Lack of sprouted seed potato tubers at planting is a major drawbacks for potato production in Kenya as most potato varieties remain dormant longer than three weeks while the window of planting is two weeks. To develop strategies that can enhance earlier sprouting a study was done to determine the effects of application of gibberellic acid (GA) and benzylaminopurine (BA) either Original Research Article

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The importance of coffee production in the world economy cannot be ruled out due to its contribution in the developing countries in areas such as creation of employment and rise in foreign exchange. Most of the coffee producing countries in the world have come up with strategies to increase their quantity and improve the quality of their produce. In Kenya, the government have also come with numerous policies to support coffee production at the farm level but production of coffee in Kenya has since 1989 crop year been declining. There has been emergence of other enterprises that are profitable than coffee production such as real estate and dairy sector in most of the coffee-growing zones, but there are many farmers who have been determined to maintain coffee production. Despite the efforts made by the government to maximise coffee production in terms of quality and quantity, production has shown a downward trend, with some farmers completely doing away with production This study was aimed at assessing the factors that affect optimization of coffee production in Chuka sub-County, Tharaka-Nithi County. Proportional stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 153 respondents from a population of 7,428 small-scale coffee farmers from ten cooperatives in the sub-County. The findings of the study indicated that access to extension, access to research and management of coffee cooperative were essential in coffee production with a mean agreement of 58.33%. The research established that access to extension (5%) and management of cooperatives (5%) were statistically significant while access to research at (5%) was statistically insignificant. Similarly, access to extension services increased optimization by 91%, poor management of coffee cooperatives reduced production by 45.1%, while access to research increased coffee production by 51%. Therefore, it is important to ensure farmers access extension services, research and there is improved management of coffee cooperatives.

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Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are a major problem in French bean production within the smallholder farming systems. Control of root-knot using synthetic nematicides is not viable due to environmental concerns relating to their toxic residues. There is need to develop alternative control options that will promote soil health and reduce parasitic nematode densities. A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss), Tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia) and Tephrosia (Tephrosia purpurea) leaf extracts in management of root-knot. Controlled lath house and field trials were conducted where the treatments were extracts from Neem, Tithonia and Tephrosia at different concentration levels of 25 ml/L, 50 ml/L and 100 ml/L). Vydate (Oxamyl 10%) a synthetic nematicide served as a standard positive control while treatments with no extracts application and no nematode application served as negative controls. The treatments in the lath house were arranged in completely randomized design while the field trials were arranged in randomized complete block design. Fench beans were planted on nematode infested soils and data on root galling indices and yield components was collected. Data collected was subjected to analysis of variance and significantly different means separated using Tukey’s Studentized Range Test at P=0.05. The extracts evaluated reduced root galling with their efficacy being similar to that of Vydate® (Oxamyl 10%) which was used as a positive control. Neem extracts treatments had the lowest mean galling index of the extracts, followed by Tithonia. Root-knot nematode galling indices were highest in the untreated control at 10 both in trial I and trial II. Treatment trials from Neem and Tithonia at concentration levels of 100 ml/L resulted in highest yield of French beans while yield from the untreated plants were the lowest. The results indicate extracts can be adopted to suppress root-knot nematodes.

Potato has overtime generated special importance in most parts of Kenya and the world as a means of strengthening food security and increasing revenue for farmers. However, potato productivity and industry expansion have been constrained by the poor quality seed tubers being produced in the informal seed sector due to inadequate supply of initial planting materials, improper fertilizer management practices and irregular rainfall patterns. A study was done at the Horticultural Research and Teaching Farm of Egerton University to determine the effect of integration of irrigation water, nitrogen and phosphorus rates on seed tuber relative weight loss and sprouting characteristics after storage. The three factors were tested in a split-split plot design where irrigation water supply was assigned to main plots, N to subplots and P to sub-subplots. The treatments were replicated three times and the trial repeated once. The treatments consisted of three irrigation water rates (40%, 65% and 100% field capacity), applied throughout the potato growth period through drip tube lines. Nitrogen was supplied as urea (46% N) at four equivalent rates of 0, 75, 112.5 and 150 kg N/ha, while phosphorus was supplied at planting time as triple superphosphate (46% P 2 O 5 ) at four rates of 0, 115, 172.5 and 230 kg/ha P 2 O 5 , which translated into 0, 50.6, 75.9, 101.2 kg P/ha . Data collected included relative percentage weight loss, number of sprouts and sprouting percentage. Data collected was subjected to analysis of variance and significantly different means separated using Tukey's Studentized Range Test at p ≤ 0.05. The 100% compared to 65% and 40% irrigation water rates resulted in relatively high weight loss, sprout length and reduced the number of sprouts and sprouting percentage of seed tubers. N and P rates generally decreased the relative weight loss, improved the number of sprouts and sprouting percentage. It is recommended to apply low to intermediate irrigation water, intermediate to high N and P rates to reduce the percentage relative weight loss and sprouting characteristics.

Banana farmers in most parts of Kenya have not embraced value addition despite its accrued economic benefits and emphasis by stakeholders. A study was done in Chuka Sub-County, Tharaka Nithi County to identify the socio-economic factors affecting uptake of banana value addition by farmers. The study was based on the diffusion of innovations theory to establish the relationship between farming experience, group membership, access to credit and uptake of banana value addition. The study adopted a descriptive research design whereby frequency tables were generated whilst both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The target population was 20,180 banana farming households in Chuka Sub-County and 3 key informants. Purposive sampling, Random sampling and snowballing techniques were used to select the 156 banana farmers. A pilot study of 24 (15% of sample size) households was done in Imenti South and the questionnaire was found to be reliable (Cronbach alpha value, α˂0.785). With a 90% questionnaire return rate, the data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 25 and presented using frequency tables. Binary logistic regression was used to test the levels of significance of variables and the model through the Hosmer & Lemeshow test of the goodness of fit suggested that the it was good for fit to the data as p=0.480 (>0.05) while ANOVA analyses were used to check the presence of multicollinearity. It was observed that only 31.9% of farmers uptake banana value addition and there were no banana value addition technologies identified with 35.6% and 64.4% of those who uptake doing banana ripening for sale and bulk packaging respectively. The results [P=0.05] showed that group membership [p=0.019] and access to credit [p=0.004] had a positive and significant effect on the uptake of banana value addition by farmers at varying levels. It was observed that farming experience had a positive effect on the uptake, but was statistically insignificant. The study recommended that; farmers should be encouraged to form cooperatives on value addition and the government and other stakeholders in conjunction with financial institutions need to streamline policies to enhance farmer’s access credit for effective farming among others.

Africa is under pressure from climate stresses and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In Kenya, agriculture is the backbone of the economy making it an important contributor to food security of rural households. Currently crop productivity is being affected by continued climate variations and decline in soil fertility. Adaptation to climate change requires to be given high and urgent priority for sustainable crop production. A study was conducted in Mavuria ward, Mbeere South Sub-County, Embu County to evaluate the effects of climate change adaptation on crop production. The study used both descriptive and experimental research designs. The primary data on adaptation measures was collected from farmers and institutions using questionnaires. In the data analysis, descriptive statistics were used to organize the climate data and that of the respondents into frequencies. Further, a Pearson correlation test was done to determine the relationship between farmer and institutional based mechanisms on adaptation to climate change at α=0.05. The main adaptation mechanisms identified were soil fertility improvement, soil and water conservation, early planting, pest and disease control, provision of certified seeds, and awareness creation. In view of these findings, the study recommends continuous implementation of these measures that can help strengthen farmers and institutional adaptation mechanisms towards climate change for improved crop production.