This paper reports on findings of a study to examine the sources used by farmers in search of agricultural information on striga and/or stemborers control technologies and factors that influence acquisition of such information in Western Kenya region. A random sample of 476 households in Suba...

Although soil fertility is recognized as a primary constraint to agricultural production in developing countries, use of fertilizer in Sub-Saharan Africa is declining. Smallholder farmers still rely heavily on livestock manure for soil fertility management. To explore the determinants of soil...

Over the years, substantial investments in agricultural research have been made in sub-Saharan Africa. The few studies on research investments show impressive returns that are comparable to those achieved in developed countries. However, problems such as recurrent hunger, poverty, food...

Indicators of poverty in western Kenya show high poverty levels. The area has low dairy development yet the potential for dairy development is quite high. Dairy farming has the potential to reduce poverty by increasing incomes and reducing unemployment. This paper reports factor...

This paper analyses the effect of non-credit services of joint liability credit institutions on smallholder women beekeepers’ honey income. The non-credit services offered to the beekeepers are mainly enterprise development services (training on marketing, business, production and subsector...

Financing smallholder farming has been one of the major concerns of Kenya’s development efforts. Many credit programs have evolved over the years but with dismal performance. In a study that sought to find the best way to fund smallholder agriculture, it became necessary to analyze and...

Smallholder farmer access to agricultural finance has been a major constraint to agricultural commercialization in developing countries. The ICT revolution in Africa has however brought an opportunity to ease this constraint. The mobile phone-based banking services that started in Kenya urban...

The rising world prices for major tradable staples such as maize have been a concern for sub- Saharan countries such as Kenya which are maize deficit countries. Maize is a major staple food for over 80 percent of Kenya’s population. Kenya relies on maize for up to 40 percent of its dietary...

The East African Customs Union was established in 2005 with the aim of increasing intraregional trade. The Customs Union protocol commits member states to eliminate non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to intraregional trade. However, several NTBs are still applied by member states. This study identifies...

The increasing land scarcity and the worsening trend of poverty in Kenya in recent years have raised concerns about the focus on land-based agriculture as the basis of growth in the rural areas. This paper combines two complementary data sets obtained from two locations in Kenya, drawn against...