Coping with uncertainty: perspectives on sustainability of smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Agricultural sustainability of smallholder farms in the tropics has rarely been examined in an integrated manner by addressing simultaneously ecological, social and economic dimensions and exploring its spatial and temporal characteristics. In this submission I have prepared a Context Statement (Part I) that provides a background to my submitted body of works on assessment of agricultural sustainability of smallholder farms in Kenya. In the Context Statement I have positioned myself and my body of works and its impacts, critiqued my methodologies and reflected on my epistemology, brought out overarching messages on sustainability of smallholder farms and examined my research journey and contributions to academic knowledge and to professional practice. I position my public works within an inclusive ontological realism and epistemological pluralism that informed my use of mixed-methods research. I used (i) decision support systems and models (NUTMON, MonQI and QUEFTS), (ii) participatory learning and interdisciplinary research methodologies (on-farm comparative participatory research, PTD, Farmer Field Schools), and (iii) qualitative perceptions of farmers and researchers to investigate sustainability of smallholder farms. The smallholder farms in the low-to-medium agricultural potential areas were moving in the direction of unsustainability with performance of major indictors related to soil quality, crop productivity and socio-economics below threshold values. This was in direct contrast to the situation in high agricultural potential areas. The collaborative and interdisciplinary research partnerships within which this body of works was prepared was productive with co-authored papers standing at 98.5% of the total number of papers and the average number of citations per paper by other researchers was 5. My research and the body of works presented together with this context statement created a positive impact on farmers’ attitudes, beliefs and behavior regarding sustainability of their farms. Smallholders adopted good agricultural practices and “new” technologies and improved their livelihoods. My reflections on the submitted body of works have further shown that it contributed to knowledge and practice through bridging knowledge gaps on sustainability of organic farming systems, developing new methodologies or adapting current ones to give new meaning in the areas of participatory technology development, communication between “hard sciences” and “soft sciences” on soil quality, farmer learning for sustainability on integrated nutrient management and smallholder tea production, and in the use of decision support systems and models to assess sustainability of smallholder agriculture in an integrated manner. In the Context Statement I have also reflected on my research journey and painted a picture of the impacts of this doctoral pathway on my research practice and future direction. This doctoral pathway provided the opportunity to blend an academic research doctoral model with my professional research practice resulting in a submission equivalent to PhD by thesis. Through it I have re-discovered myself as a research scientist, a flexible autonomous learner, framed my research experiences as forms of personal, professional and academic growth and created linkages with my career interests and opportunities for improving frontiers of my research practice in the future

Improving the Tanzanian-Mombasa cross-border tomato product chain: a study of Mombasa tomato market : draft report

The study of Mombasa tomato market is part of the project “Development of Commercial Field Vegetable Production, Distribution and Marketing for the East African Market”. The project is implementing a pilot activity on improving crossborder tomato chains from Ngarenanyuki, Tanzania, to Mombasa, Kenya. The overall objective of the study was to assess the requirements, institutional setting and current supply issues of the Mombasa tomato market and to describe the supply chain logistics and characteristics

Facilitated learning in soil fertility management: assessing potentials of low-external-input technologies in east African farming systems

The paper describes the facilitated learning process of farm households and district policy makers in addressing the problem of soil nutrient depletion. The process is applied in a case study in four districts in Kenya and Uganda during the period 1997-1999, where the potentials of low-external input technologies (LEIA) in addressing the soil nutrient depletion problem were assessed. Working through an inclusive process of dialogue, observation, diagnosis, experimentation and exposure to different types of knowledge, participants made a thorough analysis of the current soil fertility situation and tested various LEIA options for improving soil fertility management. In all four research sites the future agricultural productivity is threatened by soil nutrient depletion. Maximal use of locally available nutrients through LEIA techniques, combined with optimal use of external nutrients appears to be the most appropriate strategy in the existing economic environment. Long-term and intensive collaboration between research institutions on the one hand and extension services, non-government and community based organisations on the other are a prerequisite for a successful and sustainable implementation of a facilitated learning approach. Involvement of stakeholders in the various stages of the research process, including the planning and project formulation is essential for an effective follow-up and implementation of the results. More attention needs to be paid to the development of communication tools to enable an effective interaction between policy makers and researchers. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Farmer Field School on Nutrient Management.

In Kenya Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) is being used to make the best use of local resources and to optimise the effects of external inputs. In Mbeere, a district that lies in the dryland area of Eastern Kenya the Farmer Field School (FFS) has been in operation during one season and work is being done to integrate INM into local farming practices. The FFS is developing, testing and evaluating technologies based on the use of local organic resources and mineral fertiliser

Stakeholder perceptions of agricultural policies in Kenya

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:5359.2826(no 18) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo