Maize is the major food crop in Kenya, where 2.4 million tons are produced yearly for 28.6 millio... more Maize is the major food crop in Kenya, where 2.4 million tons are produced yearly for 28.6 million people (85 kg/person). Population is growing rapidly (2.9%/year) and the increased population pressure on the land has resulted in increased pest pressure on crops. Stem borer is one of the most important pests of maize. Previous research with artificial infestation established clear links between incidence or damage factors and yield losses These results cannot be extrapolated to estimate crop losses under natural infestation, although it is precisely those estimates that are needed in order to estimate impact and to set research and extension priorities.
Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistan... more Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce grain losses due to insect pests. As part of incorporating farmer’s perceptions and improving the adoption of the developed varieties, participatory approaches are adopted. The paper analysis farmer’s preferences of maize germplasm developed through conventional breeding. The paper uses data collected from evaluations conducted at the end of 2006 April and October rains. Nine stem borer resistant maize varieties were evaluated alongside six commercial checks in the moist transitional zones (East and West) at vegetative and harvest stage, while in the dry transitional zone and dry mid altitude zones, 6 new varieties were evaluated together with four commercial checks at harvest stage. Each variety was assessed on a scale of 1(very poor) to 5 (very good) based on key criteria generated in earlier group discussions with farmers and overall score. Data was analyze...
Lack of access to nutritious food is an underlying and major cause of child mortality in Africa. ... more Lack of access to nutritious food is an underlying and major cause of child mortality in Africa. Improving the nutritional quality of food crops, through biofortification, would be a useful complementary strategy to other agricultural and public health interventions. Quality Protein Maize (QPM) varieties have been developed through biofortification. Consumption of these varieties leads to greater protein utilisation in adults
The paper analyses sensory attributes and acceptability of KH631Q and WSQ104, Quality Protein Mai... more The paper analyses sensory attributes and acceptability of KH631Q and WSQ104, Quality Protein Maize varieties (QPM) and H513 and Embu Composite (EMCO) conventional varieties in the preparation of local food, githeri. KH631Q and H513 are commercial hybrids, while WSQ104 and EMCO are Open Pollinated Varieties (OPVs). The evaluations were conducted in November and December 2007 in one rural and two urban communities in Embu district, Eastern Kenya. 131 participants evaluated samples of each of the four treatments that were presented in randomized order, generated through a balanced design. The samples were evaluated on a Likert scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good) on three attributes namely appearance, taste and texture. Overall score of the samples was also done. Ordinal regression model was used to analyse the data. There were differences (P<0.05) in the sensory attributes of the samples. Samples of WSQ104 were more preferred to H513, the control. There were no differences in preferences between men and women. Similarly, preferences for the samples did not vary by age. Appearance, taste, and texture were all important in determining the overall evaluation. The study suggests that evaluation by an expert panel to explore more detailed criteria be done. It further suggests that conventional varieties should be compared with their QPM converted counterpart where possible to isolate the effect of QPM.
Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s t... more Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s to over 2 tonnes in 1982, they fell below 1.5 t ha-1 in 2000. Given the limited land area, there is no doubt that Kenya will have to rely more on modern technologies for increased yields .Use of improved maize varieties
Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 2011
Maize is the major staple food for most Kenyan households, and is grown in almost all agro-ecolog... more Maize is the major staple food for most Kenyan households, and is grown in almost all agro-ecological zones. To assure that new technologies fit farmers' needs and conditions, Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) were undertaken in the moist transitional zone of Eastern Kenya, as part of a nationwide study. The results of group discussions in five communities of the zone show that farmers grow a wide range of varieties. Eleven improved varieties were grown, the most popular being Makueni, an improved Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) (grown by 71% of the farmers), followed by Pioneer hybrid PHB3253 (57%), and Kenya Seed Company's hybrids for the mid-altitudes: H511 (50%) and H512 (30%). A third of the farmers (31%) grow local varieties. To select their maize varieties, farmers reported 14 criteria, especially high yield, early maturity, tolerance to weevils, and good yield in both rainy seasons. The two major constraints were a cash constraint (to purchase inputs), low or erratic rainfall, low technical knowledge, the high cost of seed, low soil fertility and stem borers. Stem borers were by far the most important pest, ranked in the top three by all groups, followed by chaffer grubs, squirrels, termites and weevils. Indigenous control methods are the most popular, with only a quarter of farmers using chemical control. Farmers estimate that stem borer infestation decreases yields by 33 to 80%, and would be very interested in resistant varieties. The liberalization of the seed market has clearly been successful in the study zone, and the number of stockists and available new varieties increasing fast. However, seed quality and the lack of control is a major concern, as is the lack of credit.
