1Agriculture is the primary economic activity for between 50 and 90 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan African countries. Ninety five percent of the food that is produced in Sub-Saharan Africa is grown through rain-fed agriculture. This implies that the region will suffer most from climate change due to its dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Vulnerability to climate change will be especially significant among the resource poor smallholder farmers in African countries whose livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture in marginal areas. African agriculture is characterized by variations in farming systems with about 90% of the farming occurring in integrated systems. In these mixed farming systems, the food security challenge may require an integrated approach to match the existing systems. A rainbow evolution which emphasizes the need for diversified systems may be the best practice in raising agricultural productivity. A multidisciplinary approach based on the theory of embededdness whereby farmers, researchers, extension institutions, and political institutions work together can further raise agriculture production and improve food security. Social networks in communities of farmers provide channels for identifying problems and farmers' knowledge integrated with that of research and extension can provide sustainable solutions for food production in smallholder farming systems in Africa.
Agricultural extension services are put in place to improve rural development in many nations. Devolution of agricultural extension services have been tried in many nations with mixed results. Since the implementation of the devolved system of governance in Kenya, its effect on agricultural extension service delivery, in Kericho has not been studied and documented. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of agricultural extension staff towards financial support in Kericho county before and after devolution in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design, which is used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. The target population comprised of 117 agricultural extension officers in Kericho County. The study used a census sampling method because the target population was very small; thus, all the units in the target population were considered. However, inclusion criteria were applied by only including individuals who were in employment both before and after devolution. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages) inferential statistics (paired correlation and paired t-test) with the aid of SPSS. The results show that the majority of the respondents, (86%) were either positive or very positive towards financial transparency before devolution as opposed to the only 4.3% after devolution. The t-test results showed a statistically significant difference in perception of agricultural extension officers towards funding of agricultural extension services before and after devolution in Kericho county. The study concludes that financial support was better before devolution compared to after devolution. The study suggests that the county government of Kericho should improve their financial commitment to promote effective and efficient delivery of extension services.
The prevailing socio-cultural practices have the power to influence adoption of agricultural technology. Sweet potato is one of the world's highest yielding crops in terms of production per unit area, exceeding that of a major cereal like rice. The roots and leaves of sweet potatoes are consumed while its vines are used as animal feed in many parts of the world, yet it remains a survival crop which people eat, when they are starving. The main problem amongst agropastoralists is low production of the sweet potatoes. The aim of the study was to assess influence of social cultural factors on sweet potato production among agro-pastoralists in Samburu. Household-level surveys were conducted to obtain data from 100 agro-pastoralists purposively selected. Qualitative data were obtained through Focus Group Discussion and Key Informant Interviews. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distributions. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The study found that agro-pastoralists had low literacy level. Overall majority of the agro-pastoralists at 89 percent strongly disagreed that community tradition was a hindrance to sweet potato production. The study demonstrated that tradition was not a barrier to the production of sweet potato. About 49 percent of them strongly disagreed and 45 percent also disagreed that production of sweet potatoes is associated with poor persons. Almost 68 percent of the respondents strongly disagreed, that they have been looked down because of cultivating sweet potatoes, while 27 percent of them indicated that they disagreed with the same statement. The results indicated that social-cultural factors do not hinder sweet potato production by agro-pastoralists. In conclusion selected social-cultural factors do not prevent sweet potato production by agro-pastoralists. On recommendation, more studies need to done on commercialization of sweet potato cultivation. Due to low level of education of the respondents, practical demonstrations are a requirement to be considered.
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