Search

Purpose: We studied innovation processes in agriculture and nutrition to discuss a scaling approach that encompasses the technical, institutional, and behavioral dimensions of change. Approach: To understand dynamics across these dimensions, we analyzed farmers' innovation processes through two analytical lenses: farmer-centered and structural. Focus group discussions in Kapchorwa, Uganda, and Teso South, Kenya, looked at farmers' choices of innovations. Individual interviews and stakeholder workshops at both study sites increased understanding of the local innovation system. Findings: To address local challenges, strive for livelihood aspirations, and fulfill personal taste preferences, farmers selected and adapted practices promoted by a research project. A wide range of additional support providers encouraged farmers to develop innovations in agriculture, marketing, and nutrition. Practical implications: By promoting innovation as a process rather than an outcome, it is possible to address context-specific needs and enhance farmers' adaptive capacities. Scaling these processes necessitates the involvement of innovation support service providers in order to create an enabling environment for experimentation. Theoretical implications: Analytical dualism highlights the different roles of human agency and structures in innovation processes needed to design successful scaling strategies. Originality/value: This paper sets out a novel approach to understanding the increasingly discussed dimensions of scaling by linking them with concepts from innovation studies.

Two articles describe the establishment of national archives in Kenya and in Zanzibar. Kenya's history of mismanagement and destruction of documents by various governments and poor advice by foreign consultants is traced, and the value of Zanzibar's agricultural archives for national development and public administration is discussed. (CDD)

Recent research on embeddedness in global production networks (GPNs) has begun to move beyond the dominant perspective on how lead firms embed into host countries to investigate how non-lead firms embed across multiple scales in a GPN. This paper builds on such work by examining both processes of how, and the extent to which, different Southern suppliers embed into GPNs, detailing the contestation, struggles, and synergies faced. Empirical evidence is provided through a case study of Kenyan horticulture. Using a mixed-method approach of interviews and surveys, the paper finds that Kenyan farmers and Kenyan export firms (KEFs) have varied ways in which they embed, with farmers more embedded (highly dependent on network relationships and participation in a GPN) and KEFs simultaneously less embedded (having a low degree of commitment towards farmers) in GPNs. Overarchingly, the results demonstrate the need to account for the complex ways in which non-lead firm actors like Southern suppliers embed in GPNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the climate-development interface, research for development gained a strong interest in climate-smart agriculture and sustainable forms of intensification. Moreover, the urgency to respond to climate change stimulates a strong and sometimes exclusive focus on mitigation, driven by research-based agricultural practices. In the livestock sector, this materialises in strategies to lower emissions from livestock, which centralises the adoption question: what can we do to stimulate the use of best practices by smallholder farmers? This paper flags the risk that this outlook may overlooksmallholder farmers' capacities to navigate sub-optimal conditions of drought or scarcity. The paper applies an alternative lens for understanding 'agriculture-as-performance' and highlights smallholder cattle owners' agency and resourcefulness. It aims to create a conceptual space to examine how adaptive capacities are grounded in the rhythms of agriculture under suboptimal conditions. Empirically, the study focuses on the cattle-feeding practices of five farming households evolving through seasons and lifetimes in a sedentary agricultural system in Kenya. Our frame identifies diverse affordances, conceptualised as opportunities for actions, emerging and disappearing in the immediate material environment, and we portray cattle feeding as a networked response anchored in practices of giving, sharing, and receiving. We use our insights into the dynamics and performance of entangled socio-technical practices to sketch the contours of an alternative pathway for agriculture for development. We argue in favour of a shift from an exclusive focus on the adoption of predefined optimal solutions to a diagnostic and catalytic approach integrating situated adaptive performances through which farming households respond to action opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This protocol lays the groundwork for a community-centered investigation into the intersection between climate change and violence against women and girls. Providing a standardized framework, this paper will enable researchers to collect and analyze data on severe weather patterns and their potential impact on violence within communities. The interlinkage between violence and climate is an emerging field of research. There is a need for a comprehensive understanding of the intersection of these two issues focusing on the manifestations of violence, specific vulnerabilities, and coping strategies. This protocol outlines a qualitative research approach employed in Kilifi County, Kenya. The study will include key informant interviews with community leaders and policymakers, along with focus group discussions with women, adolescent girls, and men. Community engagement is a crucial component of this work as it will ensure that the research is conducted ethically and respectfully and ensure that the findings are relevant and applicable to the community being studied. This study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics between violence against women and girls and climate change, informing policies, interventions, and advocacy efforts and elevating the voices of women and girls to promote gender equity in the face of climate change challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, African Renaissance is discussed from the perspective of new interests in African agriculture. Opportunities in Africa in agribusiness are growing. But accompanying this growth is a model of agriculture based on application of high technical inputs, under the narrative of agricultural intensification. However, there is evidence to suggest that new interests and practices toward harnessing Africa's potential for agricultural development for the African Renaissance are not sustainable due to constraints and disadvantages to small-holder farmers. This paper draws from empirical qualitative research on sugarcane farming in the Chemelil area in western Kenya to demonstrate that the high technical input model of agricultural intensification stifles farmers' political power and will to control their lands and thus to innovate to benefit from their lands. The paper calls for a socially oriented model of agriculture toward contributing to the African Renaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The important role of learning is noted in the literature on demand-driven approaches to supporting agricultural innovation. Most of this literature has focused on macrolevel structural perspectives on the organization of pluralistic innovation support systems. This has provided little insight at the micro-level on the dynamics of demand articulation, and the related interplay of matching farmers' demand with supply of innovation support services. This paper contributes to understanding this interplay using the concept of the dynamic learning agenda. Design/methodology/approach: We present a case study of a project supporting smallholder commercialization of onions in Kenya. Data were collected in selected project sites over seven months using key-informant interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation at various meetings and project document reviews. Findings: The results show that because learning in agricultural innovation processes is dynamic, static notions of demand articulation and related support are inadequate. Supporting learning and innovation requires an understanding of how farmers' demand evolves, a flexible matching process with various innovation support services to achieve "best-fit", and an awareness of sometimes competing interests of actors. Practical implications: The findings are useful for enhancing support of innovation processes by pointing to the need for paying attention to evolving demands and how these are matched with the right type of services, guided by effective monitoring in order to adapt the dynamic learning agenda accordingly. Originality/value: We add to the debate on demand-driven approaches to innovation with a dynamic analysis of pluralistic innovation support service provisioning, which has mainly been analyzed statically.

