Agricultural production plays an important role in food security in many African countries. The main challenge of policy makers in these countries is how to attain food self sufficiency, and increased farm productivity and incomes. In Kenya, greenhouse production is among technologies promoted to improve farm output and income among smallholder farmers. Greenhouse production technology in Kenya has, until recently, been the confine of large scale export-oriented flower farmers. The techn...
Since 1931, Rift Valley fever (RVF) epidemics have recurred in Kenya at an average inter epidemic period of up to 10 years. The most recent epidemic occurred in 2006/2007. It resulted in losses. Estimated as KES 2.1 Billion. A post epidemic assessment recommended adoption of One Health (OH) approach to RVF management as well as implementation of livestock control strategies that offer highest benefits to both the livestock and public health sectors. Evidence to guide such decisions was i...
ABSTRACT Climate change exacerbates the already daunting challenge facing the agricultural sector, and this is particularly the case in developing countries. There are roughly 800 million food insecure people in the world today, each having this status because food is unavailable, unaffordable or they are too unhealthy to make use of it or some combination of the three. Innovations in agriculture will even be more vital in the context of climate change as they allow farmers to adapt efficient...
ABSTRACT Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has been encouraging adoption of sustainable tea production, through FFS and RA certification, among small-scale tea producers west of Kenya‘s Rift Valley since 2006 and 2010 respectively. FFS was a methodology of choice because of its experiential and practical learning approach. Those organisations that had used FFS approach had reported it to be successful, whereas RA certification guarantees sustainable use of agricultural and forestry resour...
ABSTRACT In rural areas particularly arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), smallholder farmers produce mainly under subsistence system due to poor access of market. Farmers in ASALs particularly in Laikipia County depend on horticultural crop production for their livelihood and as a major source of income and rural employment. The purpose of the study was to determine factors influencing choice of market facilitators and their impact on smallholder horticultural farmers’ livelihood. Primary dat...
ABSTRACT Kenya’s Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS), envisions a food secure and prosperous nation with the overall goal of the agricultural sector to achieve an average growth rate of 7 percent per year. The strategy has, among others, target to reduce food insecurity by 30 percent to surpass the MDGs by the year 2015. About 60 per cent of households in western Kenya live below poverty line an indication of a high proportion of the population without adequate quantity and qua...
ABSTRACT Small ruminants provide very important genetic resources that can be exploited for continued improvements of the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in the pastoral production system, particularly in the developing country situation, Kenya being one of them. Though important, the motivation of livestock keepers to hold and maintain particular AnGr in conditions of decreasing animal genetic resource base is imperfectly understood. Consequently, in an endeavour to improve the livelih...
ABSTRACT Vegetables remain an important source of nutrients in many parts of the world as they contain essential micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, and other health-related phytochemicals. They complement staple-based diets. Economically, vegetable production and marketing has a potential of high profit, employment, income generation and increasing commercialisation of the rural areas. However, vegetables are highly perishable and as such most actors in the vegetable value chain incur hi...
ABSTRACT The study was generally intended to estimate the effectiveness of Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) programme in improving the welfare of the rural poor in Boteti Sub-District Botswana. Specifically, the study was carried to determine the main challenges encountered by small stock producers during and after application for LIMID programme, and further determine the factors influencing the decision of rural farmers to participate in the LIMID programme and f...
ABSTRACT The agriculture sector in Kenya has put in place several strategies to ensure availability and access to food by all people. Market efficiency is one of the strategies that ensure effective movement of food commodities from surplus to deficit regions through market integration. This study assessed dry beans movement across Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kitale markets. The main objective of the study was to contribute to knowledge towards monitoring prices of food staples between surp...
ABSTRACT Agricultural transformation is key to poverty reduction and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In Rwanda, transformation efforts have been focused on increasing smallholder farmers’ participation in agricultural markets, with a purpose to shift them from subsistence to market-oriented production. In spite of this, subsistence farming is still dominant, involving more women than men and little is known on the progress of these farmers towards market orientation. This study ...
ABSTRACT Information asymmetry has been recognized as a major impediment to small holder agricultural commercialization in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Theoretical and empirical studies in economics and sociology argue that social networks are the most persuasive source of information about new products and behaviours, but governments in developing countries continue to rely on extension services, usually a set of external agents, to communicate with farmers about new technologies. Mixe...
ABSTRACT Ethiopia’s economy is based on subsistence agriculture accounting for 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Livestock production contributes 30-35% of the gross domestic product and more than 85% of farm cash income. In this respect, milk production plays a major role in the livelihoods of Ethiopians and it accounts for 19% of the export earnings in the country. In relation to this, Oromia region contributes 40% of the country’s milk production. Despite this importance, milk ...
ABSTRACT This research explores how small-scale farmers in River Njoro Watershed in Kenya allocate resources to production of the main food crops in order to understand the underlying causes of enterprise productivity differentials. The River Njoro watershed stretches from the Mau forest to Lake Nakuru; it is part of the on-going research under the Sustainable Management of Watersheds (SUMAWA), Collaborative Research Support Programme (CRSP). The study was done in the five locations that fall...
ABSTRACT To improve pastoralists’ livelihoods, Sahiwal cattle breed, resilient and dual purpose in nature with the benefits of both improved milk and beef production and better adapted to harsh conditions in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) were introduced by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) now Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). With potential expected increase in milk production, the market profiles are likely to change, yet the underlying factors...