Manure and Soil Fertility Management in Sub-Humid and Semi-Arid Farming Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences from Kenya

Carbon and nutrient losses during manure storage under traditional and improved practices in smallholder crop-livestock systems—evidence from Kenya

“…The practice of actively and deliberately composting manure is less frequent, and often the collected excreta are thrown in a pit together with household wastes. In fewer cases farmers keep the heaps under a simple roof, or covered with materials such as straw or plastic film, as observed among some smallholder dairy farmers in the highlands of Kenya (Onduru et al 2008). Urine is rarely collected with manure in these systems, except where dairy cattle are stalled in hard-floored 'zero grazing' units.…”

Comparative analysis of technical efficiencies between compound and non compound farms in Imo state, Nigeria

“…Mbagwu, (1974 defined compound farms as relatively small portions of land immediately surrounding the people's homes and are cultivated year after year with the aid of kitchen and compound refuse while non compound farms are the much larger farm lands beyond the limits of the family farm environment which form the main cultivated areas. While soil fertility is maintained in the compound farms with the aid of household refuse, and animal droppings (Mbagwu 1974, Lortha 1982, Chidebelu 1984, Okigbo 1972, Anyanwu 1993, Agboola 1979, Wortmann and Kaizi 1998, Onduru et al 1999and Briggs and Twomlow 2002) the fertility of non compound farms are maintained with the aid of rotational bush fallowing and inorganic fertilizer application (Anyanwu 1993, Lortha 1982, Agboola 1979.…”

Non-governmental organizations, strategic bridge building, and the “scientization” of organic agriculture in Kenya

“…Most of the published agro-economic studies report findings from on-going collaborations among researchers associated with the Kenya Institute of Organic Farming (KIOF), Education Training Consultants (ETC-Netherlands), the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI-DLO), and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) (see Van der Werf et al, 1997;Diop et al, 1998;Onduru et al, 1998Onduru et al, , 1999Onduru et al, , 2001Onduru et al, , 2002Onduru et al, , 2006Nandwa et al, 2000;De Jager et al, 2001;Gachimbi et al, 2002). Significant research projects have included ''Potentials of Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture to Attain Productive and Sustainable Land Use in Kenya and Uganda'' (LEINUTS) coordinated by the Dutch research institute, LEI-DLO, and ''Towards Organic Farming for East Africa'' coordinated by KIOF and ETC-Netherlands.…”

“…Findings from analyses of the agro-economic performance of organic farming techniques compared to their conventional equivalents suggest that organic agriculture may be a viable and sustainable option for Kenyan smallholders, especially in areas of low or medium agricultural potential (see, e.g., Van der Werf et al, 1997;Diop et al, 1998;Onduru et al, 2002Onduru et al, , 1999. For example, KIOF and ETC-Netherlands researchers, employing matched pairs of organic and conventional farms, found that the use of compost, double dug beds, and liquid manure for maize production medium-potential areas outperformed conventional practices in terms of maize grain yields, new cash benefits, return to capital, and return per family labor day (Van der Werf et al, 1997;Diop et al, 1998).…”