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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]

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]

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.)

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]

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]

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]

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]

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage 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.)

This paper examines longitudinal data to assess the effects of the recent transition from pastoralism to sedentary agriculture for Ariaal and Rendille mothers in northern Kenya. Dietary, morbidity, and anthropometric data resulting from bimonthly repeated surveys of the pastoral community of Lewogoso and the sedentary agricultural community of Songa, covering the period from September 1994-July 1995, were used to test two hypotheses: 1) that sedentism is associated with changes in diet, seasonality, morbidity, and socioeconomic differentiation, and 2) that these changes affect maternal body composition. The first hypothesis is partly supported, with starch replacing milk in the sedentary diet. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed no seasonal effects for diet in the agricultural sample, while starch consumption was significantly affected by seasonality for the pastoral sample. The agricultural community also featured economic dietary disparities favoring wealthier mothers, while no such effect was found in the pastoral community. However, no seasonal or economic effects were found for morbidity patterns in either sample. The second hypothesis is also partially supported, as a generalized estimating equations analysis revealed differences in the way diet and economic strata influence maternal anthropometric values. Economic status was significantly associated with maternal arm-fat area in Lewogoso. Milk was a significant factor associated with maternal weight and arm-muscle area in Songa. These findings are discussed in light of development policy implications., (Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Antle and Valdivia (2006, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 50, 1-15) proposed a minimum-data (MD) approach to simulate ecosystem service supply curves that can be implemented using readily available secondary data and validated the approach in a case study of soil carbon sequestration in a monoculture wheat system. However, many applications of the MD approach are in developing countries where semi-subsistence systems with multiple production activities are being used and data availability is limited. This paper discusses how MD analysis can be applied to more complex production systems such as semi-subsistence systems with multiple production activities and presents validation analysis for studies of soil carbon sequestration in semi-subsistence farming systems in Kenya and Senegal. Results from these two studies confirm that ecosystem service supply curves based on the MD approach are close approximations to the curves derived from highly detailed data and models and are therefore sufficiently accurate and robust to be used to support policy decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has had a significant impact on rain-fed agricultural production in developing countries. Smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable, and currently must make production decisions in a high risk and uncertain environment with regard to rainfall and temperature. This paper uses climate and household survey data to analyse farmer perceptions regarding climate change, adaptation measures taken in response to these changes, and how well these perceptions correlate with meteorological data in Kenya. We find that a significant number of farmers perceive climate change as real, and that they are particularly concerned about changes in rainfall and temperature. Changing crop varieties is predominantly used as an adaptation measure since extension messages often encourage adoption of drought-resistant varieties. Major factors influencing farmer perceptions include age of the farmer, which is often associated with more farming experience and subsequent extension service. Except in low potential zones, farmers' perceptions of climatic variability are in line with climatic data records. Better education, access to extension messages, farm size and credit facilities are necessary for farmers to decide to adapt to climate change. The paper further assesses barriers to the adoption of various adaptation strategies, and lack of finances and knowledge have been found to inhibit adaptation response within the smallholder farming sector. Findings imply that effective adaptation to threats posed by climate variability and change requires a multi-dimensional collaborative approach, with different stakeholders playing key roles in providing support services in terms of education, extension, credit and meteorological information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period studied in this paper is the decade since Kenya's independence---12 December 1963. Prior to independence Kenya was a British colony and as such inherited a number of British institutions, including the industrial relations system. Since independence Kenya has had a stable government which has assisted in rapid economic development over the past decade. However, the population of approximately twelve million people is still heavily dependent on agriculture and tourism as a source of foreign exchange. The total paid work force in 1972 was only 709,400 with 28 per cent in agriculture, 33 per cent in industry and commerce and 39 per cent employed by the government. The remainder of the population may be considered unemployed or engaged in subsistence farming. It is the paid work force on which we shall focus in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This implementation research study sought to examine the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on adolescent nutrition practices and related behaviors in Nairobi and Uasin Gishu Counties, Kenya. Eight focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with adolescents 10–19 years of age, in‐depth interviews with 10 health facility providers, and a combination of FGDs (n‐4) and key informant interviews with government stakeholder and implementing partners (n = 9). During the pandemic, adolescents tended to avoid commonly consumed junk foods, in favor of "immune boosting, protective" foods. Widespread unemployment and reductions in parental income rendered some food items such as meat, eggs, and fruits unaffordable for families of adolescents. Adolescents relayed experiences of skipping meals and reducing the amount and variety of foods consumed. Adolescents also described employing strategies such as working in the informal sector and selling personal items to support families financially, in response to rising food insecurity. School closures mandated during the pandemic likely contributed to reductions in overall physical activity. To improve the diets of adolescents, programs should build on the healthy mindset brought on by the