Developing countries have recognised the need to strengthen their agricultural extension services as an engine for improving productivity, reaching marginalised, poor and female farmers and addressing new challenges, such as environmental degradation and climate change. However, structuring effective and viable extension systems remains a major challenge in most places. This paper studies the Plantwise extension programme in Kenya, an initiative that supports and increases collaboration among actors in the national plant health system, establishes and maintains a network of plant clinics – a physical interface between farmers and crop protection experts – to address the needs of smallholders, and collects key information in the process that can be used for informing policy and for monitoring and evaluation purposes. To assess the programme in Kenya, we conducted a longitudinal mixed-methods evaluation of the programme from 2014 to 2018. Our results show that Plantwise has altered the way the Government of Kenya addresses crop protection. The programme is innovative and improves knowledge at multiple levels. At the farm level, Plantwise has contributed to improvements in the use of agricultural practices, inputs and maize productivity, a major staple crop. The results show that the Plantwise approach is a reasonable alternative to other agricultural extension systems that support smallholder farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of labor-power is a critical element of all commodity chains. This is especially true of laborintensive production processes such as agriculture. The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on this, as well as on many other aspects of the economy and everyday life. The institutions of the modern world-system responded in various ways to the new situation influenced by COVID-19, taking measures to mitigate and avert the detrimental effects. This paper examines these responses and their impact on the availability of labor-power in the agricultural areas of Nakuru County, Kenya, and O'Higgins Region, Chile. By practically applying world-systems analysis, we shed light on the significance of institutions during periods of stagnation and their impact on the availability of labor-power in global commodity chains. This allows us to draw conclusions about the general impact of institutional responses to stagnation phases at the worker level. We show that the institutions studied responded in very different ways to the stagnation phase affected by COVID-19. As a result, O'Higgins Region experienced a labor-power shortage that Nakuru County had not, which may have a lasting impact on labor-power availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security represents a key challenge in most Sub-Saharan African countries and in Kenya in particular where still a relevant share of the population lives below a minimum dietary energy consumption. Kenya addresses this concern with a noteworthy policy mix, aiming at giving to the agricultural sector a leading task in improving food security. This paper evaluates the impacts on food security of expanding fertilizer capacities in Kenya, combined with a set of additional policy changes targeting fertilizer use. In a top-down analysis, a specific Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is linked with a microsimulation approach. Scenarios present overall positive effects on key food security aggregates. The same is true for welfare. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of households across and within regions suggests that improving input productivity through better market access and service extension are critical to reducing possible discrepancies across farmers, households and regions. The paper concludes on the need for a sound policy mix since increasing fertilizer production alone is not enough to enhance food security evenly. Among accompanying measures, intensifying extension services are essential especially for smallholders in their acquisition of better knowledge on the use of agricultural inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa is often presented as the continent most vulnerable to climatic change with major repercussions for food systems. Coupled with high rates of population growth, continued food insecurity and malnutrition, thus the need to enhance food production across the continent is seen as a major global imperative. We argue here, however, that current models of agricultural development in Eastern Africa frequently marginalise critical smallholder knowledge from the process of future agricultural design due to a lack of a methodological tools for engagement. This paper addresses this by outlining a potential means to capture and share locally produced agronomic information on a large scale. We report on a 'Citizen Science' pilot study that worked with smallholder farmers in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Western Kenya, to co-design a mobile application using the well-developed Sapelli platform that easily allows farmers to identify, record and geolocate cropping patterns and challenges at multiple stages in the agricultural calendar using their own understanding. The pilot project demonstrated the technical and epistemological benefits of co-design, the abilities of smallholder farmers to co-design and use smartphone applications, and the potential for such technology to produce and share valuable agricultural and ecological knowledge in real time. Proof-of-concept data illustrates opportunities to spatially and temporally track and respond to challenges related to climate, crop disease and pests. Such work expounds how smallholder farmers are a source of largely untapped ecological and agronomic expert knowledge that can, and should, be harnessed to address issues of future agricultural resilience and food system sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, crickets are gaining recognition as a valuable alternative protein source for human consumption due to their lower resource requirement and ecological footprint compared to traditional livestock. In this paper, we examine strategies that may expedite the sustainable domestication of crickets as a food source. Using survey data from 306 households in western Kenya, we find that supplying cricket production starter kits, granting access to credit facilities, encouraging participation in farmer groups, and fostering partnerships can enhance the adoption of cricket farming. Moreover, we provide new evidence that institutional training significantly increases cricket yields while embracing cricket consumption (i.e. entomophagy) increases market supply. These findings underscore the importance of technical training, provision of production starter kits, and raising awareness about entomophagy to achieve sustainable mass production and adoption of cricket farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The agricultural sector remains the backbone of several emerging economies, including Kenya, where it contributes 34% to its gross domestic product (GDP). However, access to financing for agricultural activities appears to be very