ABSTRACT The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) practices remain a major concern in the development-policy agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa. This will solve the problem of land degradation, low agricultural productivity and poverty. Despite the benefits such as increase in yields and improved soil fertility that SAI offer, it is unclear why smallholder farmers report low adoption levels. Further, gender roles in decision making on farm productivity remain l...
ABSTRACT Subject choice leading to post secondary school career choice for school leavers in Kenya has become more challenging in the light of competition for admissions to relevant University, tertiary institutions’ courses and access to job opportunities. Many students miss relevant placement for agricultural courses and employment opportunities due to wrong subject combinations in secondary school. The problem that was investigated was the reasons for the decline in enrolment in Agricul...
ABSTRACT Education is a basic right and an essential part of human rights as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the right to education to be realized, the process of learning should reflect the needs and aspirations of society. Technology is one such avenue through which education objectives may be achieved. Whereas evidence shows an increase in investment in ICT in education in Kenya, perceptions of teachers, learners and school Principals on the integration of ICT...
ABSTRACT Research studies in the past decade have shown that ICTs are effective means for widening educational opportunities. However, their use in classroom instruction by most teachers in Kenya is limited. Some of the factors influencing teachers’ use of ICTs in teaching have been extensively studied but scanty information exists on their influence on secondary school agriculture teachers’ use of ICTs in classroom instruction. The purpose of this study was; to determine the relationshi...
ABSTRACT Choice of subjects of study in secondary schools happens globally, more so in the developing countries. In Kenya, the Ministry of Education (MOE) requires that secondary school students register for a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine subjects when they join Form Three. These subjects are grouped into various categories including; Sciences, Languages, Humanities, Technical and Foreign languages. Agriculture is among the many technical subjects from which students select only one...
ABSTRACT Inland-based fish farming in Kenya continues to draw enormous financial support by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development under the Economic Stimulus Programme. The Fish Farming Enterprise Productivity Programme (FFEPP) entails the production of fish in a managed environment in marine and freshwater systems for food and commercial purposes. In-land based pond fish farming has been hampered by low level of fish farming, abandonment of ponds, and inadequate tr...
ABSTRACT Global warming has led to intensity of extreme events that affect agricultural production worldwide, and sub-Sahara Africa in particular, where economies are highly dependent on agriculture and adoption of modern technology is low. Kenyan agriculture is vulnerable to climate-induced risks and uncertainty manifested in low crop yields. Although potato is a food security and cash crop for many smallholder farmers in Mauche Ward of Nakuru County, its production is affected by variabilit...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Rodent pests cause significant losses on several cereal crops but more so on maize and rice crops and thus pose a threat to the food security in Uganda and the rest of East Africa. In order to develop an effective management strategy against rodent pests, it is important to understand the diversity, breeding patterns and population dynamics and key demographic and ecological factors that regulate abundance and richness of the major rodent pest species. The above aspects fo...
ABSTRACT Limited access to accurate and timely market information continues to be a major impediment in the marketing of farm produce by farmers in Manga Sub-County, Nyamira County, Kenya. This limited access to market information has led to high cost of marketing and emergence of middlemen. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to assist in addressing this problem by creating awareness, linking and distributing information on marketing. It is evident that farme...
ABSTRACT Secondary school education in Kenya equips students with the knowledge, skills and competences that are vital for achieving their desired KCSE performance. The level of teachers of Agriculture job satisfaction can affect implementation of Agriculture curriculum as well as students’ Agriculture scores. In Nyeri County, public secondary-school students continue to perform poorly in KCSE with results from 2009 to 2014 indicating an aggregate of C- in Agriculture. This performance has ...
ABSTRACT Young Farmers’ Club (YFC) activities are vital in the mastery and attainment of skills in agriculture subject since it is best learned by use of practical activities. Increased youth participation in agricultural production is necessary and vital in facilitating food and nutritional security. The primary objective of YFCK is to train young people to be productive future farmers. Since secondary school education is terminal to the majority of the Youth, non-attainment of lifelong sk...
ABSTRACT The main purpose of microfinance credit programme is to break the vicious cycle of poverty among the rural women by providing them with capital. Poverty is a global problem; more than 1.3 billion people worldwide live below the poverty line, 70% of them being women. In Keiyo North Sub-County, 48% of the population lives below the poverty line with women constituting 65% of those living below the poverty line. However, few rural women (220) in Keiyo North Sub-County participate in the...
ABSTRACT The teaching of Agriculture in Kenyan schools is dominated by teacher centered methods such as lecture and class demonstration. Consequently, students perform poorly in Agriculture tests and examinations. This calls for a re-examination of the current teaching methods in order to incorporate more practical learner centered methods in the teaching learning process. This study therefore aimed to assess the effect of video instruction as a complement to conventional teaching approaches ...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Livelihoods diversification towards off-farm employment is becoming a norm in developing countries and has some welfare effects. Hence, this study was carried out to unveil the effect of off-farm employment on three dimensions of poverty. These dimensions were farm input expenditure, exposure to income shocks and income poverty. The study adopted a cross-sectional design and was carried out in the Kilombero Valley. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 3...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Bovine mastitis remains to be the most important disease facing smallholder dairy industry in Zanzibar. Direct and indirect cost incurred during the control of clinical cases of mastitis together with prolonged subclinical mastitis reduces quantity and quality of milk produced, and hence, decrease smallholder dairy farmers’ income. This study was conducted to assess the characteristics and farm management practices of smallholder dairy cattle farming system and their rela...