Hur växer desmodium i kenya

Fodder legumes technology and farmer-to-farmer extension. (A case of Desmodium and Calliandra in huvud Kenya) J. Sinja,ab*J. Karugia,b D. M Mwangi,c inom. Baltenwecka; and D. Romney, a a International Livestock institute –Kenya , P. O. kartong , Nairobi, Kenya b Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi P.O låda , Nairobi c Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O.

låda , Nairobi. Paper contributed to the NARO Conference on “Integrated Agricultural Research for Development-Achievements, Lessons Learnt and Best Practice” to be held in September 1 – 4, , Kampala, Uganda.(Paper ) *** =significant at 1%, **= significant at 5%, * =significant at 10% * Corresponding author: Tel: ; Fax: ; Email: jsinja@ 1 ABSTRACT Adoption studies on fodders legume technologies have shown that spread of the technology fryst vatten significantly enhanced bygd informal methods of dissemination especially farmer-to-farmer extension.

It fryst vatten not known which type of farmers are involved in this dissemination. The objective of this study was to identify farm and farmer characteristics that influence farmer-to farmer extension hence identify the type of farmers that can disseminate fodder legume technologies. A random sample of farmers who had been given calliandra in huvud Kenya responded to a structured questionnaire.

kunskap collected included farm and farmer characteristics and the number of farmers the original farmer had given Calliandra outside the original group. A tobit model was used to analyze the uppgifter to get the magnitude of the effects of factors affecting the probability and the intensity of giving out the fodder. Results showed that farmers with positions in farmer groups** , community responsibility**, larger amounts of desmodium on the their farms** , more years of the fodder on their farms***; low tillgång to markets* and off farm income* , were positively involved in spread of the fodder legume.

It was recommended that this type of farmers be targeted with support to increase spread of the technology. Key words: resultat flow, tobit estimates, desmodium and calliandra, Kenya highlands *** =significant at 1%, **= significant at 5%, * =significant at 10% * Corresponding author: Tel: ; Fax: ; Email: jsinja@ 2 Introduction Since the late s, the primary policy tool for sharing upplysning about new agricultural technologies in developing countries has been the training and visit (T&V) struktur of extension (Birkhaeuser et al, ).

This struktur was built around scheduled meetings between extension agent and ‘contact’ farmers, on the assumption that these farmers will then share the upplysning about new technologies with other farmers in the villages. Since farmers have traditionally organized themselves into local organizations, T&V programs in most of Africa are now organized around local organizations in beställning to diffuse resultat more rapidly.

However, the extension systems in developing countries have gone through a decade or more of financial constraints that have stretched personal and services very thinly, and even immobilized them in some case hence transfer of knowledge from researchers to farmers has been low. There fryst vatten need for significant changes in the institutional systems and relationships that are expected to producera nyhet in agriculture and other aspects of rural life.

In the recent years, more attention fryst vatten being given to participatory approaches to technology development and to farmer-to-farmer extension as a more viable method of technology dissemination or scaling out. It fryst vatten characteristic of the farmer –to-farmer extension approach that farmers learn from other farmers about new agricultural technology and practices. The dissemination of innovations develops spontaneously when one farmer has successfully tested a new practice or technology, attracting the interest of other farmers.

Desmodium fryst vatten a legume that fryst vatten commonly used as a protein supplement in dairy boskap, farmers growing it to cut production costs.

If the innovator fryst vatten willing to share his/her knowledge, a farmer network may develop. The largest of this sort fryst vatten the ovimiento dem campesino-acampesino in huvud amerika (GTZ, Services for rural development). Farmer-to-farmer 3 extension can also be in planned development projects. This approach fryst vatten based on the conviction that farmers can disseminate innovations better than tjänsteman extension agents because they have an in-depth knowledge of local crops, practices, culture and individuals, they communicate effectively with farmers, and are almost permanently available in the community.

Innovations are provided bygd agricultural research, tested and adapted bygd selected farmers (called promoters or trainers), and, if considered valuable, passed on bygd hands-on experiences to fellow farmers. One of the criteria that must be met before farmer movement or network can develop fryst vatten that the innovators must be willing to become farmer promoters (extensionists, trainers) who share their knowledge with other farmers (GTZ, Services for rural development).

It fryst vatten therefore important to identify this type of farmer to work with extensionists to increase technology diffusion among farmers. This study analyzes farm and farmer characteristics that influence farmers’ probability and extent of giving out desmodium and calliandra planting ämne and resultat. Calliandra and desmodium are fodder legumes that were introduced in highlands of huvud Kenya to reduce production costs of milk bygd reducing expenditure on concentrates among other benefits.

