| Corporate author | Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi |
| Conference | Capacity
building for land resource management to meet the challenges of food
security in Africa, 21, Nairobi (Kenya), 1- 5 Dec 2003 |
| Publisher |
Soil Science Society of East Africa, Nairobi (Kenya) |
| Date of publication | 2003 |
| AGRIS Categories | Soil science and management; Crop husbandry |
| AGROVOC English terms | Farming systems; Soil; Soil fertility; Trees; Soil improvement; Crops; Knowledge based systems; Knowledge management |
| AGROVOC French terms | Systeme d'exploitation agricole; Sol; Fertilite du sol; Arbre; Amelioration des sols; Plante de culture; Systeme base sur la connaissance; Gestion des connaissances |
| AGROVOC Spanish terms | Sistemas de explotacion; Suelo; Fertilidad del suelo; Arboles; Mejora de suelos; Cultivos; Sistemas inteligentes; Gestion del conocimiento |
| Language | English |
| Type | Conference |
| Pagination | p.479-490 |
| Source | Capacity building
for land resource management to meet the challenges of food security in
Africa. Proceedings of the 21st annual conference 1st-5th Dec, 2003,
Eldoret, Kenya, Mugendi, D. N.Kironchi, G.Gicheru, P.T.Gachene,
C.K.KMacharia, P.N.Mburu, M.Mureithi, J.G.Maina, F..- Nairobi (Kenya):
Soil Science Society of East Africa, 2003. Capacity building for land
resource management to meet the challenges of food security in
Africa,Capacity building for land resource management to meet the
challenges of food security in Africa, 21, Nairobi (Kenya), 1- 5 Dec
2003.- 9966-879-59-5.- p.479-490 |
| Abstract (English) | Plant
residues from trees, crops or weeds play an important role in
determining the soil fertility status in smallholder farmers of the
central highlands of Kenya region. A study was conducted in Embu
district of Kenya, located in the densely populated windward side of the
south-eastern slopes of Mount Kenya, to document farmers knowledge and
practices in the prevalence and utilisation ofthese residues. A total of
134 small-scale . farmers cutting across five major agro ecological
zones of the 30 kIn transect were interviewed. Farmers indicated that
trees, Degraded soils are a major constraint to crops or weed residues
found in their farms agricultural production and food security in were
associated with generation of plant the central highland of Kenya region
residues which either improve or impoverish (Smaling, 1997; Hudgens
1996). The the farm niches where they are found. Plant traditional
residues that were associated with soil Long term experiments provide
some fertility enhancement included: Zea mays, insights in the
consequences of land Physeolus vulgaris, Grevillea robusta, management
strategies that cannot be Combretum molle, Cordia africana, Ficus
obtained through other means. For instance, sycomorous, and Camellina
sinensis. On the trials established at Kenya Agricultural other hand,
the residues of Eucalyptus Research Institute land at Kabete near
saligna, Macadamia integrifolia, Cupressus Nairobi have shown that the
soil organic lusitanica, Croton megalocarpus, Acacia matter declined
from 2.1 % (in the original meamsii, Sorghum bicolour and Mangifera
coffee estate) to 1.2% C after planting a indica continued to impoverish
the soil in the maize-beans rotation over a period of twenty farm
fields where they occur. The farmers years (Kapkiyai et al., 1999).
Swift and attributed the good or poor crop Woomer (1993) state that it
is not the loss performance in farm sections with certain of the soil
carbon which poses the threat to types of plant residues to the
decomposability the smallholder livelihood, but rather the assocated
decline in crop yields resulting from degraded soils. Th euse of plant
residues play a crucial role in the long-term improvement of soil
physical and chemical properties. |
Source:Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kenya)
KARI
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AGRIS 2013 - FAO of the United Nations
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Data from 
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