Climate change is a major development challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. This region is highly vulnerable to negative impacts of climate change due to low adaptive capacity and overreliance on rain-fed agriculture for food security and livelihood. Climate information services (CIS) have been developed in Kenya to help enhance farmers' adaptation to climatic shocks, but their access and utilisation remain low. The factors that influence farmers' access and use of CIS are not well-known. Using survey data from a sample of 250 households in Makueni County, this study estimated a two-step Heckprobit model to analyse the determinants of access and use of CIS. Results showed that the age of the household head reduced the likelihood of accessing CIS whereas household size, income, farm size, livelihood activity, television ownership and group membership increased it. Age, sex of the household head, and frequent exposure to drought reduced the likelihood of using CIS whereas access to improved seed, household income, radio ownership, and livelihood activity increased it. Efforts promoting access to and utilisation of CIS would benefit by building trust among farmers through provision of accurate information; promoting adoption of improved varieties of crops; and providing incentives for formation and participation in farmers' groups.
Biomass fuels dominate the household energy mix in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of it is used inefficiently in poorly ventilated kitchens resulting in indoor air pollution and consumption of large amounts of wood fuel. Micro-gasification cookstoves can improve fuel use efficiency and reduce indoor air pollution while producing char as a by-product. This study monitored real-time concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and amount of firewood used when households were cooking dinner. Twenty-five households used the gasifier cookstove to cook and five repeated the same test with three-stone open fire on a different date. With the gasifier, the average corresponding dinner time CO, CO2, and PM2.5 concentrations were reduced by 57%, 41%, and 79% respectively compared to three-stone open fire. The gasifier had average biomass-to-char conversion efficiency of 16.6%. If the produced char is used as fuel, households could save 32% of fuel compared to use of three-stone open fire and 18% when char is used as biochar, for instance. Adoption of the gasifier can help to reduce the need for firewood collection, hence reducing impacts on the environment while saving on the amount of time and money spent on cooking fuel.
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