ABSTRACT The horticultural sub-sector in Kenya contributes immensely to the country’s development agenda. Particularly, vegetables are crucial in poverty alleviation with tomato production ranking among the most vibrant enterprises. The crop creates employment and is a source of income for smallholders in rural areas. Despite its potential, tomato production faces major challenges including unreliable markets, low adoption of modern production systems and production inefficiencies. This has...
ABSTRACT Teacher motivation is very important as it directly affects the students’ performance. The performance of agriculture teachers in Imenti South District has been low compared to other districts. This has been characterized by a decline in the agriculture subject results. This might have been contributed by inadequate teacher motivation. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between selected motivational factors and the performance of secondary school agricultur...
ABSTRACT During the period after the adoption of a floating exchange rate regime in Kenya, there has been substantial volatility produced by the regime. In spite of the considerable foreign exchange contribution of Kenya’s French beans subsector to the economy, the effects of exchange rate volatility on it remains unclear. This study evaluated the effects of exchange rate volatility on Kenya’s French bean exports to major markets in the European Union. Monthly secondary data for the perio...
ABSTRACT Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is an important food crop consumed throughout Africa. However, sweet potato yields are greatly reduced by pests including plant parasitic nematodes. Management of nematodes in sweet potato fields in Kenya has mainly been through the use of nematicides and crop rotation which have limitations. The use of resistant sweet potato cultivars along with other low-cost organic amendments is the most economical, effective, and environmentally safe method of m...
ABSTRACT Access to market plays a vital role in poverty alleviation among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural markets provide income generating opportunities for farmers in rural areas hence improving their livelihoods. Avocado fruit has a high demand in both local and export markets due to its nutritional value and industrial use. However, smallholder avocado farmers have not benefited from this increased demand. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of trans...
ABSTRACT Continuous land cultivation without adequate soil nutrients replenishment causes soil fertility decline leading to reduced crop productivity. Significant research on external fertility inputs application rates and type have been carried out under researcher designed and managed conditions in Kenya. But little research on the same has been carried out to evaluate their performances under on-farm smallholder farmers’ conditions. Hence, the study evaluated the decomposition rates (goa...
ABSTRACT The coffee subsector in Kenya has been characterized by low and declining productivity at farm levels. Over the years, coffee research in Kenya has developed technologies that are aimed at increasing the productivity and improving the quality of coffee produced. Despite many agronomic recommendations, coffee productivity has not increased with increase in acreage. This may be attributed to the interaction between the recommendations and prevailing socioeconomic factors experienced by...
ABSTRACT Mango (Mangifera indicia L.) is one of the most suitable fruit crops in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. Its production in Machakos County has generally been fluctuating over the past few years, such that there is no consensus whether the production is increasing or decreasing. In addition, there is a paucity of knowledge about the quantity of mangoes supplied by small-scale farmers. Upon harvest, the mango fruit is highly perishable, therefore farmers have taken up farm-level valu...
ABSTRACT Access to market plays a vital role in poverty alleviation among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural markets provide income generating opportunities for farmers in rural areas hence improving their livelihoods. Avocado fruit has a high demand in both local and export markets due to its nutritional value and industrial use. However, smallholder avocado farmers have not benefited from this increased demand. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of trans...
ABSTRACT The melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett), is a serious pest of cucurbits, tree fruits and related crops in most continents of the world, including Africa. To manage the pest, most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa rely on synthetic chemicals which have detrimental effects to the environment and the habitat. Excessive use of chemicals may also lead to development of pest resistance and Z. cucurbitae has reportedly shown the most increased resistance to the used insecticides. For ...
TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................
ABSTRACT Water insufficiency due to scarcity, poor distribution and high variability of rainfall in the Central Highlands of Kenya (CHK) and a decline in soil fertility have contributed to a continuous decrease in water productivity. To increase food production to match the growing population, soil management practices that ensure improved water productivity should be embraced. The study, therefore, sought to characterize rainfall and to establish the effects of selected soil management pract...
ABSTRACT The need to provide sufficient protein food for an increasing population that is mainly resource poor requires opening up of marginal land for growing appropriate pulses such as chickpea. An experiment was carried out at KARI-Naivasha situated at an altitude of 1900 m, characterized with clayey to sandy loam soils in a split plot of randomized complete block design over two seasons (December 29, 2004 to May 26, 2005 and June 21 to November 15, 2007). The objective was to investigate ...
ABSTRACT The demand for non-renewable fossil fuel has greatly increased in the last few years from 84 million barrels of fossil fuel per day in 1980’s to over 100 million barrels per day in 1990. To supplement this demand, research on alternative sources has been going on since 1960’s in different parts of the world. Among the alternative sources, the phytoplanktons have shown great promise due to their high oil yield in comparison to energy crops. In Kenya, despite the occurrence of high...
ABSTRACT The global demand for fresh water resources has been increasing over the years due to population growth, urbanization, industrialization, climate change and the global warming effect. The available water resources have reduced over time leaving a water demand deficit. Recycling and reuse of greywater has been touted as one of the strategies to augment the existing water resources. This study characterized the greywater from students’ hostels and prepared biochar from banana stalks ...