Download or read book The Impacts of Household Land Use and Socio Economic Factors on the Soil Fertility of Smallholder Farms in the Highlands of Kenya written by Solomon Ngoze and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raising agricultural productivity in smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa requires an understanding of if and how farm household land use and socioeconomic factors affect soil fertility. Market access, population growth, socio economic characteristics and agro ecological zones have been proposed as important drivers of land use intensity and, consequently, soil fertility. We used diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy to measure soil fertility, and multivariate and exogenous switching regression statistical approaches to determine if soil fertility in the smallholder farms of the highlands of Kenya is associated by region, land use categories (cash crop, food crop, fodder and pastures), and selected household socio economic factors (household income, number of adults, farm size and number of cattle). Over 2000 fields on 236 farms were sampled in Embu (eastern Kenya highlands, primarily Andosols) and Madzuu (western Kenya highlands, primarily Ferrasols). Soil fertility variables, including total soil carbon (SC), total nitrogen (TN), pH, available Olsen phosphorous (P), extractable potassium(K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) and texture, were measured using conventional laboratory techniques on 15% of the sampled soils. From these analyses, SC, TN, P and K were all greater in Embu compared to Madzuu soils. Soil fertility variables were significantly higher in pastures compared to other land uses in Madzuu, but were comparable with other land uses in Embu. This soil data was then used to calibrate soil reflectance results in order to predict soil fertility variables for all soil samples. Principle component analysis (PCA) of soil fertility variables developed from the spectroscopy data for each soil sample indicated similarities among sites in the three most important eigenvectors: the first (soil nutrient) vector had high positive loadings for K, Ca, Mg, ECEC and pH; the second (soil organic matter, SOM) vector had high positive loadings for soil organic carbon and total nitrogen; and the third (soil texture) vector had high positive loadings for clay plus silt. However, in Embu, P was associated with the soil organic matter vector while in Madzuu it was associated with the soil nutrient vector. In comparison to pasture all other land uses were associated with lower values of soil nutrient and SOM components in Madzuu, while in Embu, these other land uses were associated with higher values of the SOM component. Number of cattle per farm had no association with any of the three soil fertility components at either site. In Embu, farm income and adult population were both positively related to SOM. In Madzuu, farm size was positively associated with SOM but negatively associated with soil nutrients. More than twice as much P fertilizer is applied on average in Embu compared to Madzuu (27 vs. 11 kg ha-1 season-1). Our study supports the link between poverty dynamics and soil degradation in smallholder agriculture; wealthier households in the eastern Kenya highlands are able to invest in soil fertility management while the poorer households in western Kenya are mining nutrients in soils.

Download or read book Economic Analysis of Soil Capital Land Use and Agricultural Production in Kenya written by Anders Ekbom and published by Goteborg University. This book was released on 2007 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa written by Nteranya Sanginga and published by CIAT. This book was released on 2009 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forward. A call for integrated soil fertility management in Africa. Introduction. ISFM and the African farmer. Part I. The principles of ISFM: ISFM as a strategic goal, Fertilizer management within ISFM, Agro-minerals in ISFM, Organic resource management, ISFM, soil biota and soil health. Part II. ISFM practices: ISFM products and fields practices, ISFM practice in drylands, ISFM practice in savannas and woodlands, ISFM practice in the humid forest zone, Conservation Agriculture. Part III. The process of implementing ISFM: soil fertility diagnosis, soil fertility management advice, Dissemination of ISFM technologies, Designing an ISFM adoption project, ISFM at farm and landscape scales. Part IV. The social dimensions of ISFM: The role of ISFM in gender empowerment, ISFM and household nutrition, Capacity building in ISFM, ISFM in the policy arena, Marketing support for ISFM, Advancing ISFM in Africa. Appendices: Mineral nutrient contents of some common organic resources.

Download or read book Strategies for Sustainable Land Management in the East African Highlands written by J. Pender and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2006 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable methods of cultivation are threatening agriculture and food security in the highlands of East Africa. In response, economists and other development professionals have turned their attention to combating the pr

Download or read book Land Use in Transition written by Thomas Kohler and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Modeling the Impact of Natural Resource Based Poverty Traps on Food Security in Kenya written by Emma C. Stephens and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We investigate the interactions between natural resource-based poverty traps and food security for smallholder farms in highland Kenya using a recently developed system dynamics bio-economic model. This approach permits examination of the complex interactions and feedback between farm-household economic decision-making and long term soil fertility dynamics that appear to characterize persistent poverty and food insecurity among smallholders in rural highland Kenya. We examine the effects of changing initial endowments of land and stocks of on-farm soil organic matter on smallholders' well-being, as reflected in several different indicators. We show that larger and higher quality land endowments permit accumulation of cash and livestock resources and conservation of soil organic matter relative to smaller or more degraded farms. This suggests the existence of asset thresholds that divide food secure households from insecure ones.

