Options for Climate-Smart Agriculture at Kaptumo Site in Kenya

This report identifies and assesses climate-smart agricultural practices through participatory appraisal tools with experts and farmers, as part of the MICCA pilot project in Kaptumo, Kenya. The aim is to highlight and add climate-smart practices within the ongoing development programme which aims to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation with improving livelihoods and productivity of the dairy farming system

Neutron Production Analysis on Inertial Electrostatic Deuterium-Deuterium Fusion

The basic principle of fusion is combining two light nuclei to form one nucleus that is lighter than the combination of the original two. This loss of mass is converted into energy (E=mc2 ) which can be harnessed for various applications. Fusion can take many different and varied forms including: aneutronic fusion, magnetic confinement (MFE), and inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) to name a few. Fusion is highly adaptable because it can use several different types of fuel such as Deuterium-Tritium, Tritium-Helium-3, Proton-Boron11, and Deuterium-Deuterium mixtures. On top of this, each of the fusion techniques mentioned uses different conditions to generate fusion. Because of the varied ways in which fusion can be attained it is a clean energy source that is almost infinitely renewable, solving not only an energy crisis but also removing the issues of radioactive waste from traditional nuclear power plants and emissions from other power sources (i.e. coal and oil)

Improved fallows in Kenya: history, farmer practice, and impacts

This case study explores the development, dissemination, adoption, and impact of improved tree fallows in rural western Kenya. The processes of technology development and dissemination throughout the region are described and analyzed. To analyze adoption and impact, the paper applies a variety of different data collection methods as well as samples from both pilot areas where researchers maintained a significant presence and non-pilot areas where farmers learned of the technologies through other channels. Sample sizes for the quantitative analysis ranged from almost 2,000 households for measuring the adoption process to just over 100 households for measuring impact indicators. Qualitative methods included long-term case studies for 40 households and focus group discussions involving 16 different groups. The paper describes the ways in which farmers used and modified improved fallow practices. Discussion also examines the types of households using fallows and benefiting from their use.

Strategies for sustainable natural resource management

This brief describes two case studies as follows: "Sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest fertility rate in the world, faces increasing demographic pressure on its natural resource base.... Old strategies for coping with these new pressures on the natural resource base are becoming increasingly infeasible... Consequently, Africa's farmers require new solutions to address the increasing pressure on the continent's soil and water resources. Among hundreds of innovative efforts across the continent, two promising sets of responses have emerged in different locations.... First is the use of planting basins, an approach that has emerged in recent decades in both the Sahel and Zambia.... The second strategy involves the use of improved fallows, introduced over the past decade in eastern Zambia and western Kenya." [from Text]. The authors look at the impact and the drivers of change and conclude with key lessons learned for buidling future successes.

Farmers Teaching Farmers: What Motivates Volunteer Farm Trainers?

This paper assesses the motivation behind the decisions of smallholder farmers to volunteer as farmer trainers despite the fact that they are not paid for their services. Volunteer farmer trainers (VFTs) are trained in livestock feeds and feeding methods by extension officers. They in turn train other farmers within their community without pay but receive training and seeds for setting up demonstration plots. Data collection was through a combination of focus group discussions and individual interviews with 99 VFTs from seven East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) sites in central and Rift Valley regions of Kenya. Findings of the study showed that VFTs were motivated by altruism, gaining knowledge/skills, social benefits, financial benefits and increased demand for training from farmers. Financial benefits were not only from sale of seed, seedlings, planting material but also VFTs have diversified into other business opportunities such as charging for services which include silage making, hay baling , training, ear tagging, chaff cutter hire and dehorning. The findings point to the fact that investments in human, social and financial capital are crucial to keeping VFTs motivated. These factors are key to ensuring the sustainability of farmer-to-farmer extension programs beyond project lifespans

The Adoption and Dissemination of Fodder Shrubs in Central Kenya

Conference Paper No. 1

THE BLENDING OF PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS: WEALTH STATUS, GENDER AND THE ADOPTION OF IMPROVED FALLOWS IN ZAMBIA

Although there is increasing emphasis on targeting of improved technology towards poor and female farmers, few adoption studies assess the uptake of new practices by these groups in a comprehensive manner. In this study, community members used the wealth ranking method to identify the different wealth groups in their communities, to determine each household's wealth status, and to assess the association of wealth and different types of households with the planting of improved tree fallows, a practice for improving crop yields. There were no significant differences between the proportions of women and men planting improved fallows nor were there differences between single women and female heads of households who were married. There was some evidence of association between planting improved fallows and wealth. That 22% of the 'poor' group and 16% of the 'very poor' group were planting them suggests that there are no barriers preventing low-income households from doing so. Moreover, the proportion of females, poor, and very poor people planting improved fallows varied considerably among villages, suggesting that opportunities exist for increasing their use of technology. Whereas the use of mineral fertilizer is strongly associated with high-income, male farmers, improved fallows appear to be a gender-neutral and wealth-neutral technology. Poor farmers appreciate improved fallows because they permit them to substitute small amounts of land and labour for cash, their most scarce resource. Finally, the high degree of consistency among different key informants in classifying households among wealth groups confirmed the effectiveness and accuracy of the wealth ranking exercise.Adoption, agroforestry, Participatory research, Sesbania sesban, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Collaborative monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment: Experiences assessing the impact of improved fallows and biomass transfer in western Kenya

pre-printThere is considerable literature available on assessing the impact of rural innovations from the perspective of a particular discipline, e.g., economics or sociology, and from the farmers’ own perspective, e.g., participatory monitoring and evaluation. But little has been written about collaborative monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment, that is, how a group of diverse stakeholder organizations working in a particular location promoting similar innovations can work together to monitor and evaluate their work and assess their impact. The objective of this paper is to assess the experience of 30 organizations working together over a four year period, 1999-2003, to assess their impact in helping farmers to develop, adapt and adopt two soil fertility practices aimed at improving household livelihoods in western Kenya. The two practices were biomass transfer (cutting leaves and applying them as green manure) and improved fallows (enriching or replacing natural fallows with planted, nitrogen-fixing shrubs). Researchers of ICRAF, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) in partnership with farmers developed the practices in the mid-1990s, in response to farmers’ soil fertility problems and their lack of cash for buying mineral fertilizer. The following section describes the study area, and research and dissemination activities concerning the two practices. Next the collaborative exercises on monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment are described, followed by the results of the assessments of biomass transfer and improved fallows. Finally, the impact of these exercises is discussed, highlighting the effect of the process and findings on the participating organizations