Organic Farming
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing Organic Farming by Funder "NA"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Publication An Evaluation Of Farmers’ Perceptions Of And Adaptation To The Effects Of Climate Change In Kenya(Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, 2013) Ndambiri, Hilary K.; Ritho, Cecilia N.; Mbogoh, Stephen G.The study was carried out to evaluate how farmers in Kyuso District have perceived and adapted to climate change. Data was collected from 246 farmers from six locations sampled out through a multistage and simple random sampling procedure. The Heckman probit model was fitted to the data to avoid sample selection bias since not every farmer who may perceive climate change responds by adapting. The analysis revealed that 94% of farmers in Kyuso District had a perception that climate was changing and as a result, 85% of these farmers had responded by adapting. In this regard, age of the household head, gender, education, farm experience, household size, distance to the nearest market, access to irrigation water, local agro-ecology, on and off farm income, access to information on climate change through extension services, access to credit, changes in temperature and precipitation were found to have significant influence on the probability of farmers to perceive and/or adapt to climate change. With the level of perception to climate change being more than that of adaptation, the study suggests that more policy efforts should be geared towards helping farmers to adapt to climate change.Publication Survival and Growth of Olive Tree (Olea africana) Seedlings Under Open Field Conditions is Enhanced in Hydrogel Amended Soils Media, Teso Subcounty, Kenya(East African Journal of Forestry and Agroforestry, 2022-10) Roselyne Awino Orure; Kipkosgei, Sirmah, Peter; Matonyei, Thomas KibiwotThe rapid decline of timber from natural forests against increasing domestic demand for wood products has caused a steady increase in timber prices in Kenya. Recently, research and development institutions have recognized the ecological and economic value of indigenous tree species and therefore have emphasized the importance of their future production on private smallholder farms rather than in large plantations. This situation has been worsened by climate changes such as the frequent high intensity of prolonged droughts and the nature of soils with poor water retention capacity. As a result, unplanted forest regeneration sites have increased hence a need for re-afforestation of these sites to meet the target for the plantation industry. Therefore, there is a need for mass production of Olea africana seedlings for reforestation programs. One such approach is the application of hydrogels or synthetic polymer organic combinations capable of improving the water and nutrient retention of the soil that can support seedling growth. This study sought to investigate the effects of hydrogel application on selected growth characteristics of O. africana. Seeds were germinated and transferred into two sets of tubes of the same size arranged in a complete randomized block design (CRBD) experiment. The sets were subjected to different levels of hydrogel concentration. Under (0gm as control) and 7gm, 14gm, and 21gm) concentration levels of hydrogel mixed with soil in open field conditions. The height and shoot collar diameter of germinated seedlings were measured every two weeks for two months. The survival of O. africana seedlings decreased with time for all treatments irrespective of the addition of hydrogels with the highest (85%) survival of seedlings on soils mixed with 21gm of hydrogel compared to 0gm hydrogel that recorded (15% survival) eight weeks afterPublication Yield Response of Tea to Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Timbilil Tea Estate in Kericho, Kenya(International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 2018-12) Boiwa Mercy Chepkorir; Sitienei Ann— Poor crop productivity, high cost of inorganic fertilizers and low crop response to inorganic fertilizers are major problems that affect sustainability of crop production in Kenya. Application of inorganic fertilizers at rates much below the recommendation, which is mainly due to the limited economic capacity of smallholder farmers, has become the underlying cause of poor crop productivity along with the worsening soil acidity. Hence, the present study was carried out to find out the effect of integrated soil fertility management on the productivity of tea Timbilil tea estate. Kericho, Kenya. The trial was set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. Forty-two composite soil samples were collected randomly from each of the experimental plots. The data collection process included soil sampling during the short rain season in 2017 and annual tea yield sampling. The samples were analyzed for total organic matter, nitrogen content, bulk density, porosity, soil pΗ, porosity, particle density and soil moisture content. The data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using MSTAT-C programme package. SPSS version17.0 was used to analyse Pearson correlation and all the data presented in tables and figures. The tea yields determined showed a weak positive correlation between SOM and yields.The tea yields determined showed a weak positive correlation between SOM and yields. Results showed that fertilizer types significantly (p≤0.05) affected SOM with enriched sheep manure giving the highest values. Fertilizer rates had no significant (p≤0.05) difference on SOM. Fertilizer application at the highest rate of 240 kg N/ha had the lowest SOM content, which means high fertilizer application, causes more harm than good.From the results obtained it can be concluded that enriched manures tend to increase SOM content in soil which improve productivity and is recommended especially in the tea industry