Low potato yields in Kenya: Do conventional input innovations account for the yields disparity?

Background Potato yields in Kenya are less than half the amount obtained by some developed countries. Despite more acreage being dedicated to the crop, annual production has not improved. Kenya’s low yields have been blamed on a failure to use clean seeds, fertilizers, fungicides and irrigation. The article examines the impact of adopting these innovations on enhancements of yields. Results The regression coefficients indicate that clean seeds have the greatest impact followed by irrigation, fungicides and fertilizers. However, clean seeds have the lowest adoption rate, with only 4.5% of the respondent sample using such seeds. Irrigation adoption was also low at 23% but there is widespread usage of fungicides and fertilizers at 92% and 96% respectively. Adoption of the four innovations more than doubled the yields but the absolute amount remained less than 50% of the 40 tons per hectare obtained by the leading world producers. The less than optimal gains can be attributed to the nonlinear relationships of the variables, which indicate the importance of more precise, proper application of inputs in order to obtain higher yields. Linear regression could only explain 10% of the variation but nonlinear regression improved R squared to 80%. The unexplained variables accounting for 20% appear to be essential for a further enhancement of yields, given the big difference between those currently achieved in Kenya and those in developed countries. Conclusions Whereas adoption of the inputs is important, there is a need to use precise, recommended application regimes in order to obtain better potato yields. Training, in the form of visits by innovation propagation agents, are shown to improve adoption rates although only about half (55%) of farmers reported receiving such visits in the preceding three years. This points to a need for the Ministry of Agriculture to lead in increasing the coverage of such visits. Taken together, the four innovations account for only a fraction of the yield variances highlighting the need for further research to identify other determinants of Kenya’s low potato production

First International Conference of Social Science and Medicine, 10-13 Aug. 1992, Nairobi, Kenya

Not all conference papers are contained in this volum

Enhanced infection prophylaxis reduces mortality in severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected adults and older children initiating antiretroviral therapy in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe: the REALITY trial

Meeting abstract FRAB0101LB from 21st International AIDS Conference 18–22 July 2016, Durban, South Africa. Introduction: Mortality from infections is high in the first 6 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease in sub‐Saharan Africa. Whether an enhanced package of infection prophylaxis at ART initiation would reduce mortality is unknown. Methods: The REALITY 2×2×2 factorial open‐label trial (ISRCTN43622374) randomized ART‐naïve HIV‐infected adults and children >5 years with CD4 <100 cells/mm3. This randomization compared initiating ART with enhanced prophylaxis (continuous cotrimoxazole plus 12 weeks isoniazid/pyridoxine (anti‐tuberculosis) and fluconazole (anti‐cryptococcal/candida), 5 days azithromycin (anti‐bacterial/protozoal) and single‐dose albendazole (anti‐helminth)), versus standard‐of‐care cotrimoxazole. Isoniazid/pyridoxine/cotrimoxazole was formulated as a scored fixed‐dose combination. Two other randomizations investigated 12‐week adjunctive raltegravir or supplementary food. The primary endpoint was 24‐week mortality. Results: 1805 eligible adults (n = 1733; 96.0%) and children/adolescents (n = 72; 4.0%) (median 36 years; 53.2% male) were randomized to enhanced (n = 906) or standard prophylaxis (n = 899) and followed for 48 weeks (3.8% loss‐to‐follow‐up). Median baseline CD4 was 36 cells/mm3 (IQR: 16–62) but 47.3% were WHO Stage 1/2. 80 (8.9%) enhanced versus 108(12.2%) standard prophylaxis died before 24 weeks (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54–0.97) p = 0.03; Figure 1) and 98(11.0%) versus 127(14.4%) respectively died before 48 weeks (aHR = 0.75 (0.58–0.98) p = 0.04), with no evidence of interaction with the two other randomizations (p > 0.8). Enhanced prophylaxis significantly reduced incidence of tuberculosis (p = 0.02), cryptococcal disease (p = 0.01), oral/oesophageal candidiasis (p = 0.02), deaths of unknown cause (p = 0.02) and (marginally) hospitalisations (p = 0.06) but not presumed severe bacterial infections (p = 0.38). Serious and grade 4 adverse events were marginally less common with enhanced prophylaxis (p = 0.06). CD4 increases and VL suppression were similar between groups (p > 0.2). Conclusions: Enhanced infection prophylaxis at ART initiation reduces early mortality by 25% among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease. The pill burden did not adversely affect VL suppression. Policy makers should consider adopting and implementing this low‐cost broad infection prevention package which could save 3.3 lives for every 100 individuals treated