Agricultural sector in Kenya, contributes with 25% on GDP, yet this sector is far to supply adequate food for an increasing population due to declining soil productivity. Soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) is relatively new crop being introduced in smallholders farming system in the Central Highlands of Kenya as source of nutrition, income generation and soil fertility improvement. However, the crop yields are below the national average. Soil acidity and depletion of nutrients affect negatively...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops grown worldwide, owing to its nutritive value, income generation and diversified use. Tomato cultivation in the coastal region of Kenya is limited by root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) and Fusarium oxysporum. A survey was done in five farming counties of the Coastal region of Kenya. Meloidogyne spp. and F. oxysporum were isolated from diseased tomato plants and identified. Host resistance and interaction...
The study focused on the role of GlobalGAP standard on the income and technical efficiency of small-scale producers growing French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Kirinyaga and Nyeri Counties in Kenya. The objectives were to determine the amount of income realized from production under a GlobalGAP farming system, establish the factors which predispose farmers into adopting GlobalGAP certification, compare the technical efficiency of production between certified and non-certified farming re...
ABSTRACT Rice is the main food staple in Zanzibar, accounting for about 54 percent of the total caloric intake. Zanzibar imports about 80 percent of its rice requirements. Based on the potential of 3 tons per hector in rain fed and 6 tons per hector in irrigated rice. The government of Zanzibar intends to reduce external dependency from current 80 to 40 percent as part of country’s food self-sufficiency goal. This study intends to inform policy by providing quantitative evidence about farm...
ABSTRACT In western Uluguru Mountains, professionals have introduced soil and water conservation (SWC) practices which, if properly followed, would conserve the soil and promote agriculture. Various high value crops (HVC) promotion interventions and others which could serve as incentives were executed to aid attainment of this objective. Despite these efforts, today, in most fields we see more of annual ridges, the conventional farming practice which is not effective in SWC and other forms o...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT The bean root rot disease mainly Pythium spp. is a major problem affecting bean production especially in the major bean producing areas of the Great lakes region including southwestern Uganda, Rwanda, western Kenya, northern and the southern highlands of Tanzania. The problem of Pythium bean root rot appears to be made worse by declining soil fertility, resulting from intensive land cultivation by the small holder farmers. Probably for a more sustainable farming system, br...
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...
ABSTRACT A study was carried out to assess the profitability of improved banana cultivars in Rungwe, Mvomero and Mkuranga districts. Specifically, the study aimed at comparing benefits of improved versus non improved banana cultivars production, determining the contribution of banana enterprise to total household income, assessing the factors that influence banana household income, assessing the changes in gender roles in improved banana farming system and suggesting the system of distributi...
ABSTRACT This study sought to investigate factors that influence the use of mobile phones in the communication of agricultural information in Kilolo district. The study examined the use of mobile phones as a means for achieving agricultural development. The study population comprised all farmers regardless their mobile phone ownership. The study adapted a cross sectional study design and a multistage simple random sampling technique, where, 384 respondents were selected. Data were mainly col...
ABSTRACT Production risk is very important in developing countries, including Tanzania, which result in variance in production that may have severe consequences for a smallholder farmer and his family. The main aim of this study was to assess the determinants of production risk associated with adoption of improved maize seed varieties in order to inform sustainable food security. The specific objectives were to; (i) evaluate factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of improved maize seed ...
ABSTRACT Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an acute viral disease of small ruminants caused by PPR virus (PPRV). For many years, the disease was mainly confined to West and Central Africa but has now spread southwards to previously PPR-free countries. The disease was first reported in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012. The disease causes high morbidities of up to 100 % and mortality rates between 50 and 90% in domestic small ruminants (goats and sheep) leading to the socio economic...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of HIV/AIDS on farm income and food production in Kavango region. Representative farm models of communal farms for each of the two most common farming systems in Kavango region were developed. These are the riverline and inland farming systems, which were then used to determine the levels of farm income and food production at farm level under various HIV/AIDS scenarios in terms of changes in resource availability and gender, bas...
ABSTRACT The present study quantifies the effects of the determinants of commercialisation of maize production in the East Akyem District of Ghana. The Tobit model is used. The conventional t-test is also performed to examine the differences between the characteristics of the commercial and non-commercial maize farmers in the East Akyem District of Ghana. The study observes, inter alia, that farmer age, marital status, time farmer spends on maize fanning, farming system, whether male family m...
ABSTRACT The sharing of domestic expenses between conjugal units in Ghanaian households has changed overtime. The way and manner in which conjugal units in rural Ghana shared their domestic expenses tend to be different from how conjugal units in urban Ghana share their domestic expenses. This is as a result of the change in factors such as the shift from the farming system in agrarian economies of the rural areas to monetized urban economies where there is the market system, access to educat...
ABSTRACT Around the developing world, poverty remains an overwhelming rural issue. Rural dwellers rely heavily on agricultural activities and related assets as main source of livelihoods. They also have widely differing capacities to combine off-farm activities in their income generation process. However, diversification makes households better-off only if it implies increased investment in high return portfolios. An important concern is that high yielding investments are either high risk or ...