MAIZE BREEDING RESEARCH IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA: CURRENT STATUS AND IMPACTS OF PAST INVESTMENTS MADE BY THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS, 1966-97

This report documents the impacts of international maize breeding research in eastern and southern Africa. It draws on information from a comprehensive 1998/99 survey of public and private maize breeding and seed production organizations active in the region. In many countries of eastern and southern Africa, policy reforms introduced in the 1980s and 1990s encouraged private sector participation in the maize seed industry. The private sector now supplies most of the maize seed in the region, spends more on research, and generates a larger number of maize releases than the public sector. Hybrids dominate varietal releases and seed sales, a trend that may negatively affect subsistence-oriented farmers who lack resources to buy fresh seed every season. Although farmers' adoption of improved maize varies throughout the region, it has increased steadily. Survey data show that CIMMYT's maize breeding program has had significant impacts in eastern and southern Africa, especially in recent years. Of the maize varieties released in the region since 1990, 31% (55% if South Africa is excluded) were developed using CIMMYT breeding materials. In 1996, more than 1.6 million hectares in eastern and southern Africa were planted to varieties developed using CIMMYT germplasm. The varietal release data and adoption data indicate growing demand for CIMMYT breeding materials from both public and private breeding programs, as well as growing acceptance by farmers of varieties developed using those materials.Agribusiness,

Low income food systems and food safety in Kenya: a case study of Kangemi peri-urban area

This study was a part of a large study that examined food systems and food safety in developing countries. The Kenyan study was mainly based on a case study of Kangemi village, which is a peri-urban area of Nairobi. At Kangemi, two major food systems exist. There is firstly, the typical low-income rural food systems, which mainly involve growing own food or buying locally grown food. In this system only a few essential items are purchased outside the farm, and nearly all food is prepared within the home. The major food safety problem in this system is due to inadequate drying and storage of staple food stuffs; poor practices of handling and preparing food within the home. Food safety standards in this system can be enhanced through teaching of food safety and extension of primary health care programmes. The other food system is typical of any low-income urban areas. The people here are predominantly dependent on purchased food; consisting mainly of a cereal or starchy root staple with some vegetables and pulses together with supplementary sources of animal protein and fruit. Here the main food safety problem i s due to considerable risks of deterioration, contamination and adulteration as the food moves through the distribution channel. In this system food safety standards can be enhanced through devotion of societal resources to health education to all involved in the distribution channel. As a conclusion it must be emphasised that it is seldom appreciated how widespread food contamination is, nor how tremendous are the costs it imposes to our society. This study has also indicated very clearly that at this stage of our development, food systems and food safety can be improved and enhanced significantly only through government participation as the private sector finds it impossible without causing undue financial burden to low-income consumers

Alternatives for improving production, employment and income distribution in Kenyan agriculture

The ever increasing population pressure with concomitant increasing food demand, land fragmentation and employment pose major challenges to agricultural development in Kenya. In this paper we explore various ways in which the Government can concentrate its scarce resources to accelerate production growth and employment in agriculture to at least keep abreast of population growth. These measures include land use intensification, shift in cropping patterns, land redistribution, increased supply of land and dry land farming. The second part of the paper examines the various Government policies directed towards agriculture and attempts to assess their impact on income distribution. The policies considered here include pricing, marketing, credit, research, extension and land policy. Most of the future increase in production will have to come from higher productivity, but increasing yields is going to cost money for irrigation, import of inputs like fertilizer, farm-to-market transport and the entire range of infrastructure soft ware such as research, extension and credit. Thus the country will need much higher levels of investment than at present especially in smallholder sector. Technically there seem to be few problems outside the feasible range of currently available possibilities. But the perennial issues of management and institutional structure will pose the biggest problems

Stabilizing the Contours of Democracy in Kenya: An Analysis of Audiences’ Perceptions of Radio Contents in 2007 and 2013 Political Cycles.

The paper argues that the understanding of the social construction of the practice of democracy is expanded when relevant social groups such as mass media and voters are analyzed to see how ‘interpretative flexibility’ and ‘closure’ occurs. The paper focuses on the coverage of the presidential candidates by vernacular radio in the 2007 and 2013 general elections in Kenya. The two political cycles present what the author calls the ‘dilatory and cogent waves of media operations in Kenya. The two political cycles are used in the analyses of mass media operations for two major reasons; First, they provide what Nigel and Mulkay (1984) called ‘Rhetorical Repertoire’ through which audience give their interpretation of a process as well as their application in terms of their actions. And second, they are used as an analytical tools of comparison. The media terrain is explored by analyzing both Inooro and Kass FM audiences’ perceptions about how the two stations covered the key presidential candidates in the two general elections. It concludes that, a cogent mass media wave can be used to break the audiences’ intercultural barriers which stand in the way of a community’s strength and mutual benefits. Keywords: Democracy, vernacular radio, audience, perception, mass media coverag

Farm level derived demand responses for fertilizer in Kenya: a research proposal

The primary purpose of this research is to attempt to provide quantitative information at farm level on derived demand for fertilizers. In this research an attempt will also be made to assess the impact of such policy variables as fertilizer subsidies, product prices, interest rate on demand functions for fertilizer and hence on optimal farm organizations based on representative farms. In deriving these demand functions the techniques of static and parametric linear programming will be used