low compared to developed economies. Following this, governments in a number of countries have sought to introduce banking sector regulations to facilitate increased funding to the agricultural sector. Taking motivation of the interest rate capping regulations by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in 2016, this paper examined the effect of these interest rate ceiling regulations on agri-lending in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs random effects technique to estimate a panel data of 26 commercial banks in Kenya from 2014 to 2018 using the ratio of loans to agricultural sector to gross loans and the natural logarithm of loans to agricultural sector as proxies for agri-lending. Bank size, equity, asset quality, liquidity, revenue concentration and bank concentration are employed as control variables. Findings: The results of the panel regression estimations show that the introduction of the interest cap resulted in increases in the proportion and growth in agri-lending compared with the pre-interest cap period. In addition, large banks and highly capitalised banks were found to be associated with lower agri-lending, with differences in the effects across pre-cap and post-cap periods. Practical implications: From a policy perspective, the findings highlight the effectiveness of interest rate capping in meeting this objective and supports the calls for strengthening cooperation between the government and key stakeholders in the financial sector. This will allow for the effective enforcement of policies by the regulatory powers in a manner that guarantees sound and dynamic financial systems, particularly within the agricultural sector. Originality/value: As far as the authors are aware, this the first paper to examine the effect of the interest rate cap regulation on agri-lending in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of climate smart agriculture knowledge transfers. As well as to examine the application of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) knowledge such as conservation agriculture, irrigation systems, integrated soil fertility management, bioenergy and agroforestry by smallholder farmers in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach: The study applied comparative research methodology to compare climate smart agriculture knowledge application between smallholder participants in farmer field schools (FFS) and no FFS participation. This study used household data from 759 randomly selected rural agricultural households in three counties in Kenya. The study applied multivariate probit model to estimate CSA knowledge application by farmers who participated in field trainings and non-FFS participation farmers. Findings: This study established that climate smart agriculture knowledge transfer through FFS increases farmers' application of critical aspects of climate smart agriculture knowledge practices such as irrigation system, conservation agriculture and soil and water conservation. Such aspects have been noted as effective interventions against adverse climate change effects such as persistent droughts and flooding and soil infertility. Further findings illustrated that farmers who received CSA knowledge transfers applied agricultural insurance to mitigate rising climatic risks on their farms. Knowledge transfer interventions targeting affordability through subsidizing agricultural insurance are probable and more cost-effective measures that can be used to reduce smallholder farmers' exposure to climate change-related risks. Originality/value: This study provides information that was previously unknown about climate smart agriculture knowledge transfers and application among farmers who participated in field trainings and non-FFS participation farmers by using empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine whether there are significant gender differences in the adoption of climate‐smart agricultural (CSA) practices in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using individual‐level data from four sites in Kenya, Uganda and Senegal, our empirical analysis provides robust evidence that men have a higher likelihood of adopting high‐return CSA practices including modern chemical fertiliser, improved high‐yielding varieties and drought/pest tolerant livestock practices. In contrast, women tend to have a higher likelihood of adopting low‐risk and low‐return traditional CSA practices such as water harvesting, crop covering, rangeland management and pest management. Our subsample analysis shows significant heterogeneity in the gender gap across countries. The results of the decomposition of the observed gender gap show that personal values and norms, access to weather and production information and farm characteristics are important factors that explain the gender differential in the likelihood of CSA adoption. Our findings imply that equalising access to key resources such as plots of land, information and decision making power will be crucial to close the gender gap in the adoption of CSA practices. This is particularly important given the differential impacts of climate change between men and women in sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article explores the potential of an emerging group of farmers in Kenya, namely the growing segment of urban-based medium-size farmers, often called "telephone farmers". To what extent do they benefit from an emerging ecosystem to support them in operating their farms, and what does that mean for the Hidden middle of agricultural value chains, the actors between the farmers and consumers? Unlocking the potential production of telephone farmers will require more services from collectors, traders, transport firms, the storage facilities, wholesalers and processing units and retailers. Ultimately, optimized telephone farm production benefits the business of Hidden middle value chain actors, increases incomes and jobs and improves food security. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a survey and in-depth interviews a profile of the telephone farmers is given and their role as innovators is analyzed. The Latia Resource Centre (LRC) provides assistance to medium-size farmers, like the telephone farmers, helping them to prepare business plans and use modern technology and contributing to an emerging ecosystem providing support to all farmers. Findings: The article analyzes the medium-size telephone farmers. It documents the contributions of this new agricultural actor to developing value chains and a dynamic ecosystem. The paper profiles the telephone farmers first and then identifies what they need and the support they receive. The emerging innovative ecosystem impacts agricultural productivity and production and hence the development of value chains. Small farmers gain access to opportunities offered by telephone farmers, working for them as outgrower or farm worker. Research limitations/implications: The authors used a small sample of 51 farmers and covered only a two-year period. Social implications: Small farmers are being helped through the emerging eco-system and farm labor acquire skills, which they can