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. ... more The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana Sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite CIMMYT maize inbred line (CML216) and tested in insect bioassays in Kenya. Participatory Rural Appraisals showed that stem
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2014
Undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa remains problematic, and quality protein maize (QPM) can ben... more Undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa remains problematic, and quality protein maize (QPM) can benefit populations whose diets are heavily based on maize and who are consequently at risk for inadequate intakes of quality protein. However, changes in the chemical composition of QPM may affect its sensory characteristics and, hence, acceptance. Acceptance tests were therefore conducted to evaluate QPM varieties in three East African countries using central location tests with one or two varieties in each country, using the most popular preparations: ugali (Tanzania), githeri (Kenya) and injera (Ethiopia). In total, 281 urban and rural consumers of both sexes and varying levels of education evaluated the products on standard sensory criteria: appearance, aroma, texture, taste and overall, using a Likert scale. The results show that African consumers can differentiate QPM products from their conventional counterparts, indicating that the QPM trait results in distinguishable sensory changes. Analysis by ordinal mixed regression models showed that consumers found QPM acceptable and even preferable to conventional maize. The sensory characteristics of QPM are therefore no impediment to its adoption; on the contrary, when coupled with good agronomic performance, they may help its utilization, leading to a positive impact in nutritionally vulnerable populations.
Maize is the staple food crop and source of income for majority of the Kenyan population and many... more Maize is the staple food crop and source of income for majority of the Kenyan population and many sub-Saharan African countries. The increasing Kenyan population demands an increase in maize production if intermittent food deficits have to be averted. Since the ...
Maize is the most important food crop in Kenya. However, the poor rate of adoption of new varieti... more Maize is the most important food crop in Kenya. However, the poor rate of adoption of new varieties has been attributed in part to the poor interaction between breeders and farmers. An on-farm trial design methodology, known as "Mother and Baby Trials", was used to evaluate thirty new elite maize hybrids using farmer participatory methods at three sites located in Embu and Muranga Districts during the long rains of 2001. The varieties were evaluated in a mother trial using criteria generated by farmers during Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA). There was no particular new maize variety that was consistently identified by farmers as better than the two local checks, PHB3253 and H513, across the three sites. In Makengi, Embu District, two new maize varieties were statistically better than PHB3253 and 11 were better than H513. In Ndunduri and Wangu in Embu and Muranga Districts, respectively, there were notable differences between some new maize varieties and the local chec...
Attitudes and perceptions of stakeholders are crucial in the acceptability of GM foods. Past rese... more Attitudes and perceptions of stakeholders are crucial in the acceptability of GM foods. Past research focussed on consumers, but paid little attention to the food industry and its gatekeepers, especially in Africa. Therefore, a survey was conducted covering 39 respondents from the milling industry and supermarkets, the main processors and distributors of maize products, in seven urban centres of Kenya. Respondents, mostly from senior management, were well educated and had a good knowledge of biotechnology. Their major sources of information were the media for the supermarkets, and brochures and the food industry for the milling companies. Respondents generally appreciated the benefits of biotechnology, but had concerns about the environment, although few people considered GM food harmful to human or animal health. Most respondents found traceability of GM products important, but would prefer not to label them because of the costs and possible negative consumer reactions. Respondents were largely non-committal on the use of GM products in their companies, preferring to decide on a case-by-case basis. The few negative responses, mostly from the milling industry, were affected by high risk and low benefit perceptions. Most respondents do not like the idea of labelling GM food. Better communication between research and the food industry is now needed, and more research on the labelling of GM products.
