The Use of Oral Language Approaches in Developing Writing Skills in English Language Among Kalenjin Secondary School Students in Rift Valley – Kenya

In English Language, there is a strong correlation between oral language skills and achievement in the written language among learners in schools. However, one of the most important ways of learning oral English is adequate vocabulary so that a learner can use a wide range of vocabulary in writing. This study sought to investigate the use of oral language approaches in developing writing skills in English in Kenyan Secondary Schools in Kenya. A descriptive survey research design was used. The schools under investigation were a sample size of 28 (30%) was selected from 64 secondary schools categorized as district and provincial, girls school boys’ schools. Stratified random sampling was used to get the schools from the categories and simple random sampling to get respondents from each school into the samples. Questionnaires were used to solicit information from teachers, observations and tape recording was used to record linguistics data exactly as it occurred while he learning in classroom took place. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used during data analysis with the help of percentages, frequently tables and pie chart. Analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences SPSS. The findings of the study revealed that problems found in schools were associated with student’s attitudes, teachers’ methodology of teaching, unavailabity of instructional materials and inability of learners to express themselves orally thus hindering development of competence in writing

Sexual initiation and contraceptive use among female adolescents in Kenya

This paper examines the timing of sexual initiation and contraceptive use among female adolescents in Kenya. Data are drawn from the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. The main analytical tools are regression models. A Cox regression model is used to consider the probability of a young woman having first sex during adolescence and linear regression model to quantify the effects of a set of factors on female adolescent's age at first sexual debut. Finally, logistic regression model is used to model the probability of a sexually experienced adolescent woman using a contraceptive method. The results obtained indicate the onset of sexual activity is early and contraceptive use is fairly low and both the timing of first sex and contraceptive use are affected by a variety of factors. Despite engaging in unsafe sex practices, the majority of the adolescents do not view themselves as being at the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. A number of recommendations are proposed. African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 14 (1-2) 2007: pp. 1-1

Molecular characterisation of the twisted wing endoparasitoid Dipterophagus daci (Strepsiptera) and its interactions with Wolbachia and multiple tephritid fruit fly host species

Australia hosts over 300 species of tephritid fruit flies, including the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, Australia’s most significant horticultural pest. Australian tephritid fruit fly species have previously been found to be infected by two strains of the common insect endosymbiont Wolbachia. Wolbachia are maternally inherited endosymbionts in about 50% of insect species and can affect host reproduction and fitness. The phylogenetic incongruence of Wolbachia and their hosts indicates that horizontal transfer between species can also happen. Previously reported Wolbachia infections in Australian tephritid fruit fly species were unusual because they were detected in only seven out of 24 tested species (29 %) at low prevalence and titres and were restricted only to individuals of tropical Australia. This PhD thesis investigated these Wolbachia infections further by performing whole genome sequencing (WGS) of the field-caught Wolbachia-positive flies. This revealed an unexpected presence of almost complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of another insect, in addition, to the expected fruit fly mitogenome in the genomic libraries of fruit fly. The additional mitogenomes belonged to a twisted-wing endoparasitoid, Dipterophagus daci (Strepsiptera), suggesting a possible link between Wolbachia and the presence of D. daci in tephritid fruit flies. This study therefore investigated the host-endoparasitoid-endosymbiont interaction between tephritid fruit fly species, Dipterophagus daci and Wolbachia. Overall, this study investigated and resolved the enigma of Wolbachia infections previously detected in tephritid fruit flies and presented evidence that the presence of Wolbachia in tephritid fruit flies was due to concealed early stages of parasitisation by D. daci. This reveals that the detection of Wolbachia in host taxa could be due to concealed parasitisation by strepsipterans or other endoparasitoids, and this could lead to incorrect assignment of Wolbachia to a wrong host. Additionally, it suggests that Australian tephritid fruit flies may not be naturally infected by Wolbachia therefore making them amenable for control using Wolbachia-based incompatible insect technique in the future. Furthermore, this study presents six D. daci mitogenomes and nine fruit fly mitogenomes which will be a useful source for future studies, in particular of the biology and ecology of the unique strepsipteran D. daci, and its impact on fruit fly population dynamics. This work also presents the first microbiome of a strepsipteran, which is a valuable contribution to the parasite microbiome studies