also you on another or their own farm. Originality/value: Based on the analysis an even more effective ecosystem is suggested and policy recommendations are formulated before the conclusion is drawn that these medium-size farmers contribute to innovation diffusion, inclusive value chain development and food security and are becoming part of this expanding, innovative ecosystem. Following the debate on food security the results suggest to pay more attention to the development of telephone farmers given their role in developing agricultural value chains and innovative ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether agricultural supply chains (ASC) can be simultaneously sustainable and resilient to ecological disruptions, using the Planetary Boundaries theory. The nine different Planetary Boundaries i.e. climatic change, biodiversity loss, biogeochemical, ocean acidification, land use, freshwater availability, stratosphere ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosols and chemical pollution are examined in relation to ASC sustainability and resilience. Kenya's tea upstream supply chain sustainability and resilience from the ecological point of view is questioned. This study adopts a multi-case study analysis approach of nine producer organisations from Kenya's tea supply chain. The data from the in-depth semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion are analysed using thematic analysis. The Kenyan tea supply chain producers are not aware of all the nine planetary boundaries, although these impact on their resilience practices. They are engaged in pursuing both sustainability and resilience practices. They implement mainly environmental practices in relation to sustainability, while only a few of them are implementing resilience practices. The sustainability and resilience concepts were found to be interrelated, but resilience does not improve at the same pace as sustainability. It is suggested that the relationship between sustainability and resilience is non-linear. Limitations and future research avenues are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to understand the role of climate-smart villages (CSVs) in promoting gender empowerment and equality in East Africa. This paper uses data collected from 280 and 305 randomly selected farm household heads in Doyogena (Ethiopia) and Nyando (Kenya), respectively. To analyse the data, the gender empowerment index for climate resilient agriculture (GEI-CRA) and the gender parity index (GPI) were constructed based on guidelines from the literature. In both Doyogena and Nyando, households in CSVs scored higher GEI. Comparing men and women in the CSVs, women were found to be more empowered compared to men and comparing between the two sites, household heads in Doyogena were more empowered than those in Nyando. Regarding gender parity index (GPI), in both sites, majority of the women in the empowered households in CSVs were either at equal status with men or even at higher status than men. These findings shed light on the potential of CSVs in enhancing gender empowerment and promoting gender equality. The positive contribution of CSVs may guide policymakers to scale up these practices with a better-targeted approach that recognize and adequately address the implementation of CSA practices so that men and women can equally benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the adoption of improved pigeon peas in female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs) in semi-arid Kenya and its effect on yield as a proxy for household food security. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 450 households through a multi-stage sampling approach. We applied the endogenous switching regression model to establish the determinants of adoption decision and their effects on yield. Results showed that adoption increased crop yield. The adopting MHHs had significantly higher yield compared with the FHHs. The difference in yield was explained by both observed and unobserved characteristics in gender of the household head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the relative pros and cons of different pathways of agricultural commercialisation in Africa? This paper examines aspects of three commercial farming cases, each of which represents one of the three most dominant models of commercial agriculture – small-scale outgrowers, medium-size commercial farms and a large estate – in the high-potential area of Meru County in Kenya. The paper provides a comparative perspective across the cases, examining their outcomes in terms of land relations, labour, livelihoods and local economic linkages. The study used a mixed-methods approach, including a household survey and a range of qualitative methods including detailed life histories. We find diverse dynamics across our cases: increasing land consolidation spurred by the rising class of commercial coffee farmers, but also land fragmentation as a result of population pressure and prevalence of inheritance as a pathway to land acquisition in the case of horticultural outgrowers. The plantation generates relatively better paid employment for permanent skilled workers, while the commercial farms create employment for casualised, insecure and poorly paid seasonal labour. These labour regimes are highly gendered. The outgrowers combine family and hired labour. Across the three cases, farmers diversify income between on-farm and off-farm sources. The commercial and outgrower farms are dynamically integrated into the local economy, while the estate is less so. These features of the three models generate processes of social differentiation, which are reshaping the agrarian structure and rural economy in Meru County. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder farmers undertake a number of strategies to cope with climate shocks in a community. The sharing of resources across households constitutes one coping mechanism when environmental shocks differentially impact households. This paper investigates commodity sharing dynamics among households in eight communities in an environmentally heterogeneous highland-lowland area in central Kenya. We use survey data and meteorological data to test whether commodity sharing, measured at the household level by net inflow of commodities, varies across a regional precipitation gradient, and we reveal how sharing fluctuates with rainfall over the course of a year. We find both precipitation and income to be significant predictors of households' net value of shared commodities. Specifically, farmers who live in drier areas with less income are more likely to receive more commodities than they give. We also find that the length of time a household has been established in the area is significantly related to commodity sharing. Further, commodity sharing follows the pattern of harvest and food storage over the course of the year, with households giving the most commodities at times when food storage levels are higher, that is, post-harvest. The study sheds light on the relationship between commodity sharing as a coping mechanism and environmental heterogeneity in a region prone to