pandemic, while strengthening, targeting, and improving access to social protection measures and agricultural initiatives for vulnerable families with adolescents to cushion them from rising food insecurity as an effect of COVID‐19. Building practical adolescent life skills to encourage healthy nutrition actions will also be key to building forward from the COVID‐19 pandemic in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home gardening is promoted as an adaptation strategy to ameliorate the increasing food insecurity from climate change impacts among subsistence farming families in rural sub‐Saharan Africa. Yet, the geographic distribution of home gardens, their setup, management, and the effects on nutrition outcomes have not been fully described. This scoping review aimed to map and synthesize recent evidence on home gardening for two exemplar countries: Burkina Faso and Kenya. Between June and August 2020, we searched, screened, and extracted evidence about home garden projects in both countries, following the PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews. Peer‐reviewed scientific publications, and gray literature in English and French that reported about subsistence horticulture in rural settings of Burkina Faso or Kenya were included. The characteristics of the documents and the data pertaining to our research objectives were extracted into predefined spreadsheets. The data were synthesized in the form of a narrative review. Our search yielded 949 documents, of which 20 documents were included in the synthesis (Burkina Faso: 8, Kenya: 12). While the gardens varied in composition and size, the majority provided green leafy vegetables and indigenous horticultural crops. The challenges for successful home garden implementation comprised unfavorable climatic conditions, access to and affordability of inputs, water and land, and lack of know‐how. We identified trends for improved food security, diet quality, and nutritional status among the target populations. This scoping review found that there is limited evidence on home garden practices in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya. To enhance the sustainability of home gardens, research and resources should be invested in codesigning context‐specific home gardening projects. Pending rigorous impact evaluation, home gardens appear to be a promising tool for climate change adaptation while simultaneously improving food security and the nutritional situation among women and young children in these two exemplar countries of sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of experimental fingerponds: an integrated flood recession aquaculture–agriculture production system in the Lake Victoria wetlands in Kenya. The overall aim of the study is to assess the potential of fingerponds as a sustainable wetland farming system for improving food security at the subsistence level and within the context of the existing livelihood activities. The contribution of this new activity to rural household livelihoods is evaluated. Since it is a sustainable technology, based on natural events, the production level is intermediate and the benefits may not be high in the short term. Economic analysis shows that the gross margin and net income of fingerponds is about 752 and 197 Euros per hectare per year, respectively. This is about an 11% increase in the annual gross margin of an average rural household around Lake Victoria. The additional per capita fish supply is 3 kg per season or more from a 192 m2 pond. The potential fish protein supply of 200 kg/ha is high compared with most existing terrestrial protein production systems. Fingerponds have the potential to contribute to household food security and to improve livelihoods. Sensitivity analysis indicates that biophysical variations, which may occur from one wetland to another, have implications for the functioning, and consequently the economic performance, of fingerponds. This reinforces the need for the integration of these systems into other household activities to buffer the household against potential risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from a 1998 survey of farming households in Kenya is used to estimate the effects of poor rural road infrastructure (and high market access costs) on the structure of smallholder farm production. Simultaneous estimation of cost and input share equations reveals rational responses by farmers to high access costs. In the expected continued absence of major investments in rural infrastructure in countries such as Kenya, the policy challenge is to identify and catalyse institutional innovations that reduce a range of transaction costs, increase financial liquidity, increase social capital, and reduce risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While there is growing literature on the role of platforms in concentrating market power, this article centres on their role in 'performing' economic theory. As infrastructures that measure, monitor and ultimately compel human behaviour, the authors argue that digital platforms should be understood as 'performative infrastructures' that seek to incorporate informal populations by compelling behaviour in line with certain theoretical and commercial models. The article draws on secondary historical literature and primary research with Kenyan and international agritech developers, farmers, and representatives from international organizations, regulators and farmer organizations, to historicize contemporary 'platformization' within a longer history of infrastructural performativity in rural Kenya, in order to tease out both continuities and departures from the past. While contemporary technologists evoke similar justifications for top‐down control over markets as did their analogue predecessors, they nonetheless seek to vest such power within the private sector and to use it to perform neoclassical theory. The authors argue that this particular orientation is not an intrinsic feature of the technology itself but is rather shaped by a longer history of shifting policy paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether current assumptions concerning the declining resilience of family farming and the growing influence of capitalist forms of agricultural production are being confirmed in the cocoa sector of Cameroon and the coffee sector of Kenya. This study is based on surveys of 181 family and capitalist farmers. Our results indicate that the capitalist approach is being consolidated on former colonial coffee estates in Kenya and on the cocoa pioneer front in Cameroon. This study also shows that in areas with a long history of family farming, family forms are showing good resilience due to a diversification of activities and sources of income, especially nonagricultural ones, and the patrimonialization of the land. Finally, this study proposes a framework for analysing the interactions between family and capitalist agriculture and their respective multisectorial strategies. For family farming, these strategies are based on work force mobility, whereas for capitalist agriculture, they are based on financial capital mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the mechanisms through which social learning mediates technology diffusion. We