Fuchaka Waswa

• Doctor of Agricultural Science (land and water management)
• Professor (Associate) at Kenyatta University

Although firewood is still the dominant source of energy in the majority of rural households in Navakholo, its sustainable availability is threatened by a steady decline in tree cover as much land gets converted to agricultural use. Opportunities for expanding energy security in such places reside in previously untapped potential for value addition...

The impacts of climate change and the need for implementing adaptation and mitigation measures continues to dominate global environmental dialogue, with the Africa Climate Summit 2023 and Conference of Parties 28 being the most recent in this series. A hitherto marginalised aspect is the level of adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices in s...

The scarcity of water in drylands is a major cause of crop failure, food insecurity, and consequent human ill-being. Relying on tilling and crop farming is therefore a risky investment and a direct threat to sustainable livelihoods. This calls for a shift in land use to practices that exert less pressure on land and water. Though apiculture is such...

To date, most rural households in the Navakholo constituency rely on wood fuel for domestic energy requirements, especially cooking. The increasing population is putting a lot of pressure on tree cover, its role in climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation notwithstanding. Switching to energy alternatives within the biomass domain pre...

Soil and water conservation practices or measures are critical in sustaining land productivity for food production while maintaining the integrity of the land. Cardinal measures in this context are broadly categorised as structural, agronomic, and vegetative. Their ultimate goal is to prevent soil erosion, keep the soil fertile, and conserve soil m...

Heavy metal contamination of vegetables is a key aspect of food quality assurance since vegetables form a substantial proportion of the daily human diet. Health risks in urban populations due to exposure to heavy metals are on the increase because of the consumption of vegetables irrigated with wastewater. This study analyzed the concentration of C...

Higher Education Leadership and Management have become increasingly important throughout the years due to the complexities that have to be addressed by universities worldwide. This can be seen not only in professionalisation in fields such as faculty management or in areas of quality assurance and internationalisation, but also in the need for exch...

During the National Multiplication Training in Kenya in 2018, participants raised concerns about attrition, completion rates and quality of PhD programmes in Kenya’s public universities. This led the authors of this article to further examine the question of PhD completion rates. Available data underlined that PhD students across various discipline...

Pollution of the environment by heavy metals emanating from rapid economic growth and improper waste and effluent disposal is a major concern. In this study, heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr) in vegetables, soil and water in two urban streams in Machakos municipality were analyzed. Physicochemical parameters; pH, temperature, total...

Water is a critical ecosystem service, whose scarcity is increasing in urban and peri-urban areas commensurate with population growth. This paper reports on the potential of roof-based rainwater harvesting as an option in mitigating this challenge and complementing metered water supplies. Roof footprints were mapped and computed using standard GIS...

Research on rural energy has in the past focussed on access and environmental effects. Little is however documented on the relationship between declining availability of wood fuel, household cooking and eating patterns, which ultimately impact people's nutritional status. A 2016-2017 cross-sectional survey in Tigania, Meru County in Kenya, targetin...

There is no doubt that terrorism is a peculiar and serious threat to global peace, security and by extension human well-being. Despite concerted military efforts by governments that have borne the brunt of its attacks, suppressing let alone elimination of terrorism has remained elusive. This limited success that has been achieved by seemingly targe...

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence and motivate people to engage in fresh produce trading at the Nairobi City Park market. Three objectives guided this study, thus: (i) To determine the relationship between trader socio-economic factors and the decision to trade at the City Park market (ii) To establish the fresh...

This chapter examines Environmental Monitoring (EM) and Environmental Auditing (EA) as management tools for continuous environmental improvement in organisations and also as post Environmental Impact Assessment activities. For purposes of providing insights into the topic, Environmental Monitoring and Auditing steps depicting a manufacturing indust...

This chapter examines Environmental Monitoring (EM) and Environmental Auditing (EA) as management tools for continuous environmental improvement in organisations and also as post Environmental Impact Assessment activities. For purposes of providing insights into the topic, Environmental Monitoring and Auditing steps depicting a manufacturing indust...