Jayne Mugwe

• Professor (Associate) Integrated Soil Fertility Management and Research Methods Methods and Soil Science (Kenyatta University Kenya
• Kenyatta University

p> Background: Soil fertility degradation remains the major biophysical cause of declining per capita crop production on smallholder farmers in Central Kenya highlands. The study was carried out for 3 consecutive seasons in Embu County classified as semi-arid lands in Kenya. Objectives: To determine the effect of Soil Water Harvesting (SWH), croppi...

Sorghum stands as a fundamental food and cash crop in Tharaka-Nithi, yet its production remains suboptimal due to soil fertility limitations. Globally, sorghum yields hover around 2.5 t/ha, indicating an untapped potential given its maximum yield potential of 5 t/ha. Kenya has witnessed a decline in sorghum yields from 0.95 t/ha to 0.78 t/ha, prima...

Low levels of secondary and micronutrients, and soil acidity strongly challenge the attainment of two critical pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA); 1) secured food through increased productivity and (2) increased resilience to adapt to climate change. Despite this soil fertility trend, empirical and review studies on secondary and micronutri...

This study was carried out in Morogoro district, Tanzania to characterize and classify soils using USDA Soil Taxonomy and World Reference Base (WRB) for Soil classification methods. The site characteristics were identified during the reconnaissance survey for the determination of sampling units. Six soil profile pits namely TUG-P1, TUG-P2, TUG-P3,...

In developing countries, horticultural production is one of the major sectors that enable smallholders to feed their families, and generate incomes. Avocado is a major crop in Murang’a county but its potential to generate incomes is limited by challenges associated with production and marketing. The study had three objectives 1. To analyze smallhol...

This study aimed to analyze the appropriateness of land in Tungi Farm based in Morogoro District, Tanzania for sunflower production using a Geographic Information System (GIS). To determine appropriate areas for sunflower production, three criteria: soil properties (pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, available phosphorus,...

In Tanzania, land degradation has been ranked as the top environmental problem for more than 62 years after independence. Land degradation is a catalyst for poverty increment in rural people’s livelihoods by contributing up to a 48% increase in poverty of this population. This paper highlights land degradation as a key constraint to sunflower produ...

Deficits in soil moisture and low soil fertility are the major constraints to smallholder farming systems in the SSA (sub-Saharan Africa) region. This study evaluated the effects of tied ridging and selected soil fertility inputs on; soil water content at different depths, maize yields, and economic returns. The treatments were: Tithonia diversifol...

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of Tanzania’s high-potential cash crops. Nonetheless, nutrient depletion, especially nitrogen (N), is limiting its productivity. The study was conducted in the semi- arid -Dodoma region in Tanzania where it adopted a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with six treatments each replicated four times. These...

Declining agricultural productivity has been a challenge worldwide and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Low agricultural productivity has been attributed to factors such as poor farm management practices, soil moisture stress, soil infertility, and soil degradation, among others. The nations in the SSA are prone to insufficient crop yields d...

Acidic soils pose a major challenge for crop production in heavily weathered tropical soils, especially due to the high toxicity of aluminum (Al), low cation exchange capacity, and low availability of phosphorus (P) to plants. Lime application was recommended to alleviate soil acidity problems. Granular CaCO 3 lime was introduced into the Kenyan ma...

Soil erosion poses a challenge to the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources, particularly in relation to agricultural production. The study aimed to assess the influence of different soil organic carbon (SOC) levels on runoff and soil erosion under varying levels of rainfall intensity. The study was conducted in pre-selected farm...

Soil fertility depletion in sub-Saharan Africa is a big constraint to increased food production to feed the ever-growing human population. Use of legumes to improve soil fertility is an option in the central highlands of Kenya and this study evaluated soil characteristics on farms and screened effectiveness of five rhizobia strains on four legumes....

Soybean (Glycine max L. Merril) is among the key oil seed crops worldwide providing several benefits from human consumption to the enhancement of soil productivity. In Uganda, legumes are cultivated on roughly 1.5 million ha with soybean being produced on a lower production area of 150,000 ha compared to beans (925,000 ha) and groundnuts (253,000 h...

Inadequate rainfall is a significant problem hindering the production of most crops in dryland regions. The current study was carried out to assess the effect of selected soil-water conserving interventions on soil moisture, growth, yield, quality, and profitability of yellow passion fruit. The experiment was laid in a randomized complete block des...

This study evaluated socioeconomic factors influencing the uptake of regenerative agriculture technologies in the dry lands of Embu County. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 400 farm households. Multivariate Probit model (MVP) and percentage were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study indicate that several socioeconom...

Avocado (Persea Americana) is a major crop in Kenya but its potential to generate income is limited by challenges associated with production and marketing. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of participation in collective marketing on the incomes of smallholder avocado farmers in Kigumo Sub-County, Murang'a County, Kenya. Data was...

DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my family and friends for their continuous support of my study. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Water and nutrients are the main factors limiting grain production in the dry regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Given the onset of global climate change, the effects of drought stress on crop yield becomes more pronounced. Different approaches have been initiated to address this; however, they have been introduced at different times, in isolation, and...

Purpose This study assessed the synergistic effect of inoculation and phosphatic fertilizer application on nodulation, yields, economic returns, P uptake and use efficacy of soybean. Methodology The experiment was carried out during the two growing seasons of 2021 (long and short rains) in Uganda with experiment laid out under a split-plot arrangem...

The study examined the factors that drive decisions to adopt and use irrigation technologies among smallholder farmers in Machakos County, Kenya. Data were collected from a sample of 300 smallholder farmers. Cross-sectional survey design, a multistage sampling procedure and random sampling method were employed. Percentages, means and econometric an...

This paper highlights the importance of sunflower, and its current status, giving the prospects of improving its production through intercropping it with sunn hemp legume. The review focuses on Tanzania, where smallholder farmers mainly produce sunflower as a cash crop and a source of vegetable oil. The crop’s production is threatened by decreased...

This PPT covers aspects of proposal writing. Target audience include Masters and PhD students seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge on writing good research proposal

This PPT covers key terminologies ir research. Types of variables; Independent Variables; Dependent Variable; Extraneous Variables, Validity, Reliability

Erosion causes soil nutrients and financial losses, and negatively impacts the environment. We sought to assess the effects of integrated soil fertility and soil & water management practices on nutrient losses, their equivalent economic losses, and environmental disturbance in the drylands of Tharaka-Nithi County. An experiment was set in a randomi...

Integrated soil fertility and soil water conservation technologies are possible solutions to the low per capita food production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Nonetheless, the rate of adoption of these technologies by smallholder farmers has stagnated over the years despite being recommended. This has been attributed to the existence of wide communic...

Climate variability is among the main threats to rain-dependent smallholder farming in most sub-Saharan Africa countries. Hence, farmers should make efforts at the local level to utilize indigenous knowledge (IK) combined with conventional knowledge to adapt to climate variability impacts. We assessed; IK used by farmers in climate forecasting, the...

This study ascertained the socioeconomic determinants of farmers' knowledge on soil and water conservation technologies in Dry zones of Central Highlands of Kenya involving 400 farming households. Results showed that the majority of the farmers had inadequate knowledge on the use and benefits of soil and water conservation technologies. The socioec...

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), acidic soil covers 29% of the total area. About 13% of the Kenyan total land area has acidic soils, widely distributed in croplands of the central and western Kenyan regions. The high soil acidity, coupled with soil nutrient depletion, negatively affects crop productivity in the region. We conducted an on-farm experimen...

Declining soil fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a significant constraint towards increasing agricultural productivity. Soil fertility decline coupled with rapid population growth and low use of organic soil fertility technologies has threatened the population's economic status that lives in the rural area and relies on rain-fed agriculture....

Degraded landscapes and soil water stress are long-standing problems to smallholder agriculture in the drylands. Despite the important roles of zai technology in restoring degraded landscapes and improving the agricultural productivity, the technology is yet to be adopted to its fullest extent. This can be attributed to gender-linked disparities in...

Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices are widely recognized as crucial interventions but knowledge-intensive technologies for farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Very few studies have synthesized the knowledge gaps between smallholder practices and recommended ISFM packages. A farm survey was therefore carried out in Runyenjes sub-...

Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices are widely recognized as crucial interventions but knowledge-intensive technologies for farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Very few studies have synthesized the knowledge gaps between smallholder practices and recommended ISFM packages. A farm survey was therefore carried out in Runyenjes sub-...

Soil fertility decline continues to be a major challenge limiting agricultural productivity globally. Despite the novelty of organic-based technologies in enhancing agricultural production in Kenya's central highlands, adoption is low. Therefore, we carried out a cross-sectional household survey of 300 randomly selected smallholder farmers to deter...

Soil fertility decline continues to be a major challenge limiting agricultural productivity globally. Despite the novelty of organic-based technologies in enhancing agricultural production in Kenya’s central highlands, adoption is low. Therefore, we carried out a cross-sectional household survey of 300 randomly selected smallholder farmers to deter...

Current demand for soybean in Kenya exceeds supply despite numerous efforts by the government to increase production. Soybean farmers are faced with the difficulty in accessing the market reason for their reluctance in producing. Little is known about the soybean market in the central highlands of Kenya. This study was carried out with the aim to a...

Collective marketing has been proposed as a solution to the problem of poor access to markets in developing nations. However, smallholders' market participation is still limited. This study assessed farmers' perception of the benefits and challenges in collective marketing, and identified the determinants of smallholder farmers' participation in co...

