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This paper investigates whether the effects of weather variability in temperature and precipitation on agricultural output are short- or long-run. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, the paper attempts to establish whether temperature or precipitation variability affects agricultural output in the short or the long run. Second, it examined whether the effects of temperature or precipitation variability on agricultural output are homogenous across East African countries. The results reveal that variability in temperature had a long-run impact on agricultural output, while variability in precipitation had a short-run effect. The findings also reveal that the long-run temperature variability effect was heterogeneous across East African countries, and to some extent, there is also evidence for the long-run effect of precipitation variability. These results are crucial in providing decision-makers and other interested parties a thorough evaluation of climate impacts and adaptation measures aimed at increasing agricultural production and food security. [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]

Objective: Identifying factors that may influence aflatoxin exposure in children under 5 years of age living in farming households in western Kenya. Design: We used a mixed methods design. The quantitative component entailed serial cross-sectional interviews in 250 farming households to examine crop processing and conservation practices, household food storage and consumption and local understandings of aflatoxins. Qualitative data collection included focus group discussions (N 7) and key informant interviews (N 13) to explore explanations of harvesting and post-harvesting techniques and perceptions of crop spoilage. Setting: The study was carried out in Asembo, a rural community where high rates of child stunting exist. Participants: A total of 250 female primary caregivers of children under 5 years of age and thirteen experts in farming and food management participated. Results: Study results showed that from a young age, children routinely ate maize-based dishes. Economic constraints and changing environmental patterns guided the application of sub-optimal crop practices involving early harvest, poor drying, mixing spoiled with good cereals and storing cereals in polypropylene bags in confined quarters occupied by humans and livestock and raising risks of aflatoxin contamination. Most (80 %) smallholder farmers were unaware of aflatoxins and their harmful economic and health consequences. Conclusions: Young children living in subsistence farming households may be at risk of exposure to aflatoxins and consequent ill health and stunting. Sustained efforts to increase awareness of the risks of aflatoxins and control measures among subsistence farmers could help to mitigate practices that raise exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents a study about the effects of grazing on the composition of Themeda triandra grassland in East Africa. This paper focuses on the influences of human settlers in grasslands and their daily activities affected the vegetation and soil composition. The changes in these areas and the influence of wild animals and domestic livestock in grasslands are observed in some areas in East Africa where these observable facts are obtained. The relative influences of grazing in Themeda triandra grassland is discussed.

This commentary discusses new advances in the predictability of east African rains and highlights the potential for improved early warning systems (EWS), humanitarian relief efforts, and agricultural decision‐making. Following an unprecedented sequence of five droughts, 23 million east Africans faced starvation in 2022, requiring >$2 billion in aid. Here, we update climate attribution studies showing that these droughts resulted from an interaction of climate change and La Niña. Then we describe, for the first time, how attribution‐based insights can be combined with the latest dynamical models to predict droughts at 8‐month lead‐times. We then discuss behavioral and social barriers to forecast use, and review literature examining how EWS might (or might not) enhance agro‐pastoral advisories and humanitarian interventions. Finally, in reference to the new World Meteorological Organization "Early Warning for All" Executive Action Plan, we conclude with a set of recommendations supporting actionable and authoritative climate services. Trust, urgency, and accuracy can help overcome barriers created by limitedfunding, uncertain tradeoffs, and inertia. Understanding how climate change is producing predictable climate extremes now, investing in African‐led EWS, and building better links between EWS and agricultural development efforts can support long‐term adaptation, reducing chronic needs for billions of dollars in reactive assistance. In Africa and beyond, climate change brings increasingly extreme sea surface temperature (SST) gradients. Using climate models, we can often see these extremes coming. Prediction, therefore, offers opportunities for proactive risk management and improved advisory services, if we can create effective societal linkages via cross‐silo collaborations. Plain Language Summary: Eastern East Africa is extremely food insecure. Millions of farmers and pastoralists rely on two meager rainy seasons that arrive twice a year. In the 13 seasons since late 2016, the region experienced eight droughts and three exceptionally wet seasons. Seven droughts were linked to very strong Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) gradients, which arose through an interaction between climate change and La Niña. Climate change will bring more extreme Pacific and Indian Ocean SST gradients. Here, for the first time, we show that these gradients can be very well predicted by the current generation of climate models. We then discuss how such information might be used to inform risk management, agriculture, and livestock management practices. The IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center, Ethiopian and Kenyan meteorological agencies, and other groups are providing increasingly accurate climate information. This creates opportunities for more proactive and effective agricultural and pastoral advisory services. Trust, urgency and accuracy can lower uncertainty, reduce risk aversion, and empower poor households and cash‐strapped institutions to act and innovate. Investing now in collaborative African climate systems, participatory advisory services and proactive risk management will help counter these threatening climate extremes. Key Points: Climate change and La Niña are producing extreme Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) gradients, which can be predicted very far in advanceThese Pacific SST forecasts provide robust opportunities for predicting well wet and dry outcomes in East AfricaTrust, urgency and accuracy can overcome barriers due to limited funding, uncertain tradeoffs, and inertia by improving advisory services [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the most devastating crop diseases and insect pests can be transmitted by wind over extremely long distances. These