ABSTRACT Makueni County is extremely vulnerable to climate change because its production systems are climate sensitive, and many people are unable to cope up with climatic stress. The aim of this study was to establish water scarcity coping strategies used by rural communities in Kilili sub-location in Makueni sub-county and Kyanguli sub-location in Kibwezi East sub-county, all located Makueni County. The broad objective of the study was to identify water sources, access challenges and coping...
ABSTRACT The main objective of the study was to determine how river discharge and sediment yield in the basin is influenced by variations in rainfall and land use land cover change. The study was based on the analysis of hydrological and meteorological data archived by the Water Resources Authority (WRA) and the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), respectively. The river discharge, Total Suspended Sediment Concentration (TSSC) and sediment yield data was collected from established river ga...
ABSTRACT Energy affects all aspects of development: social, economic and environmental, including livelihoods, access to water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels and education. Public schools spend a lot of money every year on energy bills. Currently, they are experiencing an exponential increase in student enrolment which puts more pressure on energy needs. This study focuses on cost benefit analysis of different energy sources used in public secondary schools in Mtito And...
ABSTRACT A study was undertaken at Kibwezi division of Kibwezi district to investigate and evaluate the practice and success factors responsible for the range rehabilitation work undertaken by the Dryland Husbandry Project (DHP) in conjunction with local communities. The work involved the identification of most frequently used grasses, through visits and discussions with community groups and key informants. The general objective of this study was to contribute to greater understanding of the ...
ABSTRACT Assessment of human exposure to the naturally occurring fluoride in groundwater in Kenya has not being exhaustive in terms of geographical coverage and the media. There is need to have representative data and information on the extent of human exposure to fluoride and its impact on human health. This study investigated the extent of human exposure to fluoride and its impact on human health in Makindu District, and evaluated the potential risk of using ground water contaminated by flu...
ABSTRACT Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important source of protein, minerals and food for the majority of the poor population in sub-Saharan Africa. However, its contribution to grain yield and micronutrient level is constrained by moisture stress and low available soil phosphorus. A study was carried out to determine the effects of bean genotypes, P fertilizer and moisture regimes on bean (P. vulgaris L.) grain yield and tissue concentration of Zn and Fe in three bean genotypes a...
Abstract Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata L ) has a variety of uses in Zimbabwe. The crop can be used as food, leaves as vegetable for human and stems as fodder for livestock. Maximising both leaf, grain and the above ground biomass yield of the dual purpose cowpea is one of the ways to improve food security in the country as well as nutritious hay in winter for livestock thus ensuring sustainability in agriculture which is being threatened by climate change. A research was carried out to find out...
Abstract Pine bark is locally available in Zimbabwe and is widely in vegetable seedling production. However, it lacks essential nutrients for seedling growth. Goat manure was used to supplement nutrients when pine bark is used as growing media. The main object of the study was to determine the effect of pine bark amended with goat manure on tomato seedling emergence and seedling quality parameter which were stem diameter and stem length. The study was carried out at the Tobacco Research Boar...
ABSTRACT An experiment on the effect of different storage techniques on taro and tannia corms was carried out in a 2x5 factorial in a complete block design(CBD) replicated three times. Taro and tannia crops and the factors are different storage techniques. The techniques include refrigeration, heap covered with maize stalks, ash smeared corms, pit storage and corms stored under room temperature conditions. Taro and tannia corms were stored for 18 weeks after being cured using the same techniq...
Abstract The Iona Skeleton Coast Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (TFCA), straddling the border between Angola and Namibia, has suffered through decades of civil war and poaching. While this history has been detrimental to the community of large mammals in the TFCA, data collected on the mammal populations are insufficient to enable effective management. Survey methods such as aerial counts and community-based monitoring have various shortcomings. Therefore camera trapping, which has become ...
Abstract Land cover refers to the observed vegetation, structures, or other features that cover the land such as closed forests, open forest, woodland, grasslands, bushland, and settlements. Land cover change is one of the serious threats to the forests and woodlands of Namibia, and it is mainly triggered by forest resource utilization and conversion to agriculture by local communities. As one of the mechanisms to control land cover change, Namibia introduced the Community Forests (CF) progra...
ABSTRACT Zimbabwe is preparing itself for 2015 dead line for the elimination of methyl bromide through adoption of floating tray system, metham sodium, basamid and other related tobacco nursery chemicals. In an effort to complement this government initiative to fulfil Montreal protocol, a research was carried out at Kushinga Phikelela National Farmer Training College, in Marondera during the 2014-2015 tobacco farming season with intention to evaluate the effect of an on farm composted tea tre...
ABSTRACT Root Knot Nematodes are one of the major economically important pests of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L) in many regions of the world including Zimbabwe, with Meloidogyne javanica being considered the most destructive. Recent prohibition of main soil chemical fumigants for the control of Meloidogyne javanica has prompted for the search of other alternatives to manage root knot nematodes. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of aqueous plant extracts on (...
Abstract Human existence generates massive amount of waste. These wastes are usually dumped at disposal sites especially in developing countries due to lack of landfills. As a result of continuous waste dumping, soils in disposal sites have become sinks of toxic heavy metals. Oshakati disposal site is open and all waste from the town irrespective of the source get dumped at the site. The scoping assessment which was done at the site in 2018 found high levels of heavy metals way above the stan...
ABSTRACT Farmer irrigation practices have contributed to reduction of irrigable area from 14.6ha to 9.6 ha at Mutorahuku irrigation scheme due to water loss and shortages in the scheme. A study carried out at the scheme showed that farmer irrigation practices also contribute much to water loss and shortages. Infield canal tail end losses were measured with a collecting bucket and a stop watch. Using the t test results showed that there is a significant difference between the observed and expe...