Current demand for soybean in Kenya is higher than production, and the deficit is filled through importation from neighboring Countries. Despite the high demand, production and adoption remain low. The study sought to determine factors influencing the decision to adopt soybean by smallholder farmers, assess acreage under soybean, and its production...

Definition: Integrated soil fertility management is defined as a set of soil fertility management practices that necessarily include the use of fertilizer, organic inputs, and improved germplasm combined with the knowledge on how to adapt these practices to local conditions, aiming at maximizing agronomic use efficiency of the applied nutrients and...

Current demand for soybean in Kenya is higher than production, and the deficit is filled through importation from neighboring Countries. Despite the high demand, production and adoption remain low. The study sought to determine factors influencing the decision to adopt soybean by smallholder farmers, assess acreage under soybean, and its production...

ABSTRACT Farmers in the central highlands of Kenya do face problems of low crop yields due to soil fertility decline. This is as a result of continuous cropping, nutrient losses through crop harvests, soil erosion and leaching coupled with inability to replenish the soil through use of external inputs. The situation is aggravated by poor adoption,...

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is one of the most important legume crops being introduced into the smallholder farming systems of the Central Highlands of Kenya (CHK) for soil health improvement, income and improved household nutrition. However, phosphorus fixation, depletion of soil nutrients and soil acidity are major causes of low crop nutri...

Most smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Kenya have been experiencing a decrease in crop yields in the recent decades. Droughts and prolonged dry spells are common and water is becoming the main limiting factor during crop growing seasons threatening smallholder farmers’ livelihood. Hence, availability and adoption of conservation-effe...

promotion and scaling up the production of soybean and climbing beans (Vigna umbellata) to smallholder farmers in Eastern Provinces of Kenya for improved soil health, nutrition and incomes.

In Kenya, a Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach was adopted through formation of Community Forest Associations (CFA) to improve forest cover and their livelihoods as provided for in the Forest Act 2005. The main objective of this study was to determine the factors influencing the level of CFA members’ participation in PFM activities in s...

The drier parts of Central Kenya are characterised by poor crop harvest due to unpredictable, unreliable and poor rainfall distribution patterns. The field experiment was laid out in Partially Balanced Incomplete Block Design (PBIBD) with 36 treatments replicated three times. The treatments of tied ridges and contour furrows under sorghum alone and...

Climate variability has a negative impact on crop productivity and has had an effect on many small-holder farmers in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). Small-holder farmers in Eastern Kenya are faced with the constraint associated with climate variability and have consequently made effort at local level to utilize adaptation techniques in their...

Drier parts of Embu County, Eastern Kenya, endure persistent crop failure and declining agricultural productivity which have been attributed, in part, to prolonged dry-spells and erratic rainfall. Nonetheless, understanding spatial-temporal variability of rainfall especially at seasonal level, is an imperative facet to rain-fed agricultural product...

Potential for promoting sorghum crop as a climate change adaptation strategy for rain-fed agriculture in Embu County, Kenya was evaluated using farmer perceptions and scientific methods. Three hundred and sixty six smallholder farmers participated in the evaluation. The treatments which were overall rated as ‘good’ are tied ridges with a mean score...

Improving food security and environmental conservation should be the main targets of innovative farming systems. Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum tillage, crop residue retention and crop rotations has been proposed against poor agricultural productivity and soil degradation. This paper discusses the applicability and potential benefi...

There is continued decline in per capita agricultural productivity in the drier parts of Kenya’s central highlands. The declines have been linked to low and declining soil fertility, soil water, high atmospheric heat, prolonged dry-spells and erratic rainfall. Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies have been developed and tested i...

This study examined the extent of seasonal rainfall variability, drought occurrence, and the efficacy of interpolation techniques in eastern Kenya. Analyses of rainfall variability utilized rainfall anomaly index, coefficients of variance, and probability analyses. Spline, Kriging, and inverse distance weighting interpolation techniques were assess...

Drier parts of Kenya’s Central Highlands endure persistent crop failure and declining agricultural productivity. These have, in part, attributed to high temperatures, prolonged dry spells and erratic rainfall. Understanding spatial-temporal variability of climatic indices such as rainfall at seasonal level is critical for optimal rain-fed agricultu...

The aim of this work is to investigate the consequences of selected soil and water conservation techniques and tillage practices on runoff amounts, sediment yield and maize yields under semi-arid and sub-humid environments. Field trials were set in Kigogo primary school in Meru South Sub-County, Tharaka Nithi County, representing the sub-humid cond...

Objective: The experiment was conducted with the aim of investigating maize response to Tithonia diversifolia and Minjingu Rock phosphate (MPR) applied under maize-bean intercrop as compared to the traditional maize monocrop to improve maize grain yields. Methodology: The experiment was conducted in pots in a greenhouse for the duration of 8 weeks....