exploit an experiment on the dissemination of biochar, a soil amendment that can improve fertility on weathered and/or degraded soils. We find that social networks transmit information about the average benefits of adoption, but also its risk, and that observed variability inhibits uptake to a greater degree than positive average results engender it. Paradoxically, this relationship is stronger among networks that do not discuss farming, but disappears among farmer networks that do. This is resolved with a simple model of social learning about conditional, rather than unconditional benefit distributions. As farmers observe factors associated with outcomes in their networks, they constrain the distribution of their own potential outcomes. This conditional distribution diverges from the unconditional distribution that the econometrician observes. We conclude that social learning is characterized by implicit model-building by sophisticated decision makers, rather than simple herding towards observed good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the precariousness of graduate employment in most African countries, coupled with intersecting challenges of food insecurity, urbanization and population growth, educated youth are increasingly being encouraged to seek alternative livelihood opportunities in agriculture -- a sector traditionally associated with the uneducated rural poor but which has received considerable developmental attention. This article examines how and with what impacts educated youth in Kenya construct and perform new identities as farmers, distinct from the stigmatized smallholder farmers and in keeping with their status as elite, urbanized, social change makers. By developing the concepts of neoliberal youth subjectivities and opportunity space, and examining their life and work histories, the article analyses how educated young farmers construct themselves as productive and socially respectable through different and locally understood neoliberal subjectivities. The author argues that the performances of educated youth who identify themselves as diversified selves, as members of the elite, and as social change makers challenge the normative notions of protracted youth-hood and, instead, illuminate the neoliberal lives of these young people, facilitated by a liberalized economy and their social positioning in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Until recently, the Pokot in the highlands of the Baringo area in Kenya have practised semi-nomadic pastoralism. Today they are rapidly sedentarizing and in many areas suitable for farming, they are adopting rain-fed agriculture. As a result of these dynamics, claims to individual property on de facto communal rangelands have arisen, and to such an extent that they seriously threaten the peace of the community. This article explores the conflicts that emerge in the transition from common property to private tenure. Using locally prominent land disputes as exemplary cases, it focuses on the role of traditional gerontocratic authorities in the attempt to resolve a growing number of land disputes; on the emerging power of patrilineal clans and local elites in the enforcement of access to land; and on the incompetence of government agencies to intervene. The failure of customary institutions to ensure land tenure security leads to a situation in which women and marginalized actors in particular are threatened with displacement, and in which most local actors want the state to intervene and establish formal property rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural strategies such as dairy intensification have potential to improve human nutrition through increased household food security. Increasing dairy productivity could also adversely affect infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices because of increased maternal stress, demands on maternal time, and beliefs about the timing and appropriate types of complementary foods.Yet, few studies have looked rigorously at how interventions can affect young children (0-60 months).The study explores, within the context of rural dairy farming in Kenya, the relationship between level of household dairy production and selected IYCF practices using a mixed-methods approach. Six focus group discussions with women involved in dairy farming investigated their attitudes towards breastfeeding, introduction of complementary foods and child diets. Ninety-two households involved in three levels of dairy production with at least one child 0-60 months participated in a household survey. Quantitative results indicated that women from higher dairy producing households were more likely to introduce cow's milk to infants before they reached 6 months than women from households not producing any dairy.Themes from the focus group discussions demonstrated that women were familiar with exclusive breastfeeding recommendations, but indicated a preference for mixed feeding of infants. Evidence from this study can inform nutrition education programmes targeted to farmers participating in dairy interventions in rural, low-income settings to minimise potential harm to the nutritional status of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The effects of conceptual land cover change scenarios on the generation of storm runoffs were evaluated in the Nyando Basin. The spatial scenarios represented alternatives that vary between full deforestation and reforestation. Synthetic storm events of depths 40, 60 and 80 mm were formulated according to the rainfall patterns and assumed to have durations corresponding to the runoff times of concentration. The Natural Resource Conservation Service-Curve Number model was used to generate runoff volumes within the sub-catchments, which were subsequently routed downstream to obtain effects in the whole basin. The simulated land cover change impacts were evaluated relative to values obtained from the actual land cover state of the basin in the year 2000. From the results, an agricultural land cover scenario constituting of about 86 per cent of agriculture indicated increased runoff volumes in the entire basin by about 12 per cent. An agricultural-forested land cover scenario with 40 and 51 per cent of forest and agriculture respectively revealed reduced runoff volumes by about 12 per cent. Alternatively, a scenario depicting a largely forested land cover state with about 78 per cent of forests reduced the runoff volumes by about 25 per cent according to the model estimates. Runoff volumes in the basin were also likely to reduce by about 15 per cent if the appropriate land cover scenario for the respective sub-catchments were to be assumed for runoff management purposes. Considering the prevalent data uncertainty, the study effectively highlights the potential hydrological vulnerability of the basin. The results obtained can form a basis for appropriate catchment management of the area. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Denmark and Kenya will devote KShs2.45bn for a five-year agricultural sector program support project. The project is designed to revitalize agriculture and to increase food security. The program is already being implemented on a pilot basis in seven arid and semi-arid districts.