Influence of Resources used in Teaching English Speech Functional Writing Skills Among Secondary School Learners in West Pokot County

Functional writing is a pragmatic use of language for social and personal expression. It recorded the lowest mean score in the Kenya certificate of secondary education (K.C.S.E) examination for period 2011 to 2019 as revealed by KNEC examination reports with a mean grade below C+. The purpose of the study was to establish Influence of Resources used in teaching English Speech Functional Writing Skills among Secondary School Learners in West Pokot County. The objective of the study was to: establish the Influence of Resources used in teaching English Functional Writing among secondary school learners. The study used descriptive survey and correlation study designs. The study population consisted of 2580 Form 4 students and 34 teachers of English subject from 34 schools. The study used saturated sampling technique to select 31 teachers while Krejcie and Morgan table was used to determine sample size of 334 students who were then randomly sampled. Data collection was done through questionnaire and learners’ achievement test. Pilot study comprised of 3 teachers of English and 250 students from 3 secondary schools to establish the reliability of instruments through test – retest reliability method. Supervisors from the Department of Educational Communication Technology, and Curriculum Studies of Maseno University ascertained content validity of instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data.  Findings revealed that the average student performance in speech writing was below average 46 (sd: 21.7). The median student mark was 50 (ranging 25-60). The study concluded that teachers vary their preference in terms of resources use. The study recommended that teachers use appropriate resources to meet need of the learners’ functional writing skills. Keywords: Resources,Teaching, Functional  Writing DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-27-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

IMPACT OF PROJECT INITIATION ON PERFORMANCE OF OUTPUT-BASED FUNDED SABASABA URBAN WATER SUPPLY PROJECT

Sabasaba urban water supply project was undertaken in order to increase the number of people in low-income areas within Murang’a County with access to improved water supply; to enable them to have clean water at their doorstep. In carrying out the project, World Bank employed Output-Based Aid scheme to make sure the project achieves its goals. Output-Based Aid funds predetermined project outputs unlike the conventional way of funding inputs. It serves to ensure prudent utilization of funds by shifting performance risk to the organization mandated to deliver services; it also does so by linking outputs to the ultimate payments; hence transparency during project implementation. The study sought to examine the influence of project initiation, project planning, project implementation, and project monitoring on the project performance of Output-Based Aid funded Sabasaba urban water supply project. The study adopted value chain and resource-based theories. A predictive correlation design was used. The target population was 56 employees drawn from Murang’a South Water and Sewerage Company which is the implementing agency for Sabasaba water supply project. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The study results were analysed using SPSS.  The study found that the project initiation had a statistically significant influence on the project performance.  The findings revealed that a unit change in the project initiation would lead to 0.404 changes in the project performance holding the other independent variables constant.  Article visualizations

Factors Influencing the Efficacy of Free Primary Education Policy in Relation to the Enrolment of Children with Special Needs Education in West Pokot County, Kenya

The introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in 2003 was aimed at enhancing the enrolment of all school going- age children in Kenya indiscriminately. However, significant concerns have been raised by scholars and the public over the low enrolment of children with Special Needs Education (SNE). The main objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of FPE policy on enrolment of special needs children in education in West Pokot County, Kenya. Descriptive survey research design was used. The target population was 696 respondents drawn from the 65 primary schools, SNE teachers of West Pokot County. Purposively sampling was used due to relatively low enrolment of children with special education needs. Simple random sampling was used to obtain the respondents as follows: 362 pupils with SNE and 123 SNE teachers. Each sub-county formed an important cluster from where the respondents were drawn from. The researcher collected data from pupils with special needs education and special education teachers. Focused Group Discussions (FGD), Document Analysis schedule and interview schedules were also used during the study. Content validity was done through the contributions of experts in the Department of Educational Planning and Management of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. Pilot study was carried out to establish the reliability of the instruments. Test –retest method was employed to obtain the reliability of the instruments at 0.05 level of confidence. The findings yielded both qualitative and quantitative data and presented in frequency tables and line graphs. The findings revealed that factors affecting the efficacy of free primary education range from; sociocultural, economic, environmental, school based, individual and policy and system factors. The study thus recommends that the government commits more resources to FPE financing policy and employ strategic and individualized mechanisms such as early identification, screening, tracking and monitoring of pupils from homesteads to homestead to ensure enrolment enhanced nationally. Keywords: Efficacy, Free Primary Education Policy, Enrolmen

