Agro-forestry (AFR) technologies are perceived to improve livelihoods and natural resource sustainability of the rural households. Despite their aggressive promotion by multiple national and international agencies, the adoption of AFR technologies has been minimal in Kenya. This study conducted a survey to examine the socio-economic factors that affect the adoption process in Nyando, Kenya. Results revealed that farmers with bigger farms and higher education were more likely to adopt the new technology. Additionally, farmers were quicker to adopt technology if they had an increase in crop yields and had stayed longer in the study area. Generally, wealthier famers tended to adopt more AFR technology than those with less income. Access to information was the only factor strongly correlated with the rest of the independent variables. The results suggest that, adoption would be more enhanced with a clear focus on extension activities, income enhancing AFR practices and soil amelioration technologies. This study may be replicated in other parts of Kenya and East Africa to improve the level of AFR technology adoption for sustainable rural development.
Impact of climate change on crop growth is dynamic and difficult to quantify due to heterogeneity of the associated effects and their interactions within the Earth system. The main objective of this study is to establish how future climate change might affect agriculture, through an assessment of temperature and precipitation driven parameters. These include percentage number of rainy days with extreme precipitation, percentage of extreme precipitation relative to wet days, first fall frost days, last spring frost days, growing degree days, growing season length and the total precipitation. Results show modest increase in total precipitation with a slight increase in extreme precipitation, representing up to 2.2% increase by 2060 under representative concentration pathway (RCP 8.5) scenario. There would be late first fall frost days, early last spring frost days and increased growing season length by up to 2 weeks in 2060. The growing degree days are projected to increase under all scenarios for all crops, with cotton showing the largest increase of up to 37% relative to the baseline period.
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