Stephen M Mureithi

University of Nairobi | UON · Department of Land Resource Management & Agricultural Technology

Continuing agricultural “business-as-usual” practices in the Global South will only perpetuate the strong disconnects that exist between agricultural productivity and food security given the current global yield trends. Although global food insecurity still lingers, a greater portion persists in the Global South. The recent Coronavirus disease 2019...

This chapter provides an overview of the status of soil systems in the Global South, with a particular focus on Africa. Soil is a vital natural resource that plays a crucial role in supporting life on Earth, but it faces threats from all quarters, ranging from land degradation to the impacts of climate change. Thus, climate-smart management strateg...

This chapter conducts an exhaustive exploration of the diverse soil types spanning the landscapes of the Global South. With keen attention to their distinctive characteristics, formation processes, regional distributions, and practical applications, it emerges as an indispensable compendium for soil scientists, agriculturalists, environmentalists,...

Camels play a significant role in ensuring a resilient livelihood among pastoralist communities. In response to the increasing climatic variability and change, traditional cattle keepers like the Samburu community have adopted camel keeping to secure household food and nutritional and economic security. This handbook was co-authored with the county...

Strawberries are a valuable crop in Kenya with the potential for significant economic contributions. However, strawberry production in the country has been facing considerable challenges, impacting its economic potential. This study examined the influence of organic manure on strawberry growth and characteristics in Kabete and Mbooni areas in Kenya...

Pastoralist adaptation strategies have to address multiple, overlapping, and often inter-related processes of socio-ecological change. The present study addresses the need for inter-regional comparative studies that account for different geographic, climate, and socio-economic contexts in order to understand how pastoralists adapt to changes in liv...

Erosion by water is one of the most common types of soil degradation which occurs in all climatic regions and is widely considered to be a serious threat to the long-term viability of agriculture in many parts of the world. Lake Ol Bolossat in Nyandarua County, Kenya, is a high altitude lake that was formed on Rift Valley escarpment and faces the c...

In Tigray, northern Ethiopia, land degradation has generally undermined the environmental goods and services (EGS) those local communities depend on for their livelihoods. Massive sustainable land management programs (SLMP) to restore degraded land have temporarily ceased to be accessible free of charge to communities because human and animal inter...

Land rehabilitation through exclosures has been recognized as a promising practice in the restoration of degraded drylands. This study evaluated woody species density, diversity, cover, and biomass production from three regeneration approaches (EMTs): (1) Naturally Regenerated (ENR) exclosures, (2) exclosures with Soil and Water Conservation Struct...

Range exclosures have been used as a tool to restore degraded communal grazing lands in Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia. Although there seems to be ecological evidence of success in rehabilitation of degraded rangelands in Tigray, there is unclear translation of these achievements into socio-economic benefits. It was hypothesized that this could...

In this paper, we use a discrete choice experiment conducted among pastoralists in four different semi-arid counties in Kenya characterized by different land tenure regimes to analyze how pastoralists make tradeoffs between tenure security and grazing flexibility – the so-called pastoralist paradox. Results show that there is one group of responden...

Drylands in Sub-Saharan Africa are subject to rapid and enduring population increase, agricultural expansion, land large-scale infrastructure developments, as well as climate change, affecting some 265 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. These changes are promoting a transition from traditional pastoralist ways of life characterized by seas...

Background Enhancing soil organic carbon storage in areas under extensive livestock grazing has become a challenge in most arid and semi-arid rangelands in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya for instance, continuous unplanned grazing in community lands has led to overgrazing and degradation of the rangelands. For decades, livestock production has shaped...

This article presents hydro-chemical and isotopic (δ¹⁵N-, δ¹⁸O‒NO3⁻, δ¹¹B) data of water samples and potential nitrate sources from the Nyando river basin, a tributary of the Lake Victoria in Kenya. The data collection involved field sampling of water samples in 23 sampling stations spatially distributed in the basin during nine seasons from July/2...

Abstract Feed insecurity associated with prolonged and recurrent droughts remains a perennial challenge impeding livestock production and a major source of resource-based conflicts in the drylands of many developing countries such as Kenya. Thus, the emerging fodder markets in the drylands act as a secondary source of livestock feed to augment the...

Excess nitrate (NO3⁻) discharge into fresh water resources poses detrimental effects on ecosystems and human health, yet the understanding of its potential sources is lacking in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. This study integrated hydrochemistry, multi-isotope tracers (δ¹⁵N-NO3⁻, δ¹⁸O-NO3⁻, δ¹¹B) and a Bayesian mixing model (mixSIAR) to improve...

Fodder Groups as a Potential Pathway for Up-scaling Commercial Fodder Production in the Drylands of Kenya

Nitrate (NO3-) sources and discharge were investigated using isotope and hydrochemical analyses in three river catchments draining Lake Victoria basin, Kenya. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped Nyando, Nzoia and Sondu Miriu River stations into clusters corresponding to major land use classes of the catchments. Mixed agriculture (MA) in Nyando sh...