Influence of Mentorship Practices on Employee Performance in Small Manufacturing Firms in Garissa County, Kenya

Mentorship is a semi-structured approach where a person or groups of people share their knowledge, skills and experience to assist others to progress in their own lives and careers. This practice motivates employees and empowers others so as to identify their own strength and achieve organizational targets and goals. Mentorship enables the mentee to tap into the best of a mentor as a source of energy to foster intrapersonal and interpersonal understanding. These practices were identified as the independent variables, while employee performance was the dependent variable. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of mentorship practices on employees’ performance in small manufacturing firms in Garissa County. The specific objectives conceptualized from the study include; to establish how leadership mentorship affect employee performance; to assess how innovative mentorship influence employee performance; to determine how knowledge-transfer mentorship influence employee performance; and to examine how talent development mentorship affect employee performance in small manufacturing in Garissa county. A cross-sectional survey design was used in the study whereby the respondents were all the employees were included in the study. Questionnaires were administered to collect data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to arrive at conclusions on the relationships between study variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the set hypotheses and construct the model of interest. The study established a significant relationship between leadership mentorship, innovative mentorship, knowledge transfer mentorship, talent development mentorship and the performance of the employees. The results of the study will contribute tremendously to better the management of firms through mentorship adoption practices. The study recommends that mentorship practices be considered as part of the organizations strategy to improve on the performance of the employees. Keywords: Competitive advantage, Knowledge assets, Knowledge management, Knowledge transfer mentorshi

Prediction of soil properties for agricultural and environmental applications from infrared and X-ray soil spectral properties

