Abstract: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a region beset with challenges, not least its ability to feed itself. Low agricultural productivity, exploding populations, and escalating urbanization have led to declining per capita food availability. In order to reverse this trend, crop production systems must intensify, which brings with it an elevated threat from pests and diseases, including plant-parasitic nematodes. A holistic systems approach to pest management recognizes disciplinary integrati...
Abstract: Understanding farm diversity is essential to delineate recommendation domains for new technologies, but diversity is a subjective concept, and can be described differently depending on the way it is perceived. Historically, new technologies have been targeted primarily based on agro-ecological conditions, largely ignoring socioeconomic conditions. Based on 273 farm households' surveys in Ethiopia, we compare two approaches for the delineation of farm type recommendation domains for...
Abstract: Parasitic plants, through a range of infestation strategies, can attack crop plants and thereby require management. Because such problems often occur in resource-poor farming systems, companion cropping to manage parasitic plants is an appropriate approach. Many examples of companion cropping for this purpose have been reported, but the use of cattle forage legumes in the genus Desmodium as intercrops has been shown to be particularly successful in controlling the parasitic witchwe...
Abstract: Grasses in the genus Brachiaria, commonly known as brachiaria are grown as a fodder crop in sub-Saharan Africa, with some genotypes being used in management of the spotted stemborer Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) through a habitat management strategy. Stemborer is a major insect pest of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and maize (Zea mays L.) in Africa. However, utilization of brachiaria in cereal-livestock based farming systems in the region faces several bi...
Abstract: The Lepidopteran stemborer Chilo partellus is a key constraint to cereal production in most resource-poor farming systems as it causes damage to the crop, accruing up to 80%. When plants are damaged by herbivorous insects, they produce herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) which can act as repellants for these insect pests and as attractants for organisms antagonistic to these pests (parasitic wasps and predators). Plants can also produce signals that warn other plants of impen...
Abstract: The southern root knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) is one of the highly polyphagous species of many cultivated plants. The losses associated with RKNs in small holder vegetable farms are not quantified but may range between 30-100% in tropical and subtropics. Application of broad spectrum nematicides is the common method of control and are to be highly toxic to humans and pollute the environment, hence the need for safer alternatives for small scale crop production systems. Bi...
Abstract: Napier grass remains an important strategic grass species in east African mixed crop-livestock systems. However, production of several varieties of the grass remains constrained by phytoplasmic disease, Napier stunt disease (NSD), which is transmitted by the leafhopper, Maiestas banda. For smallholder farmers of western Kenya who rely on the grass for livestock feed and pest control in push-pull farming systems, effective control strategies of the disease and the vector remain elus...
ABSTRACT This study was conducted in two localities in Kordofan State one of them En-nuhoud locality, West Kordofan State and Aldebibat locality South Kordofan state during 2015 - 2018 to Adoption of Draught Animals by Farmers. The study based on a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 200 farmers that was selected from ten different villages around En-nuhoud and Aldebibat areas. Villages were selected using the simple random sampling technique, while individuals from each village were sele...
TABLE OF CONTENTSDECLARATION iAPPROVAL iiDEDICATION ivAKNOWLEDGEMENT vTABLE OF CONTENTS viCHAPTER ONE 11.0 Introduction 11.1 Background 21 .2 Problem Statement 41.3 Objective 51.3.1 Overall objective~ 51.3.2 Specific objectives 51.4 Research Questions 51.5 Scope Of The Study 51.6 Justification Of The Study 61.7 Conceptual Framework~ 7CHAPTER TWO 8LITERATURE REVIEW 82.0 INTRODUCTION 82.1 SOIL CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES 82.1.1 Planting Vegetation~ 82.1.2 Contour P1oughing~ 92.1.3 Maintaining the S...
ABSTRACT Soil faces many threats throughout the world, deforestation for charcoal burning and brick making, overgrazing by livestock, and agricultural practices that fail to conserve soil are three main causes of accelerated soil loss. There has been a general trend of soil productivity decline on crop land in Musoma province. Soil degradation is one of major threats to agricultural development in the province and it has become the prob !em in many parts of the province. As the scenario lead...
Farmers in the central highlands of Kenya do face problems of low crop yields due to soil fertility decline. This is as a result of continuous cropping, nutrient losses through crop harvests, soil erosion and leaching coupled with inability to replenish the soil through use of external inputs. The situation is aggravated by poor adoption, among farmers, of improved soil fertility management options. This study investigated feasibility of using integrated soil fertility replenishment technol...
ABSTRACT Integration of legumes into farming systems is one of the Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) options for improving soil fertility. Farmers can save their cost of production by using legumes, which, in association with rhizobia, can fix atmospheric nitrogen. Soybean is an important legume compatible with the smallholder farming systems in Tharaka Nithi and Meru counties. However, low P and N, a situation prevalent in the two counties can limit its performance. The study was...
ABSTRACT Deficits in soil moisture and low soil fertility are major constraints to smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya, have over the decades suffered huge declines in crop yields as a result of continuous cultivation with inadequate replenishments of the lost soil nutrients and lack of appropriate soil water conservation technologies. Experiments were set up at Kigogo primary school, Mukuuni location in Tharaka-Nithi County to determine ...
ABSTRACT Kenya’s drylands constitutes about 80% of the country’s size. These drylands are prone to relatively high vegetation and general environmental degradation; translating to changes in soil physical and chemical properties. Conservation agriculture with trees presents an opportunity to reduce vegetation and soil degradation thereby enhancing soil characteristics and carbon sequestration, which is an important component of redressing dryland problems associated with greenhouse gases...
ABSTRACT Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev is a tree species native to Africa and the Middle East. It is an important agro-silvo pastural species owing to its morphological and physiological dynamics that mediate improvement of soil structure and fertility while offering several other benefits to farmers and the environment. Key among these is its reverse phenology, a phenomenon that allows the tree to compete minimally with crops while providing a favorable microclimate for their growth. It ...