Conservation and Promotion of Indigenous Plants and Trees in Meru: A preliminary survey

The research team set out on 8 August 2007 to visit Mr. Samson Mathiu's farm at Ntharu, Nkueni division, Mikumbune location, South Imenti, Meru district. Samson is an active environmentalist and expert on indigenous plants. He had been identified as a potential resource during the Memorialization & Museums Workshop facilitated by Prof Karega-Munene and held at USIU in May 2007. As part of its outreach and collaboration strategy, the SDIC team conducted an extensive two-day research in the area with the assistance of Samson and his friend Francis Kirimi Inoti. A great deal of notes were made and photographs taken on African indigenous trees and crops. The team returned to USIU on 10 August 2007. Of great interest to the research team was the evidence of the transit situation that exist in our rural areas moving from indigenous to current lifestyles within three generations in the region. According to Ibui (2007), the former were acquired over several generations and allowed the locals to use, manage and conserve wild resources in a sustainable mode. In the teams' observation, society's emphasis on a monetary system has seen a shift in plant value systems.Journal of Language, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol. 1 (1) 2007 pp. 119-12

Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Traditional data sources are not sufficient for measuring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. New and non-traditional sources of data are required. Citizen science is an emerging example of a non-traditional data source that is already making a contribution. In this Perspective, we present a roadmap that outlines how citizen science can be integrated into the formal Sustainable Development Goals reporting mechanisms. Success will require leadership from the United Nations, innovation from National Statistical Offices and focus from the citizen-science community to identify the indicators for which citizen science can make a real contribution

Citizen Science as an Approach for Responding to the Threat of 'Anopheles stephensi' in Africa

Even as novel technologies emerge and medicines advance, pathogen-transmitting mosquitoes pose a deadly and accelerating public health threat. Detecting and mitigating the spread of Anopheles stephensi in Africa is now critical to the fight against malaria, as this invasive mosquito poses urgent and unprecedented risks to the continent. Unlike typical African vectors of malaria, An. stephensi breeds in both natural and artificial water reservoirs, and flourishes in urban environments. With An. stephensi beginning to take hold in heavily populated settings, citizen science surveillance supported by novel artificial intelligence (AI) technologies may offer impactful opportunities to guide public health decisions and community-based interventions. Coalitions like the Global Mosquito Alert Consortium (GMAC) and our freely available digital products can be incorporated into enhanced surveillance of An. stephensi and other vector-borne public health threats. By connecting local citizen science networks with global databases that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), we are leveraging a powerful suite of tools and infrastructure for the early detection of, and rapid response to, (re)emerging vectors and diseases

African Traditional Vegetables as Agents of Integrated Soil Fertility Manangement—Crotalaria and Amaranth Farming

The knowledge and understanding of African leafy vegetables has diminished over time, but in the recent past year there is more interest in their research for their nutritive and medicinal values. Of value are those that have the potential to ameliorate soil nutrient levels. This is with the background that despite inorganic fertilizers (IF) have a dramatic impact on agriculture in the world, the economic situation in Sub-Saharan African calls for alternative methods to reduce soil fertility degradation. The use of leguminous vegetables may be a solution. The study looks at the potential contribution of a leguminous traditional vegetable— Crotalaria brevidens to soil nitrogen under various treatments. During the study which was conducted over two seasons, C. brevidens was grown under two treatments of IF and organic fertilizer (OF) with a control in which there was no fertilizer (NF) applied. A non-leguminous vegetable—Amaranthus dubious (Amaranth) was grown under the same treatments for comparison purposes. Soil analysis was done before and after planting in the treatment subplots. Growth parameters were measured every fortnight and these included leaf number, shoot length, dry weight and nodule number for Crotalaria. Results indicated that the leguminous vegetable was not affected by external inputs and there were no significant differences between treatments and control. The non-leguminous vegetables responded well to both IF and OF treatments in all the measured parameters. This underlines the potential for improving soil nitrogen levels using leguminous vegetables, especially as intercrops with the non-leguminous types

Soil nutrient content, soil moisture and yield of Katumani maize in a semi-arid area of Kenya

Many farmers in Kenya’s semi arid lands cannot afford to purchase inorganic fertilisers to improve their crop yields. They thus rely on traditional agronomic practices such as addition of crop residues, animal manures or intercrops of cereals and legumes. This study investigated soil parameters and their influence on yield. It was carried out at the University of Nairobi’s Dryland, Research and Utilisation Station located at Kibwezi. Soil parameters measured included soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, available phosphorus, soil moisture and soil texture and nitrogen mineralization rates. There was significant correlation (p<0.05) in the growing seasons, between soil moisture and soil organic carbon (r = 0.66, 0.81 and 0.65 for seasons 1, 2 and 3 respectively) as well as total soil nitrogen (r = 0.73, 0.79 and 0.70 for seasons 1, 2 and 3 respectively) and available phosphorus (r = 0.55 for season 1). Where rainfall was low, maize yield correlated negatively (p<0.05) with percent clay content (r = -0.4) in season one and showed no significant correlation (r=0.21) in season 3. Where rainfall amounts were high, (as in season 2), the correlation was significant (r = 0.75). Nitrogen mineralization rate did not seem to have a direct influence on yield but its effects were modified by soil moisture, soil texture and carbon to nitrogen ratios of the soil. Overall the organic inputs seemed to have minimal impact on yield though goat manure and pigeon pea intercropping had a melioration effect on the soil

Exploiting indigenous knowledge in the environmental conservation and promotion of African plants: case study on Mwingi and Kyuso districts, Kenya

Mwingi and Kyuso districts are located in the semi-arid zone V region of Kenya with annual rainfall of less than 400 mm. The biggest town of the districts is Mwingi town and it is located about 170km east of Kenya’s capital city Nairobi. The two districts are agro-climatically placed into arid and semiarid zones (ASALs) and they take up 33.6 million hectares of the country’s 44.6 million hectares of arable land with substantial areas, apart from the two districts, being in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui and Kajiado districts (Gachimbi et al., 2001). It is a region that has traditionally supported low populations of the Kamba people who were hunters that at the same time practiced an extremely low intensity form of agriculture and reared livestock (especially goats). Over several years, they developed sustainable and effective exploitation mechanisms of the existing biodiversity resources to satisfy their individual needs and those of their societies in general. According to Goodin and Northington (1985), ASALs, due to their heterogeneity, have produced a wide variety of plants with diverse forms and chemistries as well as capabilities for efficient utilization of water. They thus represent a high economic potential. However, over the past few decades, Kenya’s population growth rate has been increasing and due to scarcity of land, there has been an emigration of the largely rural population from the high agricultural potential to low agricultural potential regions. This, in turn, has led to greater cultivation to meet food demands (locally and in nearby urban centres), the unsustainable harvesting of trees for firewood, timber and other non-timber products, increased use of pharmaceutical drugs hence loss of traditional knowledge on and value of medicinal plants. Environmental impacts include reduced water quality and availability as well as land degradation. Social impacts on the other hand include a further improvishment of the people from reduced resource options and an inability to benefit directly from the knowledge of medicines long held in their communitie