During participatory rural appraisals, farmers at the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya and Uganda identified Striga, stemborer and declining soil fertility as three major constraints to maize production To reduce food insecurity, several innovative integrated technologies to address these...

The major biotic constraints to the production of maize, the major staple food in Western Kenya, are field pests such as "Striga" and stem borers, and low soil fertility. To counter these constraints, new cropping systems have been developed, including "push-pull," rotations with promiscuous...

Striga is an obligate parasitic weed that attacks cereal crops in sub-Saharan Africa. In Western Kenya, it has been identified by farmers as their major pest problem in maize. A new technology, consisting of coating seed of imidazolinone resistant (IR) maize varieties with the imidazolinone...

Striga is an obligate parasitic weed attacking cereal crops in Subsaharan Africa. In Western Kenya, it is identified by farmers as their major pest problem in maize. A new technology, consisting of seed coating of herbicide tolerant maize varieties, has prove to be very effective in farmer...

Commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council and prepared as a Background Paper for the 2008 World Development Report of the World Bank.

A three-season research study was conducted at Embu Agricultural Research Station farm to determine the effect of glyphosate-based herbicides on weeds management and maize (Zea mays L.) performance under zero-tillage conservation agriculture practice. Glyphosate herbicide sprays were prepared...

The Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of the International Centre of Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT) introduced dual purpose soybean varieties in south-west Kenya both to improve soil fertility by nitrogen fixation and to provide a source of better food and income. Since the start...

We analyze the adoption of mineral fertilizer in South-Kivu. We model technology adoption as a three-step-process, including awareness, tryout, and adoption; and empirically analyze these steps using cross-sectional farm-household data, and bivariate and Heckman selection probit models. We find...