Groundwater nitrate (NO 3 −) pollution sources and in situ attenuation were investigated in Kisumu city and Kano plains. Samples from 62 groundwater wells consisting of shallow wells (hand dug, depth <10 m) and boreholes (machine drilled, depth >15 m) were obtained during wet (May-July 2017) and dry (February 2018) seasons and analyzed for physicoc...

In the face of increasing pressure on land and natural resources, combating land degradation in arid rangelands of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is essential to ensure sustainable productivity of these environments. The successive droughts coupled with environmental and demographic factors remain a threat to livestock-based livelihoods, hence limiting t...

Policy brief on Commercial fodder production in drylands

Increasing sedentary agro-pastoralist livelihoods may be explained by land degradation, population pressure, agricultural commodification, and economic development. We reviewed scientific and 'grey' literature for the effects of enclosures on food security. Only 8% of the 114 reviewed scientific articles addressed food production, while 69% approac...

Abstract Background Pasture enclosures play an important role in rehabilitating the degraded soils and vegetation, and may also influence the emission of key greenhouse gasses (GHGs) from the soil. However, no study in East Africa and in Kenya has conducted direct measurements of GHG fluxes following the restoration of degraded communal grazing lan...

Runoff farming is reported to improve land productivity and crop yields in hot and dry climates. This study was conducted to assess the available rainwater that can be harvested in a conserved catchment in a drought prone agroecological zone. The study was carried out in the Cyili sub-catchment, southern province of Rwanda, which has an irregular r...

Abstract Background Rehabilitation of degraded rangelands through the establishment of enclosures (fencing grazing lands) is believed to improve soil quality and livelihoods, and enhance the sustainability of rangelands. Grazing dominated enclosure (GDE) and contractual grazing enclosure (CGE) are the common enclosure management systems in West Pok...

The immediate surroundings of refugee camps in drylands are among the areas exposed to highest pressure on natural resources including vegetation and soil. Understanding the dynamics of land fencing in these areas is critical for sustainable camp management and can help to improve the knowledge about land management in drylands in general. Very hig...

This study was conducted to assess agricultural practices for generating maximum maize productivity in drought prone agro-ecological zones. The experiment was conducted in Cyili sub-catchment in Southern Province of Rwanda, which has an irregular rainfall distribution and a prolonged dry season. The experimental design consisted of a randomized des...

Introduction: Land degradation is a serious environmental problem of our time. In Kenya, it is estimated that 30% of the total land mass is severely degraded. Suswa catchment within Narok County is a good example with gullies of over 25 m deep and 30 m wide. In response to the increasing land degradation in the area, the Sustainable Land Management...

Income diversification has been hailed by some policy-makers as an important ingredient for building pastoral resilience. This study applied the sustainable livelihood approach to establish the determinants of diversification among pastoral households of Turkana and Mandera Counties. In these Counties, 300 and 362 households, respectively, were ide...

This study was carried out in Isiolo and Marsabit Counties of northern Kenya to understand the marketing and profitability potential of Somali camel reared for milk and beef. The study involved a survey where 91 and 120 randomly selected respondents were individually interviewed in Isiolo and Marsabit, respectively using a semi­structured questionn...

Introduction: Production of range grasses under irrigation has been widely adopted in the arid environments of Kenya as a strategy for seasonal forage supply gap. However, their productivity has only been done under conventional methods without an evaluation of their performance at varied soil moisture conditions. This information is needed for mak...

A baseline survey was conducted in Isiolo and Marsabit Counties of northern Kenya to document the acquisition and current management practices of Somali camel keepers. Data collection was done using participatory methodologies i.e. semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and t-tests res...

A study was conducted in three major rivers (Nzoia, Nyando, Sondu) draining the Kenyan side of L. Victoria catchment to establish sources of excess nitrate deposition into the Lake using isotopic techniques and hydrochemistry. Results show spatial variation in isotope signatures with enrichment in δ 15 N and δ 18 O values near towns and industries....

Development of the agricultural crop value chain is an important driver to attract youth into agriculture in Africa, thereby promoting future food security. In most African countries, agriculture is a major contributor to economic growth and youth involvement in agriculture can be a strong determinant of food security as well as job creation leadin...

IntroductionRangelands are important source of pasture for livestock in Kenya since time immemorial to pastoral households. However, seasonality on forage availability has been a big challenge in meeting animals’ feed requirements. This demands harvest and storage of pastures for use during dry seasons. Hay making has been done to bridge this forag...

The enclosure system is an increasingly popular approach for land rehabilitation among communities inhabiting the arid and semi-arid lands in Africa. However, the mixed results associated with its adoption by households call for an in-depth understanding of the management regimes. This study was conducted in Chepareria ward in West Pokot County to...