Many of today?s most pressing problems facing developing countries, such as food security, climate change, and environmental protection, require large area data on soil functional capacity. Conventional assessments (methods and measurements) of soil capacity to perform specific agricultural and environmental functions are time consuming and expensive. In addition, repeatability, reproducibility and accuracy of conventional soil analytical data are major challenges. New, rapid methods to quantify soil properties are needed, especially in developing countries where reliable data on soil properties is sparse, and to take advantage of new opportunities for digital soil mapping. Mid infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (MIR) has already shown promise as a rapid analytical tool and there are new opportunities to include other high-throughput techniques, such as total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. In this study TXRF and XRD were tested in conjunction with IR to provide powerful diagnostic capabilities for the direct prediction of key soil properties for agricultural and environmental applications especially for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) soils. Optimal combinations of spectral methods for use in pedotransfer functions for low cost, rapid prediction of chemical and physical properties of African soils as well as prediction models for soil organic carbon and soil fertility properties (soil extractable nutrients, pH and exchangeable acidity) were tested in this study. These state-of-the-art methods for large-area soil health measurement and monitoring will aid in accelerating economic development in developing sub-Saharan Africa countries with regards to climate change, increasing water scarcity and impacts on local and global food security as well as sustainable agricultural production and ecosystem resilience in the tropics. This study has developed and tested a method for the use of TXRF for direct quantification of total element concentrations in soils using a TXRF (S2 PICOFOXTM) spectrometer and demonstrated that TXRF could be used as a rapid screening tool for total element concentrations in soils assuming sufficient calibration measures are followed. The results of the current study have shown that TXRF can provide efficient chemical fingerprinting which could be further tested for inferring soil chemical and physical functional properties which is of interest in the African soil context for agricultural and environmental management at large scale. Further, this thesis has helped to improve understanding of the variation and patterns of element concentration data for 1034 soil samples from 34 stratified randomly-located 100-km2 ?sentinel? sites across SSA and explored the link between variability of soil properties and climate, parent material, vegetation types and land use patterns with the help of Random Forests statistics. Our results of total element concentration were within the range reported globally for soil Cr, Mn, Zn, Ni, V, Sr, and Y and in the high range for Al, Cu, Ta, Pb, and Ga. There were significant variations (P < 0.05) in total element composition within and between the sites for all the elements analysed. In addition, the greatest proportion of total variance and number of significant variance components occurred at the site (55-88%) followed by the cluster nested within site levels (10-40%). Our results also indicated that the strong observed within site as well as between site variations in many elements can serve to diagnose their soil fertility potential. Explorations of the relationships between element composition data and other site factors using ?randomForest? statistics have demonstrated that all site and soil-forming factors have important influence on total elemental concentrations in the soil with the most important variables explaining the main patterns of variation in total element concentrations being cluster, topography, landuse, precipitation and temperature. However, the importance of cluster can be explained by spatial correlation at distances of <1 km. This study has also analysed the potential of combining analyses undertaken using MIR spectroscopy and TXRF on 700 soil samples from 44 ?sentinel? sites distributed across SSA. MIR prediction models for soil organic carbon, and other soil fertility properties (such as soil extractable nutrients, pH, exchangeable acidity and soil texture) were developed using Random Forests (RF) regression and the current study has added total element concentration data to the residuals of the MIRS predictions to test how they can improve the MIR prediction accuracies. The RF approach out-perfomed the conventional partial least squares regression (PLSR) on simultaneous determination of soil properties; and in addition, RF results were also easily interpretable, computationally much faster and did not rely on data transformations or any other assumptions about data distributions compared to PLSR. With respect to the potential of combining TXRF and MIR spectra, including total element concentration data from TXRF analysis in the RF models significantly reduced root mean square error of prediction by 63% for Ecd, 54% for Mehlich-3 S, and 53% for Mehlich-3 Na. Thus, TXRF spectra were a useful supplement to improve prediction of soil properties not well predicted by MIRS. The prediction improvement from including TXRF was due to detection of a few outliers that did not appear as MIR spectral outliers. MIR showed remarkable ability to capture total elemental composition effects on physico-chemical soil properties but TXRF may have potential for outlier detection in large studies. This study has also helped to develop high-throughput spectral analytical methods and provided recommendations on optimal spectral analytical methods for the Globally