seasonal food insecurity., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Since the 1990s Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been presented to smallholders in Laikipia (Kenya) as a strategy to improve both soil fertility and productivity. In this paper, we provide a historical and social analysis of categories used to define soil management practices and farmers by agricultural programmes in colonial and post-colonial Kenya. For this purpose, we have conducted archive research, recorded the social memory of agricultural policies and farming techniques, and examined contemporary conceptual frameworks and institutional networks around CA in Ethi and Umande in Laikipia County, Central Kenya. We identified evidence of historical continuity in the strategies and methods of agricultural promotional practices. CA networks have broadly advertised the advantages of CA as a means to revert soil degradation and improve livelihoods. However, farmer categorizations based on engagement with CA, promotional strategies, and unclear operational definitions have all prevented CA from being understood by farmers as a technological farming proposal. Instead its adoption is linked with social status and occasional free access to agricultural inputs. Additionally, information about the potential risks and limitations of CA should be explicitly made available to farmers in Laikipia in order to promote transparency and informed decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT With the rapid growth of horticultural value chains, the use of contractual farming arrangements, strategies of quality control (farm audits/crop rejections), pricing incentives, and distribution efficiencies (crop collection arrangements) are increasingly breaking market barriers, for example, private standards, certification, traceability, and supply reliability in developing countries. Cognizant of market access, farm produce value, sustainable production, and reduction of postharvest losses, this paper investigated whether farm size, schooling, producer price, farm visits, and social capital networks condition these strategies. The results show that use of written contracts is conditioned by farm sizes, more extension, and number of producer groups (PGs) while farm certification is positively predicted by farm sizes, more extension, number of sellers in the village and seasons with the same buyer. However, certification is less responsive to producer prices. Crop rejections are predicted to be less depending on a farmer's education, number of PGs, and the producer price but are more likely to increase the more the number of sellers. Further, the results show that a forward pricing incentive is highly correlated with higher producer prices, more extension, and number of seasons with the same buyer. Finally, uncollected produce at harvest is likely to decrease with farm sizes, more education and extension, higher producer price, number of PGs, and seasons with the same buyer but is more likely to increase the higher the number of sellers. Implications are made. [EconLit citations: L14; Q13]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lake Naivasha Basin in Kenya has experienced significant land use cover changes (LUCC) that has been hypothesized to have altered the hydrological regime in recent decades. While it is generally recognized that LUCC will impact evapotranspiration (ET), the precise nature of such impact is not very well understood. This paper describes how land use conversions among grassland and croplands have influenced ET in the Lake Naivasha Basin for the period 2003 to 2012. MODIS data products were used in combination with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data sets to model ET using the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS). The results indicate that conversions from grassland to cropland accounted for increases in ET of up to 12% while conversion from cropland back to grasslands (abandonment) reduced ET by ~4%. This suggests that recently cultivated agricultural lands could increase local water demands, while abandonment of the farms could decrease the water loss and eventually increase the water availability. Also, recovery of ET following re-conversion from cropland to grassland might be impeded due to delayed recovery of soil properties since parts of the catchment are continuously being transformed with no ample time given for soil recovery. The annual ET over the 10 years shows an estimated decline from 724 mm to 650 mm (~10%). This decline is largely explained by a reduction in net radiation, an increase in actual vapour pressure whose net effect also led to decrease in the surface-air temperature difference. These findings suggest that in order to better understand LUCC effects on water resources of Lake Naivasha, it is important to take into account the effect of LUCC and climate because large scale changes of vegetation type from grassland to cropland substantially will increase evapotranspiration with implications on the water balance., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Adaptation to climate change is an important theme in the strategy and policy of institutions around the world. Billions of dollars are allocated every year, based on cost estimates of actions to cope with, or benefit from the impacts of climate change. Costing adaptation, however, is complex, involving multiple actors with differing values and a spectrum of possible adaptation strategies and pathways. Currently, expert driven, top-down approaches dominate adaptation costing in practice. These approaches are subject to misallocation, with global funds not always reaching vulnerable communities in most need. This paper introduces an analytical framework called Participatory Social Return on Investment (PSROI), which provides a structured framework for multi-stakeholder planning, selection and valuation of appropriate methods of adaptation. The broader economic, social and environmental impacts of these adaptation actions are explored and valued through a participatory process. PSROI is strength-based, building local capacity and generating stakeholder buy-in. The financial valuation generated provides an additional tool for examining and prioritizing adaptation actions based on their impact. Results from a pilot of the PSROI framework in a smallholder farming community in Western Kenya provide empirical evidence for the difference between expert driven desk-based and ground-based cost estimates that involve local communities. There was an approximate 70 % reduction in the valuation of an agroforestry intervention, selected by the local community, when compared between the desk-based valuation and that of the local community, using primary field data. This reduced expectation of the desk-based PSROI is justified by coherent explanations such as lack of knowledge about the intervention, misconception about the potential costs and benefits, and the risk-averse nature of the farmers. These and other important insights are fundamental for planning and decision-making, as well as appropriate targeting and delivery of funding for adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women's empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women's empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women's empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women's workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heterogenous effects with respect to women's empowerment on maize productivity for farm plots managed jointly by a male and female and plots managed individually by only a male or female. More specifically, the results suggest that female- and male-managed plots experience significant improvements in productivity when the women who tend them are empowered. These findings provide evidence that women's empowerment contributes not only to reducing the gender gap in agricultural productivity, but also to improving, specifically, productivity from farms managed by women. Thus, rural development interventions in Kenya that aim to increase agricultural productivity-and, by extension, improve food security and reduce poverty-could achieve greater impact by integrating women's empowerment into existing and future projects., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The paper presents an overview of the development of range management extension activities in Kenya. The status quo of range management activities is discussed with particular reference to extension infrastructure, scope of extension interventions and mechanisms of dissemination of these innovations. On the basis of the nature of available innovations and efficiency of dissemination mechanisms, the paper emphasizes the need for future institutional reforms to facilitate successful application of technological interventions, validation of the Kenyan innovation Diffusion Model and enhancement of the social acceptability of technological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the inverse farm size-productivity relationship in Kenya. The study makes two contributions. First, the relationship is examined over a much wider range of farm sizes than most studies, which is particularly relevant in Africa given the recent rise of medium- and large-scale farms. Second, we test the inverse relationship hypothesis using three different measures of productivity including profits per hectare and total factor productivity, which are arguably more meaningful than standard measures of productivity such as yield or gross output per hectare. We find a U-shaped relationship between farm size and all three measures of farm productivity. The inverse relationship hypothesis holds on farms between zero and 3 hectares. The relationship between farm size and productivity is relatively flat between 3 and 5 hectares. A strong positive relationship between farm size and productivity emerges within the 5 to 70 hectare range of farm sizes. Across virtually all measures of productivity, farms between 20 and 70 hectares are found to be substantially more productive than farms under 5 hectares. When the analysis is confined to fields cultivated to maize (Kenya's main food crop) the productivity advantage of relatively large farms stems at least partially from differences in technical choice related to mechanization, which substantially reduces labor input per hectare, and from input use intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The rise of private standards, including those involving multi-stakeholder processes, raises questions about whose interests are served and the kind of power that is exerted to maintain these interests. This paper critically examines the battle for ideas-the way competing factions assert their own narratives about value chain relations, the role of standards and related multi-stakeholder processes. Drawing on empirical research on the horticulture and floriculture value chains linking Kenya and the United Kingdom, the analysis explores the framing of sustainability issues, especially around labor issues and good agricultural practice, and the choice of response with respect to private standards and multi-stakeholder initiatives since the late 1990s. We identify four competing narratives currently in play: a dominant global sourcing narrative, a pragmatic development narrative, a broader development narrative and a narrative we term potentially transformative. This last narrative is currently emerging through the unpacking of narratives in relation to the framing of sustainability problems and solutions, and in terms of legislative, executive and judicial governance. The paper contributes to emerging understanding of power in value chains, moving beyond material power to a consideration of how ideational power is exerted and resisted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth in the market for Fairtrade certified agricultural exports from Africa has been rapid, promising empowerment for workers and communities through the Fairtrade Premium. Increasingly the Joint Bodies that administer the premium and the kinds of projects funded have been the subject of mounting criticism. Drawing from two empirical studies on Kenyan lowers and tea that explored pathways to empowerment for women workers on plantations, this paper compares and contrasts the practices of two standards mechanisms operating on the farms: the Joint Body (JB) and the Gender Committee (GC). This analysis finds that the GCs were more empowering for women workers than the JBs and draws out examples of good practice from the former that could help to improve practice in Fairtrade in plantation agriculture. The paper argues that appropriate training for members and non-members of committees alike, organizational and spatial structures, the nature of representation, and mechanisms for strengthening voice are of great importance in ensuring empowering outcomes for workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a convention theory ( CT) approach to the analysis of labour management systems in African large-scale farming. The reconstruction of previous analyses of high-value crop production on large-scale farms in Africa in terms of CT suggests that, since 1980-95, labour management has moved from a 'domestic' to a 'market' system. However, data collected by the authors from a sample of 11 large-scale rose farms in Kenya in 2011 (covering around 20% of national output) points to the adoption of systems that, in CT terms, combine 'industrial' and 'civic' elements. The paper concludes by suggesting a series of hypotheses that might explain this trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience, and livelihood resilience more specifically, is growing in prominence with international development and humanitarian organizations that aim to measure and build resilience to specific disturbances such as floods or droughts. However, measuring livelihood resilience is a difficult task, and practical methods to measure livelihood resilience, as well as analyze and visualize the data are needed. In this paper, I introduce the Household Livelihood Resilience Approach (HLRA), which draws from the sustainable livelihoods approach and it’s five capital assets to measure resilience. However, unlike other approaches that use