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. ... more The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite CIMMYT maize inbred line (CML216) and tested in insect bioassays in Kenya. Participatory Rural Appraisals showed that stem borers are indeed major pest problems for farmers. Four seasons of on-farm crop loss assessment showed an average crop loss of 13.5%, or 0.4 million tons, valued at US$ 80 million. If the project manages to find a Bt gene that is effective to the fifth stemborer, Busseola fusca, adoption rates are likely to be high, and therefore the returns. Under standard assumptions, the economic surplus of the project is calculated at $ 208 million over 25 years (66% of which is consumer surplus) as compared to a cost of $5.7 million. Geographically, the project should focus on the high production moist-transitional zone. However, if such gene cannot be found, Bt maize technology would only be effective in the low potential areas, and adoption rates would be fairly low, although benefits would still exceed costs.
Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistan... more Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce grain losses due to insect pests. As part of incorporating farmer's perceptions and improving the adoption of the developed varieties, participatory approaches are adopted. The paper analysis farmer's preferences of maize germplasm developed through conventional breeding. The paper uses data collected from evaluations conducted at the end of 2006 April and October rains season. Nine stem borer resistant maize varieties were evaluated alongside six commercial checks in the moist transitional zones (East and West) at taselling and harvest stage, while in the dry transitional zone and dry mid altitude zones, 6 new varieties were evaluated together with four commercial checks at harvest stage. Each variety was assessed on a scale of 1(very poor) to 5 (very good) based on key criteria generated in earlier group discussions with farmers and overall score. Data was analyzed using ordinal regression model of Social Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). At Katumani in the DT zone, CKIR06007 and CKIR06008 were more preferred to the checks based on overall score. CKIR06008 was also more preferred on yield and tolerance to insect pest criteria, while CKIR04002, CKIR06009, and CKIR04003 were perceived more superior to local check based on tolerance to insect pests. In the DM altitude zone, CKIR06008 was better on yield attribute. Three varieties namely CKIR04002, CKIR06007, CKIR06009 were superior on stem borer tolerance attribute. In moist transitional zone Embu only CKIR06005 was more preferred (p<0.01) to the check at harvest stage in April 2006 and October rains season based on early maturity. While there was no preference for the new varieties at vegetative stage in Embu in October rains 2006 season, a number of new varieties CKIR06001, CKIR06002, CKIR06003, CKIR06004, and CKIR06005 were more preferred based on early maturity at harvest in October rains 2006 season. In the moist transitional zone (west) CKIR06004 had good attributes in terms of cob size at taselling stage in April rains 2006. We conclude that farmers perceive some varieties to have good tolerance to insect pests in addition to good yield and maturity characteristics attributes, which are critical to the farmers in the adoption of new varieties.
This paper uses a random sample of 881 farmers drawn from eastern and western Kenya to examine th... more This paper uses a random sample of 881 farmers drawn from eastern and western Kenya to examine the prevalence and drivers of seed and pollen mediated geneflow in the two major sorghum growing regions. It employs both qualitative and quantitative techniques to assess farmers' awareness of wild sorghum varieties, the practices they use in maintaining varietal purity and the conditioners of their success in maintaining the purity of cultivated varieties. The study finds that, among others, cultural differences, agroclimate and poverty affect the awareness, practices used in maintaining varietal purity and farmers' success in doing so. These findings have implication for biosafety and policy in Kenya due to the clamour to introduce genetically modified bio-fortified sorghum varieties in Africa.
The maize green revolution, which increased maize yields through the use of improved varieties an... more The maize green revolution, which increased maize yields through the use of improved varieties and fertilizer, has stalled since the mid-eighties in Kenya. This paper examines whether the stagnation of yields continued in the 1990s in spite of the implementation of the maize liberalization ...
... pp. 401-406 DIRECT ESTIMATION OF MAIZE CROP LOSSES DUE TO STEM BORERS IN KENYA, PRELIMINARY R... more ... pp. 401-406 DIRECT ESTIMATION OF MAIZE CROP LOSSES DUE TO STEM BORERS IN KENYA, PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM 2000 AND 2001 Hugo De Groote1, Charles Bett2, James Ouma Okuro3, Martins Odendo4, Lawrence Mose5, and Elizabeth ... Paul, Minnesota. ...
... Murithi Wilfred Mwangi Hugo Verkuijl Macharia Gethi Hugo De Groote* October 2002 *JO Ouma and... more ... Murithi Wilfred Mwangi Hugo Verkuijl Macharia Gethi Hugo De Groote* October 2002 *JO Ouma and FM Murithis are Agricultural Economists at the Kenya International Research Institute (KARI), Embu, and KARI headquarters in Kenya. ...