low-probability but high-impact events can have severe consequences for crop production and food security by causing epidemic outbreaks or devastating insect infestations in previously uninfected geographic areas. Two prominent examples that have recently caused substantial damage to agricultural production are novel strains of wheat rusts and desert locust swarm infestations. Whilst quantitative estimates of long-range atmospheric transport events can be obtained using meteorological transport simulations, the exact characteristics of three-dimensional spatiotemporal dynamics of crop pathogen transport and insect flight on extremely large spatial scales, over entire regions and continents, remain largely unknown. Here, we investigate the feasibility and usefulness of new advanced geospatial data visualization methods for studying extremely long-distance airborne transmission of crop pathogens and insect pests. We combine field surveillance data and a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model with novel techniques from computer graphics to obtain, for the first time, detailed three-dimensional visual insights into airborne crop pathogen and insect pest transport on regional and continental scales. Visual insights into long-distance dispersal of pests and pathogens are presented as a series of short 3D movies. We use interactive three-dimensional visual data analysis for explorative examination of long-range atmospheric transport events from a selection of outbreak and infestation sites in East Africa and South East Asia. The practical usefulness of advanced 3D visualization methods for improving risk estimates and early warning is discussed in the context of two operational crop disease and insect pest management systems (for wheat rusts and desert locusts). The tools and methods introduced here can be applied to other pathogens, pests, and geographical areas and can improve understanding of risks posed to agricultural production by crop disease and insect pest transmission caused by meteorological extreme events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This updated review provides an overview of the available information on Ornithodoros ticks as reservoirs and biological vectors of the ASF virus in Africa and Indian Ocean islands in order to update the current knowledge in this field, inclusive of an overview of available methods to investigate the presence of ticks in the natural environment and in domestic pig premises. In addition, it highlights the major areas of research that require attention in order to guide future investigations and fill knowledge gaps. The available information suggests that current knowledge is clearly insufficient to develop risk-based control and prevention strategies, which should be based on a sound understanding of genotype distribution and the potential for spillover from the source population. Studies on tick biology in the natural and domestic cycle, including genetics and systematics, represent another important knowledge gap. Considering the rapidly changing dynamics affecting the African continent (demographic growth, agricultural expansion, habitat transformation), anthropogenic factors influencing tick population distribution and ASF virus (ASFV) evolution in Africa are anticipated and have been recorded in southern Africa. This dynamic context, together with the current global trends of ASFV dissemination, highlights the need to prioritize further investigation on the acarological aspects linked with ASF ecology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial and temporal rainfall trends over the Tanzanian coast are analysed and trends for over 50 years are investigated. This type of study is crucial at this time because the area under study is now one of the world’s economic hotspots, as major gas fields have been discovered and the area also has high potential for oil field discoveries. Methods applied in this study include the Mann-Kendall test for rainfall data to detect the long-term trends, while Sen’s slope estimator test was used for finding the magnitude of change over time. The results exhibited rainfall trend patterns with substantial variations between the stations. The Z value of the Mann-Kendall test showed various months with negative trend at a significance level ≥95%. The few months that showed a positive trend were not statistically significant. Generally, rainfall trends varied in different months for different stations. However, the most outstanding observation on individual months is July, which showed a highly statistically significant (99.9%) reduction in rainfall for the whole coastal area, including the regions of Mtwara, Dar es Salaam and Tanga. The last part of this paper describes the relationship between July rainfall and the horizontal winds from the National Centre for Environmental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) re-analysis. It is observed that the strength of the anticyclonic flow over the southwest Indian Ocean, which is associated with the westward fluxes of moisture, is responsible for rainfall over the whole coastal area of Tanzania during July. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) responds in order to sustain agriculture under a changing environment, and is a major priority in the development sphere. However, to achieve impact at scale, CSA innovations must address agricultural systems' context-specific and multi-dimensional nature and be purveyed through feasible scaling processes. Unfortunately, knowledge on the scaling of CSA innovations under smallholder farming systems and in the context of developing countries remains scant. Understanding scaling processes is essential to the design of a sustainable scaling strategy. This study aimed to draw lessons on scaling from 25 cases of scaling CSA, and related projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania implemented by public institutions, local and international research organisations, Non-Govermental Orginsations(NGOs), and community-based organisations. Generally, scaling follows a linear pathway comprising technology testing and scaling. Most cases promoted technologies and models geared towards climate change adaptation in crop-based value chains, and only a few cases incorporated mitigation measures. Efforts to engage the private sector involved building business models as a potential scaling pathway. The cases were very strong on capacity building and institutionalisation from local, national, and even regional levels. However, four critical areas of concern about the sustainability of scaling emerged from the study: (i) There is little understanding and capture of the dynamics of smallholder farming systems in scaling strategies; (ii) climate data, projections, and impact models are rarely applied to support the decision of scaling; (iii) considerations for the biophysical and spatial-temporal impacts and trade-offs analysis in scaling is minimal and just starting to emerge; and (iv) there are still challenges effecting systemic change to enable sustainable scaling. In response to these concerns, we propose investment in understanding and considering the dynamics of the smallholder farming system and how it affects adoption, and