Child Survival, Poverty and Policy Options from DHS Surveys in Kenya: 1993-2003

This paper analyses multidimensional aspects of child poverty in Kenya. We carry out poverty and inequality comparisons for child survival and also use the parametric survival model to explain childhood mortality using DHS data. The results of poverty comparisons show that: children with the lowest probability of survival are from households with the lowest level of assets; and poverty orderings for child survival by assets are robust to the choice of the poverty line and to the measure of wellbeing. Inequality analysis suggests that there is less mortality inequality among children facing mortality than children who are better off. The survival model results show that child and maternal characteristics, and household assets are important correlates of childhood mortality. The results further show that health care services are crucial for child survival. Policy simulations suggest that there is potential for making some progress in reducing mortality, but the ERS and MDG targets cannot be achieved.Child survival, multidimensional poverty, inequality, stochastic dominance, childhood mortality, asset index, Kenya

African Leadership: The Youth at a Crossroad

Leadership, mentoring and career development pose problem to any organization or institution. This is because most leaders, career developers and mentors, lack among other things managerial and communication skills. When leaders lack these skills they give poor and mediocre leadership; they create confusion among those to be led, mentored and to be developed. While some people are naturally leaders and work well with others without making excessive demands on them, there others who need proper training in leadership whether in a religious or secular community. In most cases leadership is acquired through a skillful training and ones’ experience. For this acquisition to occur one must be in a position to understand personal development in addition to human behavior. Hence, there is a need to encourage research in the field of human behaviour and development. For successful leadership and mentorship to happen, two things are important among them the basic knowledge of group behavior, human relations and managerial skills and, secondly, training in applying these skills. Leadership comes with one’s personality, attitude and perception. While leadership and mentorship are acquired and at times appear as natural realities, they are also improved through one’s dynamic involvement with the people to be led and mentored. An excellent leader responds to peoples’ needs and feelings with the hope of uplifting their lives by all means. A leader communicates clearly, precisely and with a lot of zeal about his or her work. The paper aims at evaluating the reality of leadership, mentoring and career development of the people particularly the youth of Africa. It further makes some recommendations on what ought to be done in order to improve on the life of those to be led and monitored among them human behaviour and development. Key Words: Leadership, Mentoring, Human behaviour and Career Development

Production of Giant \u3cem\u3ePanicum\u3c/em\u3e in Contrasting Environments in Semi-Arid Kenya

Giant panicum (Panicum maximum Jacq.) is a tall, vigorous perennial grass that is native to tropical and sub-tropical Africa. It is drought tolerant due to its deep and dense fibrous roots system and grows in a wide range of soil types. It is an important livestock feed and has been extensively cultivated in Brazil (Santos et al. 2006). Despite its wide genetic diversity in East Africa, its potential for livestock feed has not been exploited there due to limited research. Our research was aimed at evaluating the production of several giant panicum ecotypes in contrasting environments in semi-arid areas of Kenya

Framing of Police Enforcement of the Covid-19 Laws in Kenya: A Comparative Analysis of the Daily Nation and Standard Newspapers

This study analysed how the Standard and The Daily Nation Newspapers framed the Kenyan police enforcement of Legal Notice No. 36 of 2020. Three major objectives were interrogated; the frames used by the two newspapers in reporting police enforcement of the curfew, the figures of speech used in the framing the police enforcement work and the sources of the stories used. Content analysis was the main data collection method. The key findings of the study were: The Daily Nation and the Standard newspapers framed the police enforcement of the curfew through negative valance via use of: brutality frames, conflict frames, death and murder frames. It also emerged that, the voicing of the police enforcement of the curfew order was largely supressed and left mainly to the mass media institutions and the journalists. Inferentially, the two newspapers played their watchdog role effectively. It also emerged that, critical voices necessary in ensuring accountability and transparent of the police enforcement of Covid 19 curfew in Kenya like: The Judiciary, Parliament, International Community and other key human right agencies were silent. It is recommended that, police should be trained on matters human rights and freedom and that both the journalists and the public should be empowered in order to hold police to account for their sometimes illegal actions during executions of their mandates. Keywords: Media framing, Police brutality, Governance, public order, DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/105-01 Publication date:October 31st 202

EFFECT OF CUSTOM DUTY INCENTIVES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN KENYA

Background: The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of custom duty incentives on the financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study focused on the manufacturing companies registered by Kenya Association of Manufacturers. Materials and Methods: The population of the study was the 447 manufacturing companies in the register of Kenya Association of Manufacturers in 2019. The study applied a stratified random sampling technique in the determination of the sample size, where 211 manufacturing companies were selected for the study. Primary data was collected by the use of questionnaires targeting accountants and other senior management officers in manufacturing companies. Secondary data was collected from audited financial statements covering a period of 10 years from 2009 to 2018. The response rate on the questionnaires was 73.5 %. Data analysis was performed by use of SPSS version 25. The study performed both descriptive and inferential statistics, diagnostic tests involving multi-collinearity tests, auto-correlation, heteroscedasticity and test of normality were carried out. Results: The data did not suffer from multi-collinearity neither was there auto-correlation; however, the data violated the assumption of normality. The study applied ordinal regression analysis so as to determine the predictive model. Pseudo-R square was computed which showed that custom duty incentives explain 4% of the change in financial performance meaning there are other factors that contribute to the change in financial performance. The results of the study also showed that custom duty incentive has a statistically significant relationship with the financial performance of manufacturing companies. Conclusion: The conclusion of the study was custom duty contributes positively to the financial performance of manufacturing companies in Kenya. The study recommended that manufacturing companies should embrace the aspects of custom duty incentives offered by the government. JEL: L10; L20; L60  Article visualizations