ABSTRACT Many of the rural households use traditional stoves which have low energy efficiency leading to wastage of wood fuel. This study focused on understanding the sustainable utilization of wood fuel in two (2) sub-locations namely Mwala and Kibauni. The primary objective of this study was to establish if wood fuel utilization styles by the households in the study areas is sustainable. The specific objectives of the study were to: document the types of cooking stoves used by households in...
ABSTRACT Annually Kenya produces about 20 million tons of poultry meat worth KES 3.5 billion and 1.3 billion eggs worth KES 9.7 billion. However Indigenous chicken productivity has stagnated due to limited transfer and adoption of improved technologies such as biosecurity practices by rural households. The productivity of Indigenous chicken has been decreasing in Makueni County despite development agencies, both national and international and county government investing heavily in chicken ent...
ABSTRACT The main aim of this study was to assess the suitability of the Athi River water for irrigation in Athi River area and its environs. The study area was within Athi River and Muthwani ward within Mavoko Constituency and in Machakos County, Kenya. Seven sampling points were selected along the study transect (about 8 km) and sampling was done once every week from 21st January to 6th March 2015 (dry season). The water samples collected were analyzed for selected physico-chemical and bact...
Abstract Food security is a global problem despite the many efforts put to produce enough food to feed the ever rising global population. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is an important crop for food security and provision of proteins for poor households in sub Saharan Africa. In arid and semi-arid lands, beans are very important for they play a major role in food security and nutrition. However, its production in ASALs is constrained by erratic rainfall, moisture deficit, low nutrients up...
ABSTRACT Mass tourism as the dominant form of tourism practice has for decades caused environmental, socio-economic and cultural impacts to tourist destinations. Responsible tourism which is underpinned by sound environmental, social and economic principles, offers a way to mitigate the impacts of conventional tourism. Certification as a toolhelps set standards, put benchmarks to be met by tourism actors and has been one of the strategies used to reduce these impacts. Certification is believe...
ABSTRACT Light pollution is a key biodiversity threat and is defined as one of the global environmental problems threatening key species to extinction and posing a major challenge to biodiversity conservation. The absence of stringent law, good practice and nonexistent environmental standards on light pollution has been a major drawback to management of its effects on biodiversity. This study sought to establish the influence of light pollution and biodiversity awareness on hawkmoth diversity...
ABSTRACT The surface of the earth is undergoing rapid land use and land cover changes (LULCC) due to various socio-economic activities and natural phenomena. The main aim of this study was to gain a quantitative understanding of LULCC in Makueni County between 2000 and 2016, and analyze the relationship between these changes and their possible underlying drivers in the County. ArcGIS 10.3.1 and ERDAS IMAGINE 2014 were used for the digital image processing and GIS analyses. Image pre-processin...
ABSTRACT The study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of using a land user based land degradation and livelihood assessment approach, with the overall aim of improving the sustainable management of Lake Naivasha. The study focused on two sub-catchments of Wanjohi and Turasha within the Lake Basin. A cross-sectional survey was selected for this study to allow for triangulation on information collected and to be able to infer the results from the sample to the larger population. The...
xiv ABSTRACT Cordia sinensis Lam. in the family Boraginaceae is a popular indigenous multipurpose tree species valued for fodder, fruit, structural timber and fuel wood. It is widely distributed in the arid and semiarid lands (ASALs) of Kenya. Production of seedlings is through seeds. There are challenges acquiring viable and vigorous Cordia sinensis seeds for raising planting materials due to difficulties in post-harvest storage. In spite of the tree‟s exceptional multipurpose qualities an...
ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of land degradation on agricultural land use, planning and management in Kalama Division, Machakos County; and specifically determined farmers’ considerations of land suitability for selected types of agricultural land uses in varying cropping zones, investigated farmers’ local environmental knowledge of land degradation indicators and finally documented farmers’ land management strategies and practices for soil and water con...
xvi ABSTRACT Worldwide, crops that require wild pollinators are showing a deficiency of pollination and genetic variation. In the recent past, studies show that there has been a steady decline in production of passion fruits in Kenya. In this study, the major objective was to investigate factors causing the decline of passion fruit production using ecosystem concepts, agricultural practices and social-ecological factors using the case scenario of Mua hills in Machakos County. The study was ca...
ABSTRACT The importance of bananas cannot be underestimated worldwide. The main study objective was to assess the adoption and commercialization of tissue culture bananas in the riverine areas of the semi-arid areas of Lower Eastern region of Kenya. The specific objectives included determining respondents socio-economic, environmental and policy factors affecting adoption of tissue culture bananas in the region. This study was necessary due to the fact that there were many production gaps tha...
v ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the effects of water pollution on riparian community along River Athi in Makueni County. Specific objectives included; documenting the causes of pollution of the River Athi in Kathonzweni Sub County, to establish the health effects resulting from the pollution of the River Athi and finally to assess and document interventions put in place by the government and residents in the study area to control the pollution of the River Athi. Data was col...
ABSTRACT Kenya is one of the tobacco growing countries in Africa with most tobacco being produced in South Nyanza, Eastern and Western parts of Kenya. Despite the increasing deterioration of the environment caused by tobacco farming, very little is known about the measures in place to manage the situation. It is not clear to what extent the environmental management practices are employed in tobacco growing zones.Furthermore, it is not known how widespread the environmental degradation and env...
ABSTRACT The desk study was carried out to assess the frequency of drought associated with the various phases of the El Nino. Southern Oscillation index values were analysed to determine El Nino or la nina years. Three meteorological definitions of drought were used to establish one which correlates best with the el nino or la nina years.