subsequently scaling. Programme design should incorporate climate change scenarios. Scaling programmes can maximise synergies and leverage resources by adopting a robust partnerships model. Furthermore, understanding the spatio-temporal impact of scaling CSA on ecological functioning deserves more attention. Lastly, scaling takes time, which needs to be factored into the design of programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Foodgrains Bank has an established record working in agriculture and food security with resourceconstrained, marginalized farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The three outcome areas of the Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) program were the adoption of conservation agriculture systems, an enabling institutional environment, and the promotion of enabling policies. These program areas were expected to yield intermediate outcomes that, together, would lead to the ultimate outcome of improved food security and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farming households in East Africa. This case study reports on the endline evaluation of the five-year program. Purpose: To illustrate the overlap between utilizationfocused evaluation (UFE) and collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE). The case study profiles an agricultural intervention and explores how the evaluation design accommodated the systemic nature of the program. Setting: Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) was a five-year program of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank implemented from 2015 to 2020 to expand the size and scope of Foodgrains Bank's work in conservation agriculture in East Africa. The program supported local partners with a target of 50,000 male and female farmers practicing a minimum of two of three conservation agriculture principles, and of improving food security and sustainable livelihoods for 18,000 of these farmers' households across three countries. Research Design: The Foodgrains Bank was directly involved in the evaluation design through the definition of evaluation uses and key evaluation questions. Eleven implementing partners in East Africa were involved in primary data collection and some initial analysis. Data Collection and Analysis: A mixed-methods approach was used, combining quantitative, qualitative, and participatory / visual data collection tools. A robust, intersectional gender lens was applied to the data collection instruments in the form of gender-disaggregated data collection and genderfocused questions across most data collection instruments. Findings: The collaborative process confirmed a sense of ownership by the primary evaluation users over the evaluation design. The evaluation design combined outcome and learning uses that took advantage of the implementing organizations' commitment to learning. The findings demonstrated the value of the program and inspired a framework called CA Plus that illustrates the multidisciplinary approach underlying the program's success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing demand for food production in Africa, protecting wetlands and combining increased agricultural production with conservation of the ecological integrity of wetlands is urgent. The role of aboveground biomass of papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) in the storage and retention of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) was studied in two wetland sites in East Africa under seasonally and permanently flooded conditions. Nyando wetland (Kenya) was under anthropogenic disturbance from agriculture and vegetation harvesting, whereas Mara wetland (Tanzania) was less disturbed. Maximum papyrus culm growth was described well by a logistic model (regressions for culm length with R2 from 0.70 to 0.99), with culms growing faster but not taller in Nyando than in Mara. Maximum culm length was greater in permanently than in seasonally flooded zones. Total aboveground biomass was higher in Mara than in Nyando. The amounts of N and P stored were higher in Mara than in Nyando. In disturbed sites, papyrus plants show characteristics of r-selected species leading to faster growth but lower biomass and nutrient storage. These findings help to optimize management of nutrient retention in natural and constructed wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In East Africa, honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide critical pollination services and income for small-holder farmers and rural families. While honey bee populations in North America and Europe are in decline, little is known about the status of honey bee populations in Africa. We initiated a nationwide survey encompassing 24 locations across Kenya in 2010 to evaluate the numbers and sizes of honey bee colonies, assess the presence of parasites (Varroa mites and Nosema microsporidia) and viruses, identify and quantify pesticide contaminants in hives, and assay for levels of hygienic behavior. Varroa mites were present throughout Kenya, except in the remote north. Levels of Varroa were positively correlated with elevation, suggesting that environmental factors may play a role in honey bee host-parasite interactions. Levels of Varroa were negatively correlated with levels of hygienic behavior: however, while Varroa infestation dramatically reduces honey bee colony survival in the US and Europe, in Kenya Varroa presence alone does not appear to impact colony size. Nosema apis was found at three sites along the coast and one interior site. Only a small number of pesticides at low concentrations were found. Of the seven common US/European honey bee viruses, only three were identified but, like Varroa, were absent from northern Kenya. The number of viruses present was positively correlated with Varroa levels, but was not correlated with colony size or hygienic behavior. Our results suggest that Varroa, the three viruses, and Nosema have been relatively recently introduced into Kenya, but these factors do not yet appear to be impacting Kenyan bee populations. Thus chemical control for Varroa and Nosema are not necessary for Kenyan bees at this time. This study provides baseline data for future analyses of the possible mechanisms underlying resistance to and the long-term impacts of these factors on African bee populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in wildlife conservation areas have serious implications for ecological systems and the distribution of wildlife species. Using the Masai Mara ecosystem as an example, we analyzed long-term land use/cover changes and wildlife population dynamics. Multitemporal satellite images, together with physical and social economic data were employed in a post classification analysis with GIS to analyze outcomes of different land use practices and policies. The results show rapid land use/cover conversions and a drastic decline for a wide range of wildlife species. Integration of land use/cover monitoring data and wildlife resources data can allow for the analysis of changes, and can be used to project trends to provide knowledge about potential land use/cover change scenarios and ecological impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]