Drier parts of Embu County endure high atmospheric heat, prolonged dry spells, declining soil fertility and erratic rainfall. Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies have been developed, and tested, with standardized application procedures and rates aimed at optimizing overall yield productivity. Despite their significant impacts,...

Dependence on uncertain rainfall and exposure to unmitigated climate risk are major obstacles in efforts to sustainably intensify agricultural production and enhance rural livelihoods. There is generally enough seasonal total rainfall; the challenge is its poor distribution over time and across the season. The amount of water available to plants st...

Mitigating nutrient loss is a prerequisite of sustainable agriculture in the tropics. We evaluated three soil and water conservation technologies (mulching, minimum tillage and tied ridging) for two cropping seasons (long rains 2011, short rains 2011) at two sites in the central highlands of Kenya. The objectives were: to determine effects of the t...

Smallholder farmers in Tharaka and Kitui suffer the adverse effects of climate variability, especially variations in rainfall and temperatureThis has had a negative impact on agricultural production and is attributed to the fact that most of their agriculture is rain-fed There is therefore need for adaptation as a fundamental and necessary response...

Why use local indicators in weather forecasting? • Most of agriculture in Tharaka and Kitui is rain-fed and the bulk is under small-holder farming. • Cropping systems in the region are often limited by variations in climate (rainfall and temperature). • The conditions caused by climate variability have negative effects on agricultural productivity...

Continued declines in per capita agricultural productivity in the Central Highlands of Kenya are mainl y due to: • Soil nutrient deficiencies • Low soil water availability (rainfall variability & prolonged dry spells/ droughts) • Crop response to fertilizer highly depends on seasonal distribution of rainfall due to its influence on soil water conte...

tillage practices with various surface management technologies under sub-soiling stabilizes yield over time as compared to use of surface management strategies alone. Partners: Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Kenyatta University (KU) -is This pamphlet funded by RUFORUM -soiling -; Recommendation Sub Sub s...

Declining in soil fertility continues to affect food production by affecting soil and crop productivity in the Central Highlands of Kenyan (CHK). One of the major components and drivers of soil fertility is the soil microbial biomass which contributes nutrients released through organic matter decomposition. Soil acidity contributes for reduced micr...

This study aimed to first assess knowledge levels of the farmers in the use of manure, fertilizer and combinations of manure and fertilizer and secondly to identify the socioeconomic factors influencing the levels of knowledge in the use of animal manure, inorganic fertilizers and combination of animal manure and inorganic fertilizers in Meru South...

Soil fertility degradation remains the major biophysical cause of declining per capita crop production on smallholder farms in Central Kenya highlands. A study was conducted to compare farmers' perception and biophysical data on selected water harvesting and integrated soil fertility management technologies on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)...

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is one of the most important legume crops being introduced into the smallholder farming systems of the Central Highlands of Kenya (CHK) to improve income and household nutrition of farmers. However, phosphorus fixation, depletion of soil nutrients and soil acidity are major causes of low yields. The objective of t...

Low soil fertility is a fundamental constrain to crop production in the central highlands of Kenya. The aim of the study was to assess gender disparities in sourcing information and preference of extension methods used in dissemination of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) in the central highlands of Kenya from a comparative perspective. D...

Forests contribute significantly to the livelihoods of forest adjacent communities. Under the Kenya's new Forest Act (2005), community participation in forest conservation is provided for through formation of Community Forest Associations (CFAs). This study focused on Ontukigo and Ngare Ndare CFAs involved in participatory management of Ontulili an...

Sustainable agriculture is threatened by the widespread soil acidity in many arable lands of Rwanda. The aim of this study was to determine the quality of unburned limes and their effects on soil acidity and base cations in acidic soils of high land of Buberuka. The lime materials used were agricultural burned lime and three unburned lime materials...

Soybean (Glycine max (L.)) is one of the most important legume crops being introduced in the CHK (Central Highlands of Kenya) expected to increase yields. However, low levels of soil N (nitrogen) and other plant nutrients and soil acidity are seen as the major causes impairing goal achievement. To evaluate the influence of manure, lime, P (phosphor...

Recently, near infrared reflectance (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy techniques are increasingly introduced as convenient and simple non-destructive techniques for quantifying several soil properties. This study uses MIR method to predict pH, soil organic C, total N, Al, Ca, Mg and K, CEC and soil texture for soil samples collected in Sud-...

Research Application Summary Farmers in the central highlands of Kenya have been experiencing declining crop yields due to low soil water availability caused by low and unreliable rainfall and poor water harvesting techniques. To increase crop yields, and reduce production risks, research on better use of available rainfall and the interactions bet...