To address the potential of legumes to contribute to improved quality and quantity of natural pastures in the semi-arid rangelands of Kenya, five legume species were introduced and evaluated in a small-plot field experiment over three growing seasons. The investigated species were glycine ( Neonotonia wightii), siratro ( Macroptilium atropurpureum), dolichos ( Lablab purpureus cv. Rongai), velvet bean ( Mucuna pruriens) and shrubby stylo ( Stylosanthes scabra cv. seca). Treatments included two cutting heights (ground level and 15 cm) and two cutting intervals (at 2 and 4 months). The mean dry matter (DM) yields of glycine and siratro were highest when the legumes were harvested at ground level at 2-month intervals (10·31 and 7·81 t ha year respectively). Mean DM yield of stylo was highest when the legume was harvested at 15 cm after 4 months (3·52 t ha year). These three legumes also produced high organic matter through litter fall, which contributed to soil fertility. Evidence from a supporting pot experiment showed effective nodulation and potential for N fixation. These legumes also possessed deep tap roots and withstood heavy defoliation. These three legumes were selected for further integration with grasses in natural pastures. The DM yields of dolichos and velvet bean when harvested at 15 cm after 2 or 4 months were low (2·48 and 1·91 t ha year), and these species were considered inappropriate for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers may grow crops for local consumption despite more profitable export options. DrumNet, a Kenyan NGO that helps small farmers adopt and market export crops, conducted a randomized trial to evaluate its impact. DrumNet services increased production of export crops and lowered marketing costs, leading to a 32% income gain for new adopters. The services collapsed one year later when the exporter stopped buying from DrumNet because farmers could not meet new EU production requirements. Farmers sold to other middlemen and defaulted on their loans from DrumNet. Such experiences may explain why farmers are less likely to adopt export crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African farmers diversify their livelihood strategies through on-farm and off-farm activities. We cluster households according to similar livelihood diversification strategies and explore the implications for income levels and sustainable soil management practices. Five main livelihood diversification strategies were being pursued. Households with off-farm income, and those pursuing higher return agricultural activities earned more than twice as much as the lowest income groups, which were the least diversified. They also were more likely to implement soil conservation measures. Policies aimed at improving household well-being need to take into account a wide range of household asset endowments and livelihood strategies being pursued. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1990s, the dominant consensus in the debate on land rights reform in sub-Saharan Africa has been that external interventions to privatise land rights are usually inappropriate and likely to remain so. This article suggests that two elements in the debate — the scope for varying adjudication criteria, procedures and support systems in order to enhance equity, and the influence of a region's agro-ecological and socio-economic characteristics on the impacts of tenure change — merit further attention. The article urges a shift towards a more pragmatic approach, sensitive to the diversity of both physical and socio-economic conditions within which tenure systems operate. Illustrative evidence is drawn from a relatively low-potential farming region in eastern Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that efficiency has not been achieved mainly because contractual constraints have prevented market transactions from having the corrective effects predicted by economic theory. Economic condition of Kenya; Impact of commercialization on the efficiency of resource allocation in peasant agriculture; Factors which are required to reduce poverty and increase national output.