Maize is the major food crop in Kenya, where 2.4 million tons are produced yearly for 28.6 millio... more Maize is the major food crop in Kenya, where 2.4 million tons are produced yearly for 28.6 million people (85 kg/person). Population is growing rapidly (2.9%/year) and the increased population pressure on the land has resulted in increased pest pressure on crops. Stem borer is one of the most important pests of maize. Previous research with artificial infestation established clear links between incidence or damage factors and yield losses These results cannot be extrapolated to estimate crop losses under natural infestation, although it is precisely those estimates that are needed in order to estimate impact and to set research and extension priorities.
Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistan... more Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce grain losses due to insect pests. As part of incorporating farmer’s perceptions and improving the adoption of the developed varieties, participatory approaches are adopted. The paper analysis farmer’s preferences of maize germplasm developed through conventional breeding. The paper uses data collected from evaluations conducted at the end of 2006 April and October rains. Nine stem borer resistant maize varieties were evaluated alongside six commercial checks in the moist transitional zones (East and West) at vegetative and harvest stage, while in the dry transitional zone and dry mid altitude zones, 6 new varieties were evaluated together with four commercial checks at harvest stage. Each variety was assessed on a scale of 1(very poor) to 5 (very good) based on key criteria generated in earlier group discussions with farmers and overall score. Data was analyze...
Lack of access to nutritious food is an underlying and major cause of child mortality in Africa. ... more Lack of access to nutritious food is an underlying and major cause of child mortality in Africa. Improving the nutritional quality of food crops, through biofortification, would be a useful complementary strategy to other agricultural and public health interventions. Quality Protein Maize (QPM) varieties have been developed through biofortification. Consumption of these varieties leads to greater protein utilisation in adults
The paper analyses sensory attributes and acceptability of KH631Q and WSQ104, Quality Protein Mai... more The paper analyses sensory attributes and acceptability of KH631Q and WSQ104, Quality Protein Maize varieties (QPM) and H513 and Embu Composite (EMCO) conventional varieties in the preparation of local food, githeri. KH631Q and H513 are commercial hybrids, while WSQ104 and EMCO are Open Pollinated Varieties (OPVs). The evaluations were conducted in November and December 2007 in one rural and two urban communities in Embu district, Eastern Kenya. 131 participants evaluated samples of each of the four treatments that were presented in randomized order, generated through a balanced design. The samples were evaluated on a Likert scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good) on three attributes namely appearance, taste and texture. Overall score of the samples was also done. Ordinal regression model was used to analyse the data. There were differences (P<0.05) in the sensory attributes of the samples. Samples of WSQ104 were more preferred to H513, the control. There were no differences in preferences between men and women. Similarly, preferences for the samples did not vary by age. Appearance, taste, and texture were all important in determining the overall evaluation. The study suggests that evaluation by an expert panel to explore more detailed criteria be done. It further suggests that conventional varieties should be compared with their QPM converted counterpart where possible to isolate the effect of QPM.
Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s t... more Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s to over 2 tonnes in 1982, they fell below 1.5 t ha-1 in 2000. Given the limited land area, there is no doubt that Kenya will have to rely more on modern technologies for increased yields .Use of improved maize varieties
Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 2011
Maize is the major staple food for most Kenyan households, and is grown in almost all agro-ecolog... more Maize is the major staple food for most Kenyan households, and is grown in almost all agro-ecological zones. To assure that new technologies fit farmers' needs and conditions, Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) were undertaken in the moist transitional zone of Eastern Kenya, as part of a nationwide study. The results of group discussions in five communities of the zone show that farmers grow a wide range of varieties. Eleven improved varieties were grown, the most popular being Makueni, an improved Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) (grown by 71% of the farmers), followed by Pioneer hybrid PHB3253 (57%), and Kenya Seed Company's hybrids for the mid-altitudes: H511 (50%) and H512 (30%). A third of the farmers (31%) grow local varieties. To select their maize varieties, farmers reported 14 criteria, especially high yield, early maturity, tolerance to weevils, and good yield in both rainy seasons. The two major constraints were a cash constraint (to purchase inputs), low or erratic rainfall, low technical knowledge, the high cost of seed, low soil fertility and stem borers. Stem borers were by far the most important pest, ranked in the top three by all groups, followed by chaffer grubs, squirrels, termites and weevils. Indigenous control methods are the most popular, with only a quarter of farmers using chemical control. Farmers estimate that stem borer infestation decreases yields by 33 to 80%, and would be very interested in resistant varieties. The liberalization of the seed market has clearly been successful in the study zone, and the number of stockists and available new varieties increasing fast. However, seed quality and the lack of control is a major concern, as is the lack of credit.
