Nerica Rice Technology Acquisition through Community Agriculture Development Project in Semi Arid Lands (CADSAL) of Kerio Valley, Kenya

Author(s):  
Rael J. Lagat ◽  
David Bunyatta ◽  
Nicholas Rop

The aim of Community Agriculture Development Project in Semi-Arid Lands (CADSAL) in Kerio valley was to increase agricultural production in the project area and it used Community Participatory Extension (CPE) approach. A survey methodology was utilized in the study with target population of 480 small-scale farmers who interacted with the project in Kerio valley locations. The objective of the study was to determine and compare the level of performance between the CADSAL participants and non-CADSAL participants in knowledge acquired in NERICA technologies in Kerio Valley of Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya. A sample of 160 comprising 80 CADSAL-Participants and 80 Non-CADSAL participants was chosen using simple random sampling.  A structured questionnaire was administered through personal interviews to the respondents at their homes. Descriptive statistics was used to compute percentages, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistics was used which included multiple linear regression and t-test to test the hypothesis at α = 0.05. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for SocialSciences (SPSS) Version 24.0. The result indicated positive acquisition of NERICA technologies by the community using community participatory extension approach. The t-test p-value of less than 0.05 was achieved upon analysis of data which led to rejection of all the null hypothesis. This means further that community extension approach was key in enhancing the level of acquisition of technology by the farmers and hence extension agents need to utilize participatory approach. The study outcome therefore encourages Community participation in the projects meant to increase knowledge of food production in order to increase food production, accessibility and income both in productivity and diversity of production hence sustainability. 

2021 ◽  

This interdisciplinary volume examines how nine arid or semi-arid river basins with thriving irrigated agriculture are doing now and how they may change between now and mid-century. The rivers studied are the Colorado, Euphrates-Tigris, Jucar, Limarí, Murray-Darling, Nile, Rio Grande, São Francisco, and Yellow. Engineered dams and distribution networks brought large benefits to farmers and cities, but now the water systems face multiple challenges, above all climate change, reservoir siltation, and decreased water flows. Unchecked, they will see reduced food production and endanger the economic livelihood of basin populations. The authors suggest how to respond to these challenges without loss of food production, drinking water, or environmental health. The analysis of the political, hydrological, and environmental conditions within each basin gives policymakers, engineers, and researchers interested in the water/sustainability nexus a better understanding of engineered rivers in arid lands.


Author(s):  
Hariyadi DM ◽  
Athiyah U ◽  
Hendradi E ◽  
Rosita N ◽  
Erawati T ◽  
...  

The prevention of Diabetic Mellitus (DM) and its complications is the main aim of this study, in addition to the training of lotion foot care application and the development of small scale industry. The research team delivered knowledge in the form of training on Diabetic Mellitus, healthy food, treatment and prevention of complications, and small-scale production of cosmetic products. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between training on diabetic and lotion foot care application as preventive measures against diabetic complications on the patient's blood glucose levels in the community of residents in Banyuurip Jaya, Surabaya. It was expected from this training that the knowledge of the residents increases and people living with diabetic undergo lifestyle changes and therefore blood sugar levels can be controlled. The parameters measured in this research were blood glucose levels, the anti diabetic drug types consumed, and compliance on diabetics. This study used the data taken from 60 patients with DM over a period of one month. Questionnaires and log books was used to retrieve data and changes in blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. The results showed the demographic data of patients with type 2 diabetic of 85% female and 15% male, with the range of patients aged of 61-70 years of 46.67% and had history of diabetic (90%). The history of drugs consumed by respondents was anti diabetic drugs such as metformin (40%), glimepiride (33.37%) and insulin (6.67%). In addition, the increased knowledge of DM patients after being given the training compared to before training was shown in several questions in the questionnaire. A statistical analysis using t-test analyzed a correlation between training provided in order to enhance understanding of the patient, as well as correlation with blood glucose levels. A paired T-test showed that there was a relationship between the knowledge of trainees before and after training (p less than 0.05). An interesting result was that there was no relationship between blood glucose levels before and after training provided (p> 0.05).


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Green ◽  
◽  
F. Paul Bertetti ◽  
Beth Fratesi ◽  
Nathaniel J. Toll

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-115
Author(s):  
Chungmann Kim ◽  
Peter Goldsmith

Background: The ability for women to operate as food entrepreneurs presents opportunities to leverage at-home production technologies that not only support family nutrition but also generate income. To these ends, the Feed the Future Malawi Agriculture Diversification Activity recently launched a development project involving a new technology, the Soy Kit. The Activity, a USAID (United States Agency for International Development) funded effort, sought to improve nutrition utilizing an underutilized local and highly nutritious feedstuff, soybean, through a woman’s entrepreneurship scheme. Objective: The USAID funded effort provides the overarching research question, whether the Soy Kit is a sustainable technology for delivering nutrition and income through a women’s entrepreneurship scheme. If true, then development practitioners will have a valuable tool, and the associated evidence, to address the important crosscutting themes, of nutrition, poverty, entrepreneurship, and women’s empowerment. To answer this research question, the research team first evaluates the underlying production economics of the kit to measure profitability, return on investment, and operational performance. Second, the team qualitatively and quantitatively assesses the kit’s overall appropriateness as a technology for the developing world. Methods: The team follows the schema of Bower and Brown and utilizes descriptive statistics, and financial techniques to conduct an assessment of the economics and technical appropriateness of the Soy Kit technology. Results: The results show a high level of appropriateness across a number of metrics. For example, the payback period from cash flow is under 6 months and the annual return on capital is 163% when entrepreneurs utilize a domestically sourced kit valued at US$80. Conclusion: The technology matches well with the rhythm of household economy, in particular women’s labor availability and resource base. Businesses earn significant returns on capital thus appear to be sustainable without donor subsidy. At the same time, available capital to finance kit entrepreneurs appears to be scarce. More research needs to take place to address the credit access question, in order to make small-scale kit entrepreneur truly self-reliant; the effects on poverty reduction at the household and village level; and nutrition improvement among the consumers.


2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis Holloway

AbstractThis paper focuses on the positioning of animals other than human in the texts and practices of two versions of small-scale food "self-sufficiency" in Britain. The paper discusses the writings of Cobbett (1822/1926, 1830/1985) and Seymour (1960s/1970s) on self-sufficiency, suggesting that livestock animals are central, in a number of ways, to the constitution of these modes of self-sufficiency. First, animals are situated in both the texts and in the practicing of self-sufficiency regarded as essential parts of the economies and ecologies of small-scale food production. Second, animals' parts in these authors' criticisms of wider social, economic and political conditions supplement their role in small-scale domestic food supply. Animals become associated with a morality of human behavior and lifestyle and are part of the broader social critiques that the writing and practicing of these modes of self-sufficiency imply. These historically and geographically specific versions of self-sufficiency are valuable in defining and enacting possible alternative modes of human-animal relation in the context of food production.


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