Integrated Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) Project. Successfully developed methods in this study will become part of the standard AfSIS procedures.Viele der heutigen dringendsten Problemfelder der Entwicklungsländer wie Gewährleistung der Ernährungssicherheit, Anpassung an Klimawandel und verbesserter Umweltschutz erfordern umfangreiche, flächendeckende Daten über die funktionelle Kapazität von Böden. Herkömmliche Verfahren (Methoden und Messungen) zur Bestimmung von spezifischen landwirtschaftlichen und ökologischen Bodenfunktionen sind zeitaufwendig und teuer. Neben den Kosten sind die Wiederholbarkeit, Reproduzierbarkeit und Genauigkeit von herkömmlichen analytischen Methoden große Herausforderungen. Neue, schnelle Methoden zur Quantifizierung von Bodeneigenschaften sind notwendig, vor allem in Entwicklungsländern, wo zuverlässige Daten über Bodenqualität schwer zu beschaffen sind, und um die Vorteile der neuen Möglichkeiten einer digitalen Bodenkartierung auszunutzen. Infrarot-Spektroskopie mit diffuser Reflexion (IR) hat bereits gute Ergebnisse als ein schnelles Analyse-Instrument gezeigt und es gibt neue Möglichkeiten, um andere Hochdurchsatz-Techniken wie die Total-Röntgenfluoreszenz (TXRF) und Röntgenbeugungs-Spektroskopie (XRD) einzusetzen. In dieser Studie wurden TXRF und XRD in Verbindung mit IR getestet, um leistungsstarke Diagnosefunktionen für die direkte Vorhersage der wichtigsten funktionellen Eigenschaften von Böden für Landwirtschaft und Umwelt-Anwendungen besonders für die Böden Afrikas südlich der Sahara zur Verfügung zu stellen. In dieser Studie wurden optimale Kombinationen von spektralen Methoden getestet, die für den Einsatz in Pedotransferfunktionen mit niedrigen Kosten, einer schnellen Vorhersage der chemischen und physikalen Eigenschaften der afrikanischen Böden, sowie in Prognosemodellen für organischen Kohlenstoff im Boden und die Bestimmung von Bodenfruchtbarkeitsparametern (extrahierbare Nährstoffe, pH-Wert und austauschbare Säuren) geeignet sind. Diese aktuellen Methoden zur großflächigen Messung und Überwachung der Bodengesundheit können dazu beitragen, die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in den Ländern Afrikas südlich der Sahara positiv zu fördern, besonders in Bezug auf den Klimawandel, die lokale und globale Ernährungssicherheit sowie die Nachhaltigkeit der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion und der Stabilität der Ökosysteme. In diese Studie wurde zunächst ein Verfahren zur Verwendung von TXRF zur direkten Quantifizierung der gesamten Elementkonzentration in 15 Bodenproben unter Verwendung eines TXRF (S2 PICOFOXTM) Spektrometers entwickelt und mit 20 weiteren Bodenproben getestet. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass bei ausreichender Kalibrierung TXRF als ein schnelles Screening-Werkzeug für die meisten Elemente verwendet werden kann. Die Ergebnisse der aktuellen Studie haben ausserdem gezeigt, dass TXRF effiziente chemische Fingerabdrücke liefern kann, die zum Ableiten von chemischen und physikalischen Bodeneigenschaften dienen können. Diese Arbeit hat weiter dazu beigetragen, den Zusammenhang zwischen Variabilität der Bodeneigenschaften und Klima, Bodenausgangsmaterial, Vegetationstypen und Landnutzung mit Hilfe von TXRF, XRD und IR-spektralen Methoden zu verstehen. Dafür wurden 1034 Bodenproben analysiert, die im Rahmen des ?Africa Soil Information Service? (AfSIS) Projektes von 34 randomisiert ausgewählten stratifizierten Standorten von jeweils 100 km2 in zahlreichen Länders Afrikas südlich der Sahara entnommen wurden. Die Ergebnisse der Gesamt-Elementkonzentrationen dieser Bodenproben lagen im Bereich der dokumentierten Konzentrationen für die Elemente Cr, Mn, Zn, Ni, V, Sr und Y, lagen aber höher als gewöhnlich für die Elemente Al, Cu, Ta, Pb, and Ga. Signifikante Unterschiede (P < 0,05) der Gesamt-Elementkonzentrationen wurden sowohl innerhalb als auch zwischen den beprobten 34 Standorten gefunden. Die Variabilität war deutlich grösser zwischen den 34 Standorten (55-88 % Varianz) als innerhalb der Standorte (10-40 % Varianz). Mit Hilfe von ?Random Forests?-Regressionen konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Gesamt- Elementkonzentrationen der untersuchten Bodenproben von umweltbezogenen Standortvariablen wie Topographie und Landnutzungstyp als auch Klimafaktoren wie Temperatur und Niederschlag wesentlich beeinflusst werden. In einem weiteren Schritt wurde die Aussagekraft einer Kombination von MIR und TXRF-Methoden und der ?Random Forests?-Regression anhand von 700 Bodenproben von 44 Standorten in Afrika südlich der Sahara getestet. Dazu wurden zunächst MIR-Vorhersagemodelle für organischen Bodenkohlenstoff und andere Bodenfruchtbarkeitsparameter (extrahierbare Nährstoffe, pH-Wert und austauschbare Säuren) mit Hilfe von ?Random Forests? (RF)-Regressionen entwickelt. Durch Einbringen der Gesamtelement-Daten zu den Residuen der IR-Vorhersagen konnten die MIR-Regressionsmodelle signifikant verbessert werden. Im Vergleich zu der gewöhnlich benutzten ?partial least square?-Regression (PLSR) zeigte die entwickelte RF-Regression deutlich bessere Ergebnisse, war schneller anzuwenden und einfacher zu interpretieren und war nicht auf zeitaufwändige und fehleranfällige Datentransformationen wie die PLSR angewiesen. Durch die Kombination von TXRF- und MIR-Spektren konnte ausserdem die Vorhersage-Genauigkeit der Bodenparameter deutlich verbessert werden, z.B. für Ecd um 63%, Mehlich-3 S um 54%, Mehlich-3 Na um 53% verglichen zur alleinigen Nutzung der MIRS-Spektren. Zusammenfassend hat die vorliegende Studie dazu beigetragen, neue spektrale Bodenanalysemethoden mit hohem Durchsatz zu entwickeln und Empfehlungen für die optimierte Anwendung dieser Methoden zu erarbeiten, die bereits erfolgreich von dem oben erwähnten AfSIS-Projekt übernommen und in die Standard-AfSIS Verfahren integriert worden sind