This article presents information on agricultural development and government policy in settler economies like Kenya and Southern Rhodesia. The evidence put forward in support of the contention that African rural economies regressed in the first forty years of this century seems to place all cases into one of three main categories. There is evidence of declining relative shares; there is evidence of declining rural self-sufficiency; and there is impressionistic verbal evidence of "growing chaos" as land legislation came to be implemented and the effects of land erosion began to be seen. In some areas of Kenya and Southern Rhodesia European settlement was extensive and was a dominant influence on the local economy, whereas in other areas Africans continued, even if the land had nominally been reserved for European occupation, to farm without much interference from white capitalist farmers or from labor recruiters. It is also informed that during the period up to the Second World War African peasant producers in both Kenya and Southern Rhodesia were fairly firmly tied into the production of grain crops.

The article presents an analysis which examined grazing systems in Kenya and Mexico, where privatization efforts have been implemented or are being explored. It describes responses to environmental variability in Kenya, with an emphasis on the Ngisonyoka Turkana in northwest Kenya, who herd camels, cattle, goats and sheep. It presents a background of the current modernization efforts in Mexico's agricultural sector which focus on the privatization of the ejidos. Based on research, communally managed range lands in Kenya and Mexico may be a rational response to existing resource conditions.

Drought losses among livestock in a 4500 km² area of Kenya were studied by region, wide survey and intensive monitoring of individual herds over an 18-month period covering the driest year on record for the region. The regional survey found net reductions of c. 50%, during the first 9 months of drought in all zones and for all species herds, but stock losses varied with species, locality, herd management and stage of drought. Stock redistribution complicated estimates of mortality based on regional data but could be analysed through intensive herd data. Cattle herds were moved considerable distances to find better pasture, while small stock mostly remained at the homestead. Highest stock loss percentages occurred in the zones of greatest production potential. Contrasting ecological zones showed superficially similar stock loss figures but had different underlying dynamics. Owner-managed cattle did better than cattle placed with hired herders. Stock redistribution and the cattle/small-stock trade produced anomalous local increases in an overall pattern of stock loss. During the study there was an initial phase of cattle movement, a subsequent phase of high mortality but continued high fertility, and a final phase of much lower mortality (despite continued severe drought), with no calving in cattle. These patterns differ from those commonly assumed in drought simulation models. Traditional drought management uses stock movements in response to a changing complex of range, water, disease, labour, access and security, as well as long-term planning factors. Imposed management initiatives are unlikely to improve on this. but new mechanisms for post-drought herd reconstitution may be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the application of option values to conservation and agricultural price policy for the terrace construction in Kenya. Information on policy reforms made to liberalize agricultural markets in developing countries; Benefits of policy reforms; How policy reform can impact on the agriculture sector.

