Effect of Farming Practices on Wetlands of Kisii District, Kenya

Mironga, John Momanyi

doi:10.15666/aeer/0302_081091

“…Given the overwhelming interest in developing eco-tourism, it seems important to develop other alternative economic activities that could reduce resource use. Several authors recommend promoting ecotourism projects to decrease the pressure on wetlands (Mironga 2005;Ambastha et al 2007;Nyakaana 2008), but extreme care should be taken because ecotourism development could have significant drawbacks in a fragile environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-Economic Stakes and Perceptions of Wetland Management in an Arid Region: A Case Study from Chott Merouane, Algeria

Demnati

¹

,

Allache

²

,

Ernoul

³

et al. 2012

AMBIO

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The objective of our study was to identify how actors from the main socio-economic sectors perceive their interactions and impacts on a sensitive wetland in an arid climate, specifically the salt pans of Chott Merouane in Algeria. The results revealed that there are three main economic stakes including agriculture, livestock production and salt mining, each activity providing a great benefit for local and national populations. The local population perceived that the current activities are conducted in such a way that they created conflict between socio-economic sectors and caused a threat for long term sustainability of the wetlands. The results highlighted the need to initiate an integrated management approach between the different sectors and to develop a shared vision for the territory.

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“…We asked the respondents whether they had noticed any changes in river levels over the years and summarized their responses as shown in [33] observation that most wetlands were seriously under threat. …”

Section: Changes In River Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impact of Climate Variability on Food Security in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisii County

Samwel¹,

Abutto²,

Otieno³

2018

Preprint

1

0

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Climate variability and change has been found to be one of the factors that affect economies leading to food insecurity in various parts of the world. Kenya is no exception. This study looks at how climate variability has contributed to food insecurity in Kisii County, Kenya. The objectives of this study is therefore to, (i) to examine the rainfall and temperature trends in Kisii County for a period of 30 years, (ii) to examine the effect of climate variability on food production and (iii) to assess the perception of local farmers on weather and climate information, (iv) to evaluate the coping strategies adopted at household level to bridge the gap on food deficit and (v) to assess the nutritional status of children and the elderly in Kisii County. The study was conducted in the larger Kisii County. The data used was mainly rainfall and temperature data from meteorological stations and sample data gathered from selected groups. The study population comprised of children between 6 months and 59 months, household heads, elderly people and agricultural officers. Purposive sampling was used to select agricultural officers while multistage sampling was used to select respondents at household level. Primary data was collected by use of a pre-tested questionnaire. The MUAC tape was used to collect nutritional status of children while BMI data was obtained from elderly people. Mann Kendall statistic was used to determine whether the trend of rainfall and temperature observed is significant while Chi-square test was used to determine whether the coping strategies observed varied significantly at household level. From the analysis, rainfall has not shown any significant change in Kisii County while temperature trend has been significantly increasing over the years at 95% confidence level. This could explain the observed reduction in river levels. Analysis of crop production and price trends of major food crops in Kisii County showed a decreasing trend of food production leading to increase in price over the years. This meant that farmers could not produce enough to take them to the next harvesting season making farmers to adopt different coping strategies at household level which differed significantly according to Chi-Square test. Malnutrition status of both elderly people above 59 years and children between 6-59 months were similar with 23% of both children/elderly being severely malnourished/malnourished. This study has only looked at climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature. Other aspects such as depth of underground water, ph level of soil and the effects of land fragmentation also need to be looked at. This study is important to both farmers in choosing the right crop to plant, and policy makers and planners in formulating the best mitigation and intervention strategies for Kisii County food insecurity problem. This will further contribute to national efforts towards achievement of vision 2030. 3 that temperatures were projected to increase at a rate of 0.3/0.4 0 C/decade under RCP4.5/8.5 scenarios ...

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“…Most of these farmers could not acquire white color jobs and were already having families. This explains why majority went into farming [31,33].…”

Section: Gender Distribution Of the Respondentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impact of Climate Variability on Food Security in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisii County

Samwel¹,

Abutto²,

Otieno³

2018

J Earth Sci Clim Change

1

0

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Climate variability and change has been found to be one of the factors that affect economies leading to food insecurity in various parts of the world. Kenya is no exception. This study looks at how climate variability has contributed to food insecurity in Kisii County, Kenya. The objectives of this study is therefore to, (i) to examine the rainfall and temperature trends in Kisii County for a period of 30 years, (ii) to examine the effect of climate variability on food production and (iii) to assess the perception of local farmers on weather and climate information, (iv) to evaluate the coping strategies adopted at household level to bridge the gap on food deficit and (v) to assess the nutritional status of children and the elderly in Kisii County. The study was conducted in the larger Kisii County. The data used was mainly rainfall and temperature data from meteorological stations and sample data gathered from selected groups. The study population comprised of children between 6 months and 59 months, household heads, elderly people and agricultural officers. Purposive sampling was used to select agricultural officers while multistage sampling was used to select respondents at household level. Primary data was collected by use of a pre-tested questionnaire. The MUAC tape was used to collect nutritional status of children while BMI data was obtained from elderly people. Mann Kendall statistic was used to determine whether the trend of rainfall and temperature observed is significant while Chi-square test was used to determine whether the coping strategies observed varied significantly at household level. From the analysis, rainfall has not shown any significant change in Kisii County while temperature trend has been significantly increasing over the years at 95% confidence level. This could explain the observed reduction in river levels. Analysis of crop production and price trends of major food crops in Kisii County showed a decreasing trend of food production leading to increase in price over the years. This meant that farmers could not produce enough to take them to the next harvesting season making farmers to adopt different coping strategies at household level which differed significantly according to Chi-Square test. Malnutrition status of both elderly people above 59 years and children between 6-59 months were similar with 23% of both children/elderly being severely malnourished/malnourished. This study has only looked at climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature. Other aspects such as depth of underground water, ph level of soil and the effects of land fragmentation also need to be looked at. This study is important to both farmers in choosing the right crop to plant, and policy makers and planners in formulating the best mitigation and intervention strategies for Kisii County food insecurity problem. This will further contribute to national efforts towards achievement of vision 2030.

show abstract

Effect of Farming Practices on Wetlands of Kisii District, Kenya

Cited by 16 publications

References 17 publications

Socio-Economic Stakes and Perceptions of Wetland Management in an Arid Region: A Case Study from Chott Merouane, Algeria

Socio-Economic Stakes and Perceptions of Wetland Management in an Arid Region: A Case Study from Chott Merouane, Algeria

Assessing the Impact of Climate Variability on Food Security in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisii County

Assessing the Impact of Climate Variability on Food Security in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisii County

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