Dryland livestock production systems are changing in many parts of the world, as a result of growing human populations and associated pressure on water and land. Based on a combination of social and natural science methods, we studied a 30-year transformation process from pastoralism to a livestock-based agro-pastoral system in northwestern Kenya,...

Drylands cover around 40% of the world, host nearly 1/3 of its human population and 50% of the world ́s livestock, and has traditionally been used and managed by pastoralists through communal or common property rights based land tenure systems. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of the total available land is utilized by 265 million pastoral/agro-pastoral...

The adoption and adaptation of enclosures in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of sub-Saharan Africa is driven and sustained by a combination of factors. However, reviews indicate that these factors cannot be generalized, as they tend to be case specific. A study was therefore conducted to explore the history and reasons for enclosure establishment...

Rehabilitating degraded rangelands using enclosures offers various benefits to agro-pastoral households. However, enclosure benefits cannot be generalized as there are variations across dryland ecosystems and societies. This study assessed the qualitative and quantitative benefits derived from rehabilitating degraded rangelands using private enclos...

This study evaluated water use efficiency (WUE) of six range grasses, namely; Chloris roxburghiana, Eragrostis superba, Enteropogon macrostachyus, Cenchrus ciliaris, Chloris gayana, and Sorghum sudanense grown at 80, 50, 30% field capacity (FC) soil moisture contents and rainfed treatment which represented water deficit conditions. The changes in s...

There is a growing concern that climate variability and change, combined with other environmental, social and political pressures, may overwhelm resilience of pastoral systems if local adaptation strategies are not strengthened. Understanding pastoralists' perception of and response to climatic change is necessary for sustainable adaptation strateg...

This study evaluated six grass species in terms of water stress responses by visual quality and living ground cover attributes and the recovery responses post water stress grown at 80, 50, 30% field capacity soil moisture contents. The grass species evaluated were Chloris roxburghiana, Eragrostis superba, Enteropogon macrostachyus, Cenchrus ciliari...

Combating land degradation in the semi-arid rangeland of sub-Saharan Africa is essential to ensure long-term productivity of these environments. In the Lake Baringo Basin in Kenya, communities and individual farmers restored indigenous vegetation inside enclosures in an effort to combat severe land degradation and address their livelihood problems....

Rangeland degradation is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa and its restoration is a challenge for the management of arid and semi-arid areas. In Lake Baringo Basin of Kenya, communities and individual farmers are restoring indigenous vegetation inside enclosures in an effort to combat severe land degradation and address their liveliho...

The impact of community conservation management on a semi-arid savannah herbaceous vegetation and soil nutrient status was studied in the conservation and grazing zones of two community ranches in Laikipia County, Kenya. Land zoning was carried out in 1999 using participatory approaches to demarcate conservation areas excluded from livestock grazin...

Understanding of dietary requirements of different wildlife populations is critical in wildlife habitat conservation especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where wildlife contributes much to the National GDP of many countries. This study was conducted to determine the seasonal (wet/dry) diet profiles of Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles (Gazella Thomson and...

Seed yields of six range grass species grown at 80, 50 and 30% field capacity (FC) soil moisture content and rain fed condition were evaluated. The grasses included Chloris roxburghiana, Eragrostis superba, Enteropogon macrostachyus, Cenchrus ciliaris, Chloris gayana and Sorghum sudanense (Sudan grass). Watered treatments had higher seed yields com...

Seed quality and effects of storage on viability of six range grass species grown at 80, 50 and 30% Field capacity soil water content and rain fed were evaluated. Freshly harvested seeds at week 2 from date of harvest (DOH) had the lowest percent germination. Enteropogon macrostachyus showed low GP (<10%) after 2 weeks storage but at the late incub...

The theory of "resource scarcity" dominates the debate on "ecoviolence" in pastoral areas, where conflicts among communities have traditionally been linked to competition over scarce resources and invariably drought because of its role in resource depletion. However, the notion that climate change and resultant resource scarcity directly prompt vio...

Technology development for assessing and combating land degradation faces various challenges, both in high and low income countries. This paper aims to highlight knowledge gaps on spatio-temporal soil functioning and on efficiency of soil conservation measures: (1) “What are current challenges related to assessing land degradation?”, (2) “What do w...

Understanding where pastoral livestock grazing takes place and how water availability and distribution influences resource use, is critical in planning and management of arid and semi -arid lands. This study was carried out in Mwingi and Kitui districts in Eastern Kenya. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection for five months....

Understanding where pastoral livestock grazing takes place and how water availability and distribution influences resource use, is critical in planning and management of arid and semi -arid lands. This study was carried out in Mwingi and Kitui districts in Eastern Kenya. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection for five months....