ABSTRACT Pastoralism is an important source of livelihood for many people across the world. In addition, pastoralism makes a significant contribution to Gross domestic product (GDP)in Kenya. Sixty percent of the national herd is being held by pastoralists who produce about 10 percent of Gross domestic product. Over the years pastoralism has been the main source of income for many residents of Northern Kenya; nonetheless, frequent natural and man-made disasters, restrictive policies and unfavo...
ABSTRACT The problem of how to dispose human waste has remained a global challenge in a world that is increasingly bound by constraints of resources population growth, rapid urbanization and corresponding levels of poverty and disease, the pressure for appropriate and sustainable solutions is mounting. Despite continued efforts to promote sanitation, a significant number of the world‟s population is still without basic sanitation. Kibera slums suffer from lack of improved sanitation facilit...
ABSTRACT Disaster risk reduction projects are some of the initiatives undertaken with an aim of addressing climate variability associated disasters such as droughts and floods and loss of agricultural production. The projects are normally aimed at reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience among rural communities towards climate variability and change. Results of adaptation measures undertaken by such projects to increase adaptive capacity of the communities remain largely under researc...
ABSTRACT Water is life and the heart for existence in the biosphere. Where water is magnanimously plentiful, people and ecosystems thrive in abundance but in places where it is scarce, complex adaptation strategies and sophisticated civilizations have been born. Indigenous systems such as pastoralism have for centuries been flexible to harsh conditions of water and pasture scarcity but exogenous factors like climate change render them fragile. Currently, severe and abrupt changes in climatic ...
ABSTRACT Kilifi town (study area) is in Kilifi County, Kenya. Groundwater samples were collected from wells which were close (≤30m) from pit latrines and (≤2.5Km) from refuse dumpsite. Ten wells, namely wells number (1- 10) were purposively sampled during wet season (July, August and September, 2011) and also during dry season (January, February and March, 2012), with the aim of assessing the physicochemical and biological impacts of the leachate from the dumpsite and the pit latrines on ...
ABSTRACT Sericulture (Silk farming) is the rearing of silk moths for the production of raw silk. Silk farming originated from China where it was secretly practiced for many years before spreading to other parts of the world. Silk moths are grouped into mulberry silk moths (domesticated) and wild silk moths. Silk moth cocoon has a double filament made of insoluble protein known as fibroin which is embedded in a water soluble protein called sericin. Prior to processing cocoons, are boiled in st...
ABSTRACT Climate variability and change are some of the most pressing environmental challenges of the globe and are associated with complexity and extreme events mainly drought and floods. Among small scale farming communities in Sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya, climate variability and change have been a more tasking challenge compared to the rest of the regions. There is little understanding of the vulnerability to climate change among such households in Wote based on their socio economic...
ABSTRACT Dealing with declining coffee amidst challenges occasioned by climate variability is a problem affecting large-scale coffee production in Kenya. Climate variability has affected coffee output by changing distribution of pests and diseases, hindering growth and affecting amount of water supplied for irrigation. Kiambu is a major coffee producer in Kenya and coffee is mostly grown in estates. Climate variability makes it difficult for farmers to predict when to plant and interferes wit...
ABSTRACT Climate variability is an environmental pressure to urban slum dwellers economic activities in most developing countries where households have been adapting to it for years. Slum dwellers are faced with inadequate access to water and proper sanitation. This problem is partly attributed to climate change. This research project aimed at exploring the adaptation and coping mechanisms of Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum community in Nairobi City, due to poor water supply and access to basic sanita...
ABSTRACT Climate change impacts have been exacerbated by extreme weather events among others and have led to disappearance of certain species of both food crops and trees. The adaptive capacity of the local community has mainly been on mitigation by basic methods that are mostly traditional in practice and knowledge. An investigation on how different institutions work together towards mitigating climate change through decentralization of forest resources was conducted among communities l...
ABSTRACT Charcoal is a major form of biomass fuel for approximately 80% of the Kenyan population. However, the use of charcoal is associated with indoor air pollution where charcoal users are continually exposed to compounds of incomplete combustion which are known to have detrimental effects to human health. This study analyzed the emission profiles of different types of domestically used charcoal produced by different pyrolysis methods. Charcoal samples from three tree species Acacia polyac...
ABSTRACT Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) play an important economic role among the youth in Kenya. However, MSEs face a mixture of success and failure with past statistics indicating that three out five fail within the first few months of operation. This study sought to explore the factors influencing performance of Youth Group (YG) MSEs in Kisumu West district. The objectives of the study were: to assess the performance of MSEs undertaken by youth groups in Kisumu West district; to determ...
ABSTRACT Sweetpotato is a major food security crop grown in Kenya. Its production is however limited due to high prevalence of pests and diseases among other factors. Cultural control appears to be the most promising strategy in curbing this problem. However, the recommended cultural control practices are based on farming practices in Asia and United States of America that may not be appropriate for subsistence farmers found in Kenya. This study sought to establish farmers’ knowledge on swe...
ABSTRACT The expected global temperature increase, more intense rainfall and more frequent droughts will have devastating effects on pastoral livelihoods. The economy of the affected areas also dwindle in the event of these calamities considering that droughts and diseases resulting from floods affect the health of livestock which is the major source of livelihood for the pastoralists. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of climate variability and the resulting vector-borne d...
ABSTRACT Soil nutrient depletion has been recognized as one of the major biophysical constraints affecting agricultural production in Sub Saharan Africa. Despite many researches that have developed various soil fertility management options, few of the recommendations from these researches have been put into use by the targeted end users. This has been associated with low levels of knowledge and understanding about these technologies among the stakeholders. The objective of the study was there...