Livelihood Strategies of Resource-Poor Farmers in Striga-Infested Areas of Western Kenya.

Striga hermonthica (del) Benth is threatening rural livelihoods in western Kenya where maize is the major food and cash crop. Vulnerability analysis was conducted on a sample of 802 households in eight districts of Nyanza and Western provinces. Farmers perceived Striga as the major cause of poverty and food insecurity. Both household income and child nutrition indicators showed alarming conditions for the majority of households. The coping strategies and informal safety nets were not capable of addressing the vulnerability issue successfully. A logistic regression model of determinants of poverty was estimated to examine the determinants and correlates of poverty. Results revealed certain characteristics of households that were more likely to be poor: poor access to land and farm assets; high dependency ratio; headed by older farmer with low education attainment; no off-farm work, no cash crops; depend on credit; Striga has been on the farm for long, high perceived yield loss to Striga given high dependency on maize for livelihoods; adopt no integrated Striga control options; and live in Bondo and Vihiga districts. The paper concludes with implications for policy to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the Striga-affected areas of western Kenya. Key words: livelihoods, maize, Striga, Kenya, Logitlivelihoods, maize, Kenya, Striga, logit, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Making community based environmental impact assessment work: Case study of a dairy Goat and Root Crop Project in Tanzania

Environmental assessments are normally triggered by larger-scale development projects. In contrast, this study offers experiences from a small-scale development project where dairy goats and root crops were introduced as project interventions in four villages facing several environmental constraints. Participatory appraisal methods revealed environmental challenges and impacts including shortage of pasture, deforestation, conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, and loss of biodiversity. Once understood, farmers were able to design mitigation strategies to address environmental impacts. Such methods could be applied to other small-scale development initiatives where positive or negative environmental impacts can be enhanced or ameliorated

Making community based environmental impact assessment work: Case study of a Dairy Goat and Root Crop Project in Tanzania

Community Based Environmental Assessment (CBEA) is an approach used to collate information in order to identify and analyze the environmental impacts of planned, on-going and completed community development activities. This study was conducted with four villages in the Kongwa and Mvomero Districts of Tanzania where dairy goats and root crops were introduced as project interventions. The study addressed three key research questions. (1) What are key environmental challenges in the project villages? (2) What are the likely environmental impacts from this project? (3) What could be the community-perceived mitigation and enhancement measures for such impacts? Participatory appraisal methods including focus group discussions, participatory village resource mapping, transect walks and pair wise ranking were used in the field research. Research revealed several environmental challenges and depicted a number of environmental impacts (both negative and positive) including shortage of pasture, deforestation, conflicts between farmers and pastoralists and loss of biodiversity. In contrast to conventional regulatory environmental assessments that are required for larger-scale industrial projects in many countries, this study offers experiences from a small-scale development project where environmental impacts are assessed. Such methods could be applied to other small-scale development initiatives where positive or negative environmental impacts can be enhanced or ameliorated

Livelihood strategies of resource poor farmers in strigainfested areas of western Kenya

Striga hermonthica (del) Benth is threatening rural livelihoods in western Kenya where maize is the major food and cash crop. Vulnerability analysis was conducted on a sample of 802 households in eight districts of Nyanza and Western provinces. Farmers perceived Striga as the major cause of poverty and food insecurity. Both household income and child nutrition indicators showed alarming conditions for the majority of households. The coping strategies and informal safety nets were not capable of addressing the vulnerability issue successfully. A logistic regression model of determinants of poverty was estimated to examine the determinants and correlates of poverty. Results revealed certain characteristics of households that were more likely to be poor: poor access to land and farm assets; high dependency ratio; headed by older farmer with low education attainment; no off-farm work, no cash crops; depend on credit; Striga has been on the farm for long, high perceived yield loss to Striga given high dependency on maize for livelihoods; adopt no integrated Striga control options; and live in Bondo and Vihiga districts. The paper concludes with implications for policy to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the Striga-affected areas of western Kenya

Farmer perceptions of Imazapyr Resistant (IR) maize on the control of Striga in Western Kenya