Substantial rearrangements, single nucleotide frameshift deletion and low diversity in mitogenome of Wolbachia‑infected strepsipteran endoparasitoid in comparison to its tephritid hosts

Insect mitogenome organisation is highly conserved, yet, some insects, especially with parasitic life cycles, have rearranged mitogenomes. Furthermore, intraspecific mitochondrial diversity can be reduced by fitness-affecting bacterial endosymbionts like Wolbachia due to their maternal coinheritance with mitochondria. We have sequenced mitogenomes of the Wolbachia-infected endoparasitoid Dipterophagus daci (Strepsiptera: Halictophagidae) and four of its 22 known tephritid fruit fly host species using total genomic extracts of parasitised flies collected across > 700 km in Australia. This halictophagid mitogenome revealed extensive rearrangements relative to the four fly mitogenomes which exhibited the ancestral insect mitogenome pattern. Compared to the only four available other strepsipteran mitogenomes, the D. daci mitogenome had additional transpositions of one rRNA and two tRNA genes, and a single nucleotide frameshift deletion in nad5 requiring translational frameshifting or, alternatively, resulting in a large protein truncation. Dipterophagus daci displays an almost completely endoparasitic life cycle when compared to Strepsiptera that have maintained the ancestral state of free-living adults. Our results support the hypothesis that the transition to extreme endoparasitism evolved together with increased levels of mitogenome changes. Furthermore, intraspecific mitogenome diversity was substantially smaller in D. daci than the parasitised flies suggesting Wolbachia reduced mitochondrial diversity because of a role in D. daci fitness

Crop conceptual model for predicting productivity of bread wheat in semi-arid Kenya

&nbsp;P. K. Kimurto1, K. Gottschalk2, M. G. Kinyua3, J. B. O. Ogola4, B. K. Towett 1(1. Department of Crops, Horticulture &amp; Soil Sciences, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536, Njoro, Kenya;2. Leibniz-Institut f&uuml;r Agrartechnik Potsdam-Bornim e.V. ATB, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam, Germany;3. Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Moi University, P.O. Box 39000, Eldoret, Kenya;4. Department of Plant Production, University of Venda, a, Private bag X5050, South Africa)&nbsp;Abstract: Carrying out field trial-research in dryland areas is usually expensive and costly for most national breeding programmes; hence development of simple crop simulation models for predicting crop performance in actual semi-arid and arid lands (ASALS) would reduce the number of field evaluation trials. &nbsp;This is especially critical in developing countries like Kenya where dry areas is approximately 83% of total land area and annual rainfall in these area is low, unreliable and highly erratic, causing frequent crop failures, food insecurity and famine. &nbsp;This paper used data generated from the rain shelter by measurement of evapotranspiration together with weather variables in Katumani to predict wheat yields in that site. &nbsp;Maximum yield of the wheat genotype considered for genotype Chozi under ideal conditions was 5 t/ha. &nbsp;Total above-ground biomass was obtained and grain yield was to be predicted by the model. &nbsp;Transpiration was estimated from the relationship between total dry matter production and normalised TE (7.8 Pa). &nbsp;The results presented are based on the assumption that all agronomic conditions were optimal and drought stress was the major limiting factor. &nbsp;Predicted grain yield obtained from the conceptual model compares very well with realised yields from actual field experiments with variances of 14% &ndash; 43% depending on watering regime. &nbsp;This study showed that it is possible to develop simple conceptual model to predict productivity in wheat in semi-arid areas of Kenya to supplement complicated and more sophisticated models like CERES-maize and ECHAM models earlier used in Kenya. &nbsp;The presence of uncontrolled factors in the simulation not accounted for in the estimation and could have contributed to decrease in observed yield need to be included in the model, hence modulation of the equations by introducing these factors may be necessary to reduce variances; thus need to be quantified. &nbsp;To improve the accuracy of prediction and increase wheat production in these areas measures that conserve water and/or make more water available to the crop such as prevention or minimisation of run-off, and rain water harvesting for supplemental irrigation are necessary.Keywords: wheat, conceptual model, drought, evapotranspiration, yield response&nbsp;Citation: Kimurto P. K., K. Gottschalk, M. G. Kinyua, J. B. O. Ogola, and B. K. Towett. &nbsp;Crop conceptual model for predicting productivity of bread wheat in semi-arid Kenya. &nbsp;Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal, 2010, 12(3): 25-37.&nbsp