the five capital assets such as utilized by Zurich Insurance Group, Ltd and the IFRC, the HLRA goes farther to help visualize the results and identify specific actions to build resilience. This paper illustrates the effectiveness of the HLRA through an empirical case study where this approach was used to measure livelihood resilience in Isiolo County, Kenya, and the effectiveness of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience for agricultural households. Drawing from this case study, I suggest five ways that the HLRA improves upon previous frameworks, including 1) providing practical methods and tools, not just a theoretical framework, 2) integrating ‘subjective’ measures of livelihood resilience, 3) focusing on the household-scale instead of community-scale or larger, 4) providing methods to analyze, visualize, and interpret results of livelihood resilience measures, and 5) highlighting the importance of human agency, power, and access to assets. The HLRA has the potential to help organizations identify specific interventions that could help build livelihood resilience for the most vulnerable groups of people within a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the increased commercialization of African indigenous vegetables (AIV)—former subsistence crops such as African nightshade, cowpea leaves and amaranth species grown mainly by women—from a feminist economics perspective. The study aims to answer the following research question: How does AIV commercialization affect the gendered division of labor, women's participation in agricultural labor, their decision-making power, and their access to resources? We analyze commercialization's effects on gender relations in labor and decision-making power and also highlight women's agency. Based on a mixed method design and analyzing household-level panel data and qualitative focus groups from Kenya, we observe an economic empowerment of women that we relate to women's individual and collective strategies as well as their retention of control over AIV selling and profits. Yet, while we see economic empowerment of women through commercialization—how they broaden their scope of action and are empowered by generating revenue—that does not contribute to a redistribution of labor or land rights, which are key for gender equality, instead it increases women's labor burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The emerging role of private standards as new forms of regulation and co-ordination in international trade and production is discussed in various fields including economic geography. A prominent example is the impact of the European standard GlobalGAP (former EurepGap) in Kenyan export horticulture. While today this standard is a quasi mandatory precondition for entering the EU market, several studies came to conclude that its high requirements led to market exclusion of most Kenyan farmers. This paper analyses how far farmers have in fact been excluded or have found alternative ways to enter the chain. Based on our own surveys, we identify and analyse different informal possibilities that are frequently used to produce for EU markets without a GlobalGAP certificate. Here we argue that informal production flows can take place even in highly standardised sophisticated consumer markets and should therefore be integrated into analyses on global value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers in Kenya's drylands have difficulty accessing farm production resources and in consequence farm productivity is low. It is therefore important to find strategies for improving access to these scarce resources to help farmers use them efficiently. This paper analyses and compares the technical efficiency of five groups of small farms affected by five different agricultural interventions. The aim of the study was to identify intervention strategies that significantly improve farm efficiency. Data envelopment analysis was used to compute farm-level average technical efficiencies for each of the intervention groups. The results showed that average technical efficiency was highest for the farms that had participated in an irrigation intervention. The findings suggest that the strategies promoted by this intervention, such as access to irrigation, inputs and markets, have the most significant effect on farm efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigated tourism and agriculture linkages by determining the local agricultural products purchased by hotels, purchase considerations and antecedents to purchase of agricultural products. The study was conducted in Coastal Kenya which is a major tourist destination. A census survey of the hotels was undertaken. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and logit model. The results indicate that the local agricultural products purchased by hotels were eggs, meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruits and milk. The purchase considerations were price, quality and supply reliability. Age of the hotel, bed capacity and number of employees influenced the proportion of local agricultural products purchased by the hotels. The results have implications for enhancing tourism and agriculture linkages to improve rural livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realizing high economic growth and generating gainful employment present major challenges for Kenya. This paper analyzes the gendered employment outcomes of various investment options in Kenya using Social Accounting Matrix multiplier analysis. Results reveal that Kenya's agriculture sector accounts for the highest increase in employee compensation (mainly benefiting skilled labor and disproportionately benefiting men), while its manufacturing sector accounts for the largest share of job creation. Although women stand to benefit more from employment creation, most of these new jobs are informal with low wages. Kenya's gender disparities are a reflection of existing disparities in its labor market and socioeconomic structure. Therefore, policies aimed at addressing the constraints that limit women's effective participation in the Kenyan labor market, including increasing productivity and raising women's skills, are important for allowing men and women to benefit equally from employment and growth-promoting opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the diffusion and adoption of non-certified organic agriculture in a semi-arid region of Kenya. Non-certified organic agriculture is conceptualized as an information-intensive innovation comprising 25 distinct practices. Farmers learn about these practices from multiple sources and then choose what to adopt based on their personal preferences, farm characteristics, perceived needs, knowledge level, and other factors. Consequently, each organic agriculture practice is associated with a different adoption rate and set of perceived adoption constraints. This paper also includes discussion of the apparent disconnect between farmers' interaction with non-governmental organizations—the primary source of organic agriculture information in Kenya—and their adoption of organic agriculture practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are numerous examples of technologies with great potential that have not been accepted by smallholder farmers. Quite often, these technologies do not fit well into smallholder systems due to the inherent high level of heterogeneity of these systems. For example, despite their great potential, the adoption of legumes by smallholder farmers in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa has remained poor. A wide range of biophysical (e.g. climate, soil fertility, etc.) and socio-economic variables (e.g. preferences, prices, production objectives etc.) influence the use of legumes in smallholder systems. While some of these variables constrain the adoption of some legumes, others offer opportunities for beneficial use of other legumes in the same system. Therefore, widespread adoption of legumes in smallholder systems can only be achieved if all of the major biophysical and socio-economic constraints are simultaneously identified and addressed. The 'socio-ecological niche' concept proposed in this paper provides the framework through which this might be achieved. The socio-ecological niche, in any given region of agricultural activity, is created by the convergence of agro-ecological, socio-cultural, economic and ecological factors, to describe a multidimensional environment for which compatible technologies can be predicted. The socio-ecological niche concept can be applied in many different contexts in technology development. However, this paper discusses its use with respect to the development of legume technologies. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the concept and to demonstrate its practical significance. The concept is being used in on-going research on legumes in smallholder farming systems in western Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the patterns of productivity and economic growth in the aggregated Kenyan agriculture between 1964 and 1996. In the 1964–1973 period, the average output growth exceeded 4% but stagnated to an average of 1.2% during 1988–1996. Over the whole period, capital was the most important contributor to output growth. Mean growth rates of intermediate inputs subsequently decreased and were negative in 1988–1996. Labour was the least significant source of growth. The mean total factor productivity growth was less than 0.4% and decreased over time. The contribution of productivity growth to output growth increased from 10.2% in 1964–1973 to 26.8% in 1988–1996. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The focus of the review paper is to discuss how biotechnological innovations are opening new frontiers to mitigate nutrition in key agricultural crops with potential for large-scale health impact to people in Africa. The general objective of the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project is to develop and deploy sorghum with enhanced pro-vitamin A to farmers and end-users in Africa to alleviate vitamin A-related micronutrient deficiency diseases. To achieve this objective the project technology development team has developed several promising high pro-vitamin A sorghum events. ABS 203 events are so far the most advanced and well-characterised lead events with about 12 μg β-carotene/g tissue which would supply about 40-50 % of the daily recommended vitamin A at harvest. Through gene expression optimisation other events with higher amounts of pro-vitamin A, including ABS 214, ABS 235, ABS 239 with 25, 30-40, 40-50 μg β-carotene/g tissue, respectively, have been developed. ABS 239 would provide twice recommended pro-vitamin A at harvest, 50-90 % after 3 months storage and 13-45 % after 6 months storage for children. Preliminary results of introgression of ABS pro-vitamin A traits into local sorghum varieties in target countries Nigeria and Kenya show stable introgression of ABS vitamin A into local farmer-preferred sorghums varieties. ABS gene Intellectual Property Rights and Freedom to Operate have been donated for use royalty free for Africa. Prior to the focus on the current target countries, the project was implemented by fourteen institutions in Africa and the USA. For the next 5 years, the project will complete ABS product development, complete regulatory science data package and apply for product deregulation in target African countries.

Presently, close to 1 billion people suffer from hunger and food insecurity. Statistics in Kenya indicates that over 10 million people suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition, 2-4 million people require emergency food assistance at any given time with nearly 30 % of Kenya's children being undernourished, 35 % stunted while micro-nutrient deficiency is wide spread. Key among the challenges contributing to inadequate foods include lack of certified seeds, seasonal production (rain-fed), high post-harvest losses and wastages, poor transportation, low value additions which reduce their market competitiveness. The present paper examines some of the underlying causes for high food wastage experience in Kenya and the associated challenges in addressing these problems. The paper also provides an overview of some of the basic solutions that have been recommended by various stakeholders. However, in spite of the recent efforts made to mitigate food wastage, there is still an urgent need to address these gaps through participatory, innovative community based interventions that will create resilience to climate change and enhance livelihoods of smallholder farmers in diverse ecosystems.

This paper discusses the economic potential in terms of income changes that may result from conversion to low-external-input agriculture (LEIA) organic farming in a Kenya's catchment area. A spreadsheet model applying the gross margin and net present value analysis was developed to estimate economic returns to labour and land of alternative smallholder cropping systems in the East Mau Catchment. The income and costs over a 10-year horizon associated with current cropping practices of a typical farm household cultivating 1.12 hectares of maize-bean intercrop, Irish potato, carrots, tomatoes, cabbages and kales mix were characterized based on field work conducted in 2008-2010. An 'average' smallholder LEIA organic farm was simulated based on the conventional one, and its income discounted. A comparison was then made of the two farm types. Results indicate annual net present value returns to cropped land average Ksh 21,878/ha ($ 267/ha) and Kshs 22,561/ha (€ 275/ha) in 2010 values for conventional and prototype LEIA organic farming systems, respectively. Net returns are particularly sensitive to crop yields and price and cost of fertilizers and seeds. Further efforts should be made to provide an economic analysis of other LEIA organic farming practices such as composting, double digging and agroforestry in terms of additional labour costs resultant. The model can be extended to build more scenarios on the role of price premiums. Additionally, further research should be done to exploit the socio-demographic factors affecting the adoption of low-external-input systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]