For a long time, farmers in Nyanza and Western provinces in Kenya have had to deal with the Striga problem. To most of them Striga had become a way of life and they had given up hope. Striga affects their mainstay crops, which are maize, sorghum and mil- let. After an extensive search for a solution, IR maize was developed. However, like all new technologies, there is usually suspicion especially from the end user. A study was therefore conducted to find out the level of adoption and perception of farmers on this technology. This study also sought to identify the constraints in the deployment of this technology and arrest them on time. This report presents the findings of this study. The stratified random sampling method was used to select 10 districts, 16 sub- locations, 32 villages and 834 households. Two groups of farmers were investigated: baseline and WeRATE farmers defined on the basis of number of years of experience with IR maize. A combination of techniques for data collection was used, including literature review, interview of individual households and GPS recordings. Descriptive statistics (frequency of events and means of parameters) were applied for data analysis. Similarly, a binomial probit model was used to identify factors driving the perception of the various households on the IR maize technology. Findings from sampled households depict that most household heads are male. There were about 26% of households headed by females. The level of education was low for the heads of households and other members of farm families. Group membership was high especially among women. Most households (89%) had received extension visits while 68% had attended field days, seminars and/or agricultural shows. Farming activities were found to provide a substantial amount of income to most households. Maize is the major food crop and a source of cash income to most households. Farmers grow both local and improved (hybrid) maize varieties, but the productivity of maize is low. There is a considerable gap between potential and actual maize yields. Major factors constraining maize production include Striga infestation, drought, erratic rainfall and low soil fertility. Striga is by far the major threat to livelihoods of smallholders. Traditional methods of Striga control which include uprooting, burning and manuring have proved to be ineffective. Although alternative technologies exist, they have not been highly adopted and used, possibly because of lack of awareness. Awareness of Striga and Striga control technologies was substantial among sampled households. All were aware of IR maize technology followed by traditional practices, and push-pull; the least known technology of Striga control was the intercropping of legumes followed by cassava/Desmodium. Extension agents from the Ministry of Agriculture and local NGOs were found to be the leading sources of information and demonstrations on various Striga control technologies, including instructions/ guidelines required before the application of IR maize technology. x Farmers’ assessment of maize yields under different Striga control technologies revealed that maize yields were higher where farmers used IR maize and push-pull technologies. The least maize yields were observed in fields under traditional Striga control technologies. Likewise, IR maize technology was superior in reducing Striga population in the fields and control of both biotic and abiotic factors. There were also some implications to the introduction of IR maize technology such as change in weeding times, capital requirement, carefulness in handling farming activities and social implications such as group formation and emergency of credit societies. The study identified critical ways to speed up the adoption of IR maize technology. The need to establish proper diffusion channels was suggested as an important component before full deployment of this technology. The need to bring IR maize seeds to stock- ists near to farmers, increase cultivated plots to IR maize and increase IR maize kit and more extension on the technology were highlighted as some of the ways to scale-up the IR maize technology in the region. Other factors that contribute to the positive perception of IR maize, thus to its diffusion and adoption, are farmer perceptions on agronomy attributes of the technology, the number of extension visits, the exposure to the technology, and the responsiveness of the technology to farmer needs

Livelihood Strategies of Resource-Poor Farmers in Striga-Infested Areas of Western Kenya.

Striga hermonthica (del) Benth is threatening rural livelihoods in western Kenya where maize is the major food and cash crop. Vulnerability analysis was conducted on a sample of 802 households in eight districts of Nyanza and Western provinces. Farmers perceived Striga as the major cause of poverty and food insecurity. Both household income and child nutrition indicators showed alarming conditions for the majority of households. The coping strategies and informal safety nets were not capable of addressing the vulnerability issue successfully. A logistic regression model of determinants of poverty was estimated to examine the determinants and correlates of poverty. Results revealed certain characteristics of households that were more likely to be poor: poor access to land and farm assets; high dependency ratio; headed by older farmer with low education attainment; no off-farm work, no cash crops; depend on credit; Striga has been on the farm for long, high perceived yield loss to Striga given high dependency on maize for livelihoods; adopt no integrated Striga control options; and live in Bondo and Vihiga districts. The paper concludes with implications for policy to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the Striga-affected areas of western Kenya. Key words: livelihoods, maize, Striga, Kenya, Logi