Focuses on a study on the employment and income-generating effects of various kinds of agrarian reform carried out in Kenya in 1970. Discussion on the Government's Development Plan for 1970-74; Aims of the agricultural policies.

Our study assessed the effectiveness of a community‐based participatory approach in increasing micronutrient adequacy of diets of women and young children through agricultural activities and nutrition education in Vihiga County, Western Kenya. Outcome indicators include the mean dietary diversity score (DDS), the percentage of women and children reaching minimum dietary diversity (MDD), and micronutrient adequacy (mean adequacy ratio). The project consisted of(a) a diagnostic survey covering agrobiodiversity and nutrition, (b) participatory development of activities to improve nutrition, (c) a baseline survey covering dietary intakes, (d) participatory implementation of the developed activities, and (e) an endline survey covering dietary intakes. The diagnostic survey was conducted in 10 sublocations of Vihiga County, which were pair‐matched and split into five intervention and five control sublocations. The intervention sublocations developed activities towards improving nutrition. Before implementation, a baseline survey collected the dietary intake data of 330 women–child pairs in the intervention and control sublocations. To support the activities, communities received agriculture and nutrition training. After 1 year of implementation, an endline survey collected dietary intake data from 444 women–child pairs in the intervention and control sublocations. Impact was assessed using the difference‐in‐difference technique. Highly significant positive impacts on children's mean DDS (treatment effect = 0.7, p < 0.001) and on the share of children reaching MDD (treatment effect = 0.2, p < 0.001) were shown. Higher dietary diversity can be explained by the development of subsistence and income‐generating pathways and increased nutrition knowledge. Participatory farm diversification and nutrition education were shown to significantly increase dietary diversity of young children in Western Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder farmers dependent on rain‐fed agriculture experience seasonal variations in food and nutrient availability occasioned by seasonality of production patterns. This results in periods of nutrient abundance in the plenty seasons followed closely by periods of nutrient inadequacies and malnutrition. This pattern contributes to a cycle of deteriorating health and nutrition status and deprives children of their ability to realize full developmental potential. This study investigates the role of caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitudes in mediating effects of seasonality on children's diets. Repeated cross‐sectional surveys were conducted on 151 randomly selected households in the plenty and lean seasons to collect dietary data using two non‐consecutive quantitative 24‐hr recalls and caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitudes assessed using interviewer administered questionnaire. Sixty‐five percent of the caregivers had attained a primary level education or less. There was a positive modest correlation between caregivers' nutritional knowledge and their attitudes (r = 0.3, P < 0.000, α = 0.01). Children's mean adequacy ratio was significantly higher in the plenty season than in the lean season (0.84 vs. 0.80, P < 0.000). A two‐block hierarchical regression to predict the seasonal changes in dietary quality of children using caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitude scores while controlling for the effect of sociodemographics and mean adequacy ratio at first season (plenty) found that caregiver's nutritional knowledge (ß = −0.007, SE = 0.003, P = 0.027, 95% CI [−0.013, −0.001] ŋ2 = 0.034) but not attitudes had significant contribution to the prediction. Maternal nutritional knowledge mediates seasonal variation in child nutrient intakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the plans of the Kenya Forest Research Institute to train farmers to help them commercially benefit from planting bamboo trees. It mentions that the training program includes artisans. Participants will be taught how to create handicrafts and products from bamboo such as chairs, tables, and pen holders. It reports that products from Bamboo have a high demand both locally and internationally. The article also mentions that this training program also aims to attract the international market.