Faculty of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine (FAg / FVM)

Farmers’ perceptions of integrated desert locust management: a case study in Isiolo and Meru Counties of Kenya

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Farmers’ perceptions of integrated desert locust management: a case study in Isiolo and Meru Counties of Kenya Lumumba, B. O.; Otieno, D. J.; Nyikal, R. A. The destructive nature of desert locust invasions in terms of reduced food security and loss of agricultural income necessitates effective control strategies. While chemical spraying is effective, it is harmful to the environment, human, and animal health. Therefore, an alternative is the implementation of an integrated desert locust management (IDLM) approach that entails surveillance and early warning systems, rational combination of chemicals, biological measures, and indigenous control methods. Adopting IDLM depends on an understanding of human behavior and perceptions as an avenue for disseminating information for effective control. However, there is limited knowledge of the drivers of farmers’ perceptions of IDLM. This study sought to fill the above knowledge gap by applying the principal component analysis method to develop a composite index that was subsequently used in a regression analysis of data collected from a sample of 391 farmers in Isiolo and Meru counties in Kenya. Descriptive results showed that informal sources and channels were the main sources of desert locust information, and most farmers held positive or neutral perceptions. The regression analysis results highlighted the role of formal and informal sources of information, private land ownership, and previous shocks in influencing farmers’ perceptions of integrated desert locust management. The study recommends targeted messaging of desert locust management approaches through coordinated surveillance and timely response by national and international agencies, empowering community leaders as the key entry point, and building local capacity for accurate observation and timely reporting of invasions as measures towards sustainable desert locust control efforts.

Farm production diversity and its influence on diet quality in South Eastern Kenya.

Sat, 27 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Farm production diversity and its influence on diet quality in South Eastern Kenya. Nzuma, J. M; Kaindi, D. W. M.; Mwololo, H. M. Agriculture nutrition linkages have long been recognized as a potentially viable pathway of attaining food and nutrition security. However, these insights have started to influence mainstream thinking on agricultural development only recently and the empirical evidence in sub-Saharan Africa is non-conclusive. We evaluate the influence of farm production diversity on diet diversity in two semi-arid Counties of South Eastern Kenya by employing a sample of 830 smallholder farmers selected using a three-stage sampling procedure and the data were analyzed using a Poisson regression model. On the average, households consumed food from seven food groups out of the 12 possible food groups. We show that farm production diversity has a positive and significant influence on dietary diversity, a proxy for diet quality. Other interventions that can improve dietary diversity include commercialization and wealth creation. Thus, pro-farm diversification interventions are recommended as potential strategies for improving the dietary diversity of rural farming households. Moreover, improving market infrastructure to enhance commercialization and supporting wealth creation through savings and asset accumulation can contribute towards more diversified diets.

Assessing determinants of scaling up pathways for adopted CSA Climate Smart Agricultural practices: Evidence from Climate Smart Villages in Nyando Basin, Kenya

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Assessing determinants of scaling up pathways for adopted CSA Climate Smart Agricultural practices: Evidence from Climate Smart Villages in Nyando Basin, Kenya Njogu, J. W.; Karuku, G.; Busienei, J.; Gathiaka, J. K. Africa has recently experienced adverse climate changes and has recognized tremendous advancement of numerous Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies with ability to promote resilience and productivity. However, these good strategies are not only unknown, but their extensive uptake remain subtle particularly beyond the scope area, especially among poor rural small-scale farmers. There are prevailing barriers that inhibit upscaling of these practices and so far existing actions and policies to remove the challenges remain scarce. Therefore, the study’s main objective was to assess determinants and or barriers and strategies to boost scaling up pathways for adopted CSA practices in Nyando basin. Primary data was collected for baseline, end-line and financial diaries panel data from 122 households. Logistic regression model and Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The main findings which were significant (p < 0.05) illustrated that shocks from the emergence of new pests/diseases, and little/high rainfall highly affected productivity, resulting in dis-adoption and scaling up. Climate variant was the main cause of floods, drought, and the occurrence of new pests on crops and livestock. There was evidence of households’ collective decisions on farming expenditures. Knowledge astute, social capital and market-based scaling pathways were potential “pull” aspects that could encourage scaling up of CSA practices beyond CSVs. The study recommends improving use of multi-faceted approaches that assimilate environmental, agronomic, molecular, and institutional scopes. Additionally, improve on market access, cooperatives and capacity building base level for small-scale farmers to relate constraints to solutions offered by CSA adoption

Drivers of climate-smart agricultural technology uptake among smallholder coffee farmers in Kalehe Territory, Democratic Republic of Congo

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Drivers of climate-smart agricultural technology uptake among smallholder coffee farmers in Kalehe Territory, Democratic Republic of Congo Bwiza, F.; Irungu, P.; Mburu, J.; Mirzabaev, A Climate-smart agricultural technologies (CSATs) are important for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. Therefore, it is crucial for farmers to have access to sustainable CSATs to cope with climate change. While coffee is an important commercial crop in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), farmers suffer from coffee fluctuation in production attributed to climate variability. Accordingly, various coffee-related CSATs, notably coffee cultivars, manure and intercropping have been introduced in Kalehe Territory of the DRC to build climate resilience and adapt to changing environmental conditions. However, coffee cultivars are not widely used. This study fitted a two-step Heckman model to correct for selection bias on a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of 442 smallholder coffee farmers to examine the drivers of CSATs uptake in Kalehe Territory. The model results showed that family labour, non-farm income, access to credit and extension services, and residing in Butumba Village were the major factors influencing the decision of coffee farmers to use CSATs. The results revealed that manure and new coffee cultivars, manure and intercropping combined with manure had the potential to be substitutes for each other. The study recommends that policy makers and other stakeholders in CSATs support the dissemination of CSATs, especially coffee cultivars, to facilitate access. There is need to promote extension services so that the combination of intercropping and manure can help to increase coffee farmers’ welfare. The government should support farmers’ use of CSATs through either the subsidization of coffee cultivars or the provision of cheap agricultural credit.