metabolte and hormonal changes and their subsequent influence on reproductive performance remains unclear. This study attempted to explain effects of nutrition on these changes and their ultimate impact on reproductive performance of lactating cows. Forty in-calf cows comprising 20 Friesians and 20 Sahiwals were randomly assigned to 5 dietary groups of 4 cows per breed. Upon calving, cow...
Soybean [Glycine max (L) Merrill] yields in Kenya range from 445-1200 kg ha -1 against potential yields of 3500 kg ha -1 . The low yields are attributed to soil moisture stress and use of poor agronomic practices. The objectives of the study were to determine effect of soil moisture regimes on CO2 assimilation, growth and yield of selected soybean cultivars; to determine effect of planting density on yield and yield components of soybean and to determine effect of soybean and maize i...
Cereal banks in Kenya were started by Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society with the aim of enhancing local food security, improving incomes and livelihoods for maize farmers through collective marketing. Despite efforts of establishing them, majority have collapsed once outside support is withdrawn. Generally it is known that farmer organizations including cereal banks tend to collapse if there is no participation in group activities, poor group manag...
Small import-dependent countries in the world, especially in Africa, are deeply affected by the food insecurity and economic crises. To solve this problem, the Government of Ethiopia has adopted a different strategy in agricultural sector by focusing on how to increase the volume of production. However, marketing aspect has been given less attention. In order to improve the market efficiency, significant numbers of empirical studies have been conducted on market integration but they focus...
ABSTRACT The Sahiwal population in Kenya, which is bred under a closed nucleus, is faced with declining effective population size over the years and rate of inbreeding per generation >1% beyond which it should not exceed for a population to maintain its long-term fitness and viability. This study estimated gene origin statistics, Wright’s F-statistics, current and future rates of inbreeding, coancestry and effective population size and genetic gain in lactation milk yield at predetermined r...
Agricultural extension services play an important role in boosting agricultural productivity worldwide. Despite concerted efforts by pastoralists in Wajir County to access agriculturalextension services delivered by agricultural public service providers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private extension agents, the access to these services is inadequate. This has led to low levels of agricultural productivity, ultimately leading to high levels of poverty and food insecurity in...
Genetic and phenotypic parameters for longevity, genetic relationship between longevity and growth, milk yield and fertility traits and rate of inbreeding were estimated for Sahiwal cattle in Kenya. The aim was to assess the genetic diversity and inbreeding depression for performance traits. Data utilized were for cows born between 1972 and 2004 and with milk production records between 1976 and 2008. Measures of longevity related to productive life were: time between birth (Long_1) or fi...