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. ... more The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana Sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite CIMMYT maize inbred line (CML216) and tested in insect bioassays in Kenya. Participatory Rural Appraisals showed that stem
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2014
Undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa remains problematic, and quality protein maize (QPM) can ben... more Undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa remains problematic, and quality protein maize (QPM) can benefit populations whose diets are heavily based on maize and who are consequently at risk for inadequate intakes of quality protein. However, changes in the chemical composition of QPM may affect its sensory characteristics and, hence, acceptance. Acceptance tests were therefore conducted to evaluate QPM varieties in three East African countries using central location tests with one or two varieties in each country, using the most popular preparations: ugali (Tanzania), githeri (Kenya) and injera (Ethiopia). In total, 281 urban and rural consumers of both sexes and varying levels of education evaluated the products on standard sensory criteria: appearance, aroma, texture, taste and overall, using a Likert scale. The results show that African consumers can differentiate QPM products from their conventional counterparts, indicating that the QPM trait results in distinguishable sensory changes. Analysis by ordinal mixed regression models showed that consumers found QPM acceptable and even preferable to conventional maize. The sensory characteristics of QPM are therefore no impediment to its adoption; on the contrary, when coupled with good agronomic performance, they may help its utilization, leading to a positive impact in nutritionally vulnerable populations.
Maize is the staple food crop and source of income for majority of the Kenyan population and many... more Maize is the staple food crop and source of income for majority of the Kenyan population and many sub-Saharan African countries. The increasing Kenyan population demands an increase in maize production if intermittent food deficits have to be averted. Since the ...
Maize is the most important food crop in Kenya. However, the poor rate of adoption of new varieti... more Maize is the most important food crop in Kenya. However, the poor rate of adoption of new varieties has been attributed in part to the poor interaction between breeders and farmers. An on-farm trial design methodology, known as "Mother and Baby Trials", was used to evaluate thirty new elite maize hybrids using farmer participatory methods at three sites located in Embu and Muranga Districts during the long rains of 2001. The varieties were evaluated in a mother trial using criteria generated by farmers during Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA). There was no particular new maize variety that was consistently identified by farmers as better than the two local checks, PHB3253 and H513, across the three sites. In Makengi, Embu District, two new maize varieties were statistically better than PHB3253 and 11 were better than H513. In Ndunduri and Wangu in Embu and Muranga Districts, respectively, there were notable differences between some new maize varieties and the local chec...
Attitudes and perceptions of stakeholders are crucial in the acceptability of GM foods. Past rese... more Attitudes and perceptions of stakeholders are crucial in the acceptability of GM foods. Past research focussed on consumers, but paid little attention to the food industry and its gatekeepers, especially in Africa. Therefore, a survey was conducted covering 39 respondents from the milling industry and supermarkets, the main processors and distributors of maize products, in seven urban centres of Kenya. Respondents, mostly from senior management, were well educated and had a good knowledge of biotechnology. Their major sources of information were the media for the supermarkets, and brochures and the food industry for the milling companies. Respondents generally appreciated the benefits of biotechnology, but had concerns about the environment, although few people considered GM food harmful to human or animal health. Most respondents found traceability of GM products important, but would prefer not to label them because of the costs and possible negative consumer reactions. Respondents were largely non-committal on the use of GM products in their companies, preferring to decide on a case-by-case basis. The few negative responses, mostly from the milling industry, were affected by high risk and low benefit perceptions. Most respondents do not like the idea of labelling GM food. Better communication between research and the food industry is now needed, and more research on the labelling of GM products.
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. ... more The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite CIMMYT maize inbred line (CML216) and tested in insect bioassays in Kenya. Participatory Rural Appraisals showed that stem borers are indeed major pest problems for farmers. Four seasons of on-farm crop loss assessment showed an average crop loss of 13.5%, or 0.4 million tons, valued at US$ 80 million. If the project manages to find a Bt gene that is effective to the fifth stemborer, Busseola fusca, adoption rates are likely to be high, and therefore the returns. Under standard assumptions, the economic surplus of the project is calculated at $ 208 million over 25 years (66% of which is consumer surplus) as compared to a cost of $5.7 million. Geographically, the project should focus on the high production moist-transitional zone. However, if such gene cannot be found, Bt maize technology would only be effective in the low potential areas, and adoption rates would be fairly low, although benefits would still exceed costs.
Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistan... more Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project (IRMA) aims at developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce grain losses due to insect pests. As part of incorporating farmer's perceptions and improving the adoption of the developed varieties, participatory approaches are adopted. The paper analysis farmer's preferences of maize germplasm developed through conventional breeding. The paper uses data collected from evaluations conducted at the end of 2006 April and October rains season. Nine stem borer resistant maize varieties were evaluated alongside six commercial checks in the moist transitional zones (East and West) at taselling and harvest stage, while in the dry transitional zone and dry mid altitude zones, 6 new varieties were evaluated together with four commercial checks at harvest stage. Each variety was assessed on a scale of 1(very poor) to 5 (very good) based on key criteria generated in earlier group discussions with farmers and overall score. Data was analyzed using ordinal regression model of Social Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). At Katumani in the DT zone, CKIR06007 and CKIR06008 were more preferred to the checks based on overall score. CKIR06008 was also more preferred on yield and tolerance to insect pest criteria, while CKIR04002, CKIR06009, and CKIR04003 were perceived more superior to local check based on tolerance to insect pests. In the DM altitude zone, CKIR06008 was better on yield attribute. Three varieties namely CKIR04002, CKIR06007, CKIR06009 were superior on stem borer tolerance attribute. In moist transitional zone Embu only CKIR06005 was more preferred (p<0.01) to the check at harvest stage in April 2006 and October rains season based on early maturity. While there was no preference for the new varieties at vegetative stage in Embu in October rains 2006 season, a number of new varieties CKIR06001, CKIR06002, CKIR06003, CKIR06004, and CKIR06005 were more preferred based on early maturity at harvest in October rains 2006 season. In the moist transitional zone (west) CKIR06004 had good attributes in terms of cob size at taselling stage in April rains 2006. We conclude that farmers perceive some varieties to have good tolerance to insect pests in addition to good yield and maturity characteristics attributes, which are critical to the farmers in the adoption of new varieties.
This paper uses a random sample of 881 farmers drawn from eastern and western Kenya to examine th... more This paper uses a random sample of 881 farmers drawn from eastern and western Kenya to examine the prevalence and drivers of seed and pollen mediated geneflow in the two major sorghum growing regions. It employs both qualitative and quantitative techniques to assess farmers' awareness of wild sorghum varieties, the practices they use in maintaining varietal purity and the conditioners of their success in maintaining the purity of cultivated varieties. The study finds that, among others, cultural differences, agroclimate and poverty affect the awareness, practices used in maintaining varietal purity and farmers' success in doing so. These findings have implication for biosafety and policy in Kenya due to the clamour to introduce genetically modified bio-fortified sorghum varieties in Africa.
The maize green revolution, which increased maize yields through the use of improved varieties an... more The maize green revolution, which increased maize yields through the use of improved varieties and fertilizer, has stalled since the mid-eighties in Kenya. This paper examines whether the stagnation of yields continued in the 1990s in spite of the implementation of the maize liberalization ...
... pp. 401-406 DIRECT ESTIMATION OF MAIZE CROP LOSSES DUE TO STEM BORERS IN KENYA, PRELIMINARY R... more ... pp. 401-406 DIRECT ESTIMATION OF MAIZE CROP LOSSES DUE TO STEM BORERS IN KENYA, PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM 2000 AND 2001 Hugo De Groote1, Charles Bett2, James Ouma Okuro3, Martins Odendo4, Lawrence Mose5, and Elizabeth ... Paul, Minnesota. ...
... Murithi Wilfred Mwangi Hugo Verkuijl Macharia Gethi Hugo De Groote* October 2002 *JO Ouma and... more ... Murithi Wilfred Mwangi Hugo Verkuijl Macharia Gethi Hugo De Groote* October 2002 *JO Ouma and FM Murithis are Agricultural Economists at the Kenya International Research Institute (KARI), Embu, and KARI headquarters in Kenya. ...
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