Download or read book Smallholders in Laikipia District Kenya written by Felicitas Bachmann and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Impact of Socio economic Development on Fertility in Rural Kenya written by Kenya. Central Bureau of Statistics and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Impact of Agroforestry based Soil Fertility Replenishment Practices on the Poor in Western Kenya written by Place, Frank and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2005 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely accepted that food production benefits from agricultural research, but whether that research benefits the poor is less certain. In 2000, the World Agroforestry Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute began examining the impact of soil fertility replenishment technologies on the poor in western Kenya. This report is one of seven case studies that comprise a broader IFPRI-managed study designed to determine how agricultural research is benefiting poor people. The goal of this broader study is to identify the conditions under which agricultural research reduces poverty and to improve the targeting of research to the changing needs of the poor. The study develops methods for evaluating the impact of agricultural research on poverty in the context of different agricultural technologies and within different country, social, and institutional settings. It also establishes a foundation that allows agricultural research centers to assess the impact of their work, identify research priorities, and guide technological design to increase future impact on poverty.

Download or read book On Site and Off Site Long Term Economic Impacts of Soil Fertility Management Practices The Case of Maize Based Cropping Systems in Kenya written by Ephraim Nkonya, Patrick Gicheru, Johannes Woelcke, Barrack Okoba, Daniel Kilambya, and Louis N. Gachimbi and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sustainable Land Management in Dynamic Agro ecosystems an Integrated Multi scale Socio ecological Analysis in Western Kenya Highlands written by Morgan Chikamai Mutoko and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa written by Andre Bationo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 1339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa can achieve self sufficiency in food production through adoption of innovations in the agriculture sector. Numerous soil fertility and crop production technologies have been generated through research, however, wide adoption has been low. African farmers need better technologies, more sustainable practices, and fertilizers to improve and sustain their crop productivity and to prevent further degradation of agricultural lands. The agricultural sector also needs to be supported by functional institutions and policies that will be able to respond to emerging challenges of globalization and climate change.

Download or read book Sustainable Agriculture Reviews written by Eric Lichtfouse and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, philosophy and social sciences. Because actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

Download or read book The Economics of Soil Productivity in Sub Saharan Africa written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the current and potential role of economics in soil productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. After examining the status of soil productivity and the contribution of conventional economic analyses, it considers more innovative approaches that enable economics to play a greater role in the planning and evaluation of soil productivity, enhancing measures at farm, national and global level. In the past economics has tended to focus on one factor at a time but many factors affect soil productivity. Decisions, policies and their impact call for a more integrative, participatory analytical approaches capable of weighing various aspects simultaneously. This study highlights how economics can respond to this challenge through the a[application of fresh concepts (e.g. natural capital) and specific techniques (e.g. multi-criteria analysis, green accounting).

Download or read book Household Level Determinants of Adoption of Improved Natural Resources Management Practices Among Smallholder Farmers in Western Kenya written by Paswel Marenya and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Integrated natural resources management (INRM), of which integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) is a component, offers considerable promise for increasing food production in Kenya. It nonetheless remains unclear whether ISFM/INRM techniques lend themselves easily to adoption by smallholder farmers. Using panel data collected in western Kenya in 1989 and 2002, this study finds that resource constraints limit many farmers' adoption of ISFM/INRM techniques. The size of the farm owned by a household, the value of its livestock, off-farm income, family labor supply, and the educational attainment and gender of the household head all had a significant positive effect on the likelihood of adoption. Similar factors were found to be statistically significant in discouraging abandonment of the practices under study. There thus seem to exist reinforcing feedback between investments in soil fertility management and household wealth, as measured by asset endowments. Our findings raise important questions as to whether ISFM and related techniques are really affordable to poorer smallholder farmers.

Download or read book The Social Cost of Small Families Land Reform written by G. C. Mkangi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A convincing argument against the widespread belief that rapid population growth is an obstacle to socio-economic development, while individual land ownership is a prerequisite. The author presents an in-depth study of traditional land tenure in Taita, Kenya, where the implementation of birth control programmes and the individualization of land tenure have failed to eradicate rural poverty and have brought about other sociopsychological problems. This book is of vital importance to development personnel to help them place the problem of population growth in its proper perspective.

Download or read book Husbanding the Land written by Nelson A. R. Mango and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farmers argue that the myth of the superiority of hybrids no longer holds for them.