Abstract: Understanding the challenges to increasing maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, especially agronomic factors that reduce on-farm crop yield, has important implications for policies to reduce national and global food insecurity. Previous research on the maize yield gap has tended to emphasize the size of the gap (theoretical vs. achievable yields), rather than what determines maize yield in specific contexts. As a result, there is insufficient evidence on the key agronomic and ...
Abstract: This study examines the farm-level economic benefits and aggregate welfare impacts of adopting push–pull technology (PPT)—an innovative, integrated pest and soil-fertility management strategy—with a set of household- and plot-level data collected in western Kenya. The evaluation is based on a combination of econometric and economic surplus analysis. Treatment effect estimates are used to assess the technology-induced shift in the maize supply curve, which is then used as an i...
Abstract: Background: Anopheles funestus is among the major malaria vectors in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa and has been recently implicated in persistent malaria ransmission. However, its ecology and genetic diversity remain poorly understood in Kenya.Methods: Using 16 microsatellite loci, we examined the genetic structure of An. funestus sampled from 11 locations (n = 426 individuals) across a wide geographical range in Kenya spanning coastal, western and Rift Valley areas. Results: Kenyan...
Abstract: In this study we 1) describe the abundance of Anopheles and culicine immatures in different water body types in urban Malindi, Kenya, 2) compare Anopheles immature density in relation to culicine immature density, and 3) identify characteristics that influence the likelihood of water bodies being co-colonized by Anopheles and culicines. Entomological and environmental cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2001 and 2002 were used in the analysis. A total of 889 Anopheles and 7,217 cu...
Abstract: Invasive plant species in eastern Africa severely impede rangeland and cropland productivity with dire consequences for livelihoods of agro-pastoralist communities. We produced the first occurrence and spread map of invasive plant species (Prosopis: Prosopis juliflora and Parthenium: Parthenium hysterophorus) for western Somaliland (a region of eastern Africa) using vegetation productivity and phenology trends from 250 m MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) EVI (En...