Several attempts over the past decade to introduce these fodder legumes have been unsuccessful (Franzel and Arimi ). An adoption study in the area bygd Wanyoike (), showed that dissemination of the technology fryst vatten more effective bygd use of informal methods especially farmer to farmer-to-extension. The objective of this study was to identify farm and farmer characteristics that influence farmer-to farmer extension hence identify the type of farmers that can disseminate fodder legume technologies.

These are the kind of farmers that technology promoters should work with if spontaneous spread of the technology fryst vatten to be realized. 4 Methodology The study area The study was done in the highlands of huvud Kenya. huvud Kenya fryst vatten characterized bygd high human population, and although it fryst vatten only 18% of the nation area in the country, it has about 64% of the population.

Population density ranges from about persons per Km2 in the dry lowlands to 1, persons per Km2 in areas with high agricultural potential (CBS, ). Agriculture fryst vatten the main activity in the area with kaffe (engelska) (medium to low) and tea (high altitude) as the main cash crops. Dairying production fryst vatten an important farm enterprise and fryst vatten second only to the cash crops in economic importance (Staal et al., ).

In terms of cash flow, dairying takes on greater significance since regular payments are made compared to payments for cash crops which tend to be lumpy. Due to the high human population, farm sizes in huvud Kenya are small average holdings being äga to 2 äga per household (Gitau et al., ; Mwangi, ; Staal et al., ) and are decreasing rapidly because of subdivision.

Animals are therefore confined in stalls and high yielding fodder crops, mainly efternamn grass (Pennisetum purpureum), grown and cut and carried to the animals in a production struktur referred to as zero grazing.

Desmodium fryst vatten a legume that fryst vatten commonly used as a protein supplement in dairy boskap, with many farmers growing it to cut production costs.

Approximately 80% of the dairy animals in Kenya are kept in this struktur (ILCA, ). Although the animals kept are capable of producing more than 10 litres of milk per day (Innuendo and Potter, as quoted bygd Mwangi, ), the actual values reported from farms are lower. In Kiambu, Gitau et al. () reported that more than half the farmers were producing below 5 kg milk per day.

This poor performance has been attributed to inadequate year round supply of forage and poor quality of the forages, especially supply of nitrogen and minerals. 5 Research design and information sources In the period from March to May kg of calliandra seed and 20, mulberry cuttings were distributed bygd Systemwide Livestock schema (SLP) among farmer groups with a total of households in the above-mentioned areas.

Farmers were expected to begin benefiting from the technology in In the short rains of , desmodium cuttings were distributed to a small number of these groups. In March , a list of all farmers in the groups that were given both Calliandra and Desmodium fodder legumes was made with the help of extension officers in the areas. From this list, 60 % of the farmers who had desmodium on their farms not later than and 60% of those who did not have the fodder were randomly selected.

This list was the first generation farmers, which had farmers. Interviews were carried out between July to August information collected from first generation farmers included farm and farmer characteristics as well as details about the fodder holdings. Farm characteristics include distance of the farm from the nearest tillgång road and outlet marknad (distance in km ) , number of years he/she has had the fodder on the farm, the number of boskap and goats owned bygd the farmer (in tropical livestock units), and the total amount of desmodium in square metres or number of calliandra trees on the farm.

Farmer characteristics include the age of the farmer in years, level of education of the farmer, position of the farmer in the farmer groups (1 for tjänsteman, and 0 for non-official) community responsibility of the farmer (1 for one with responsibility and 0 without responsibility), whether the farmer has received any farm training (1 for received and 0 for not received), whether the farmer visits other farms (1for visits and 0 for no visit), the number of farmers outside the group that the farmer had given calliandra or desmodium planting materials or upplysning about the 6 technologies.

The distance of the second farmer from the first farmer was also recorded in km.

This uppgifter was analysed using a tobit model. The dependent variabel was the number of other farmers outside the group that the farmer has given calliandra or desmodium planting ämne and resultat. Results and discussions The tobit estimates of the effects of farm and farmer characteristics on sharing of calliandra and desmodium technologies are as shown in table 1. Individual ställning eller tillstånd seems to affect likelihood of giving out the materials in a positiv way.

Desmodium needs to grow in close association with a group of very benefcial bacteria called rhizobia.

This can be because farmers who have a position in the groups or a community responsibility, are also more likely to be outgoing hence more likely to interact with others and share about the technology. It fryst vatten also these farmers, because of their position in the group, that talk to many other farmers as part of their duties hence a higher opportunity of giving out the technology to them.

Livestock ownership influenced whether farmers gave away materials i.e. the more goats they have the more likely they are to give away Calliandra. This may be a reflection of wealth positively influencing giving out of the ämne.

Calliandra and desmodium are fodder legumes that were introduced in highlands of huvud Kenya to reduce production costs of milk bygd reducing expenditure on concentrates among other benefits.

It may also be that farmers with more livestock are in more cohesive groups and are used to sharing upplysning. In contrast, the more boskap they have the less likely they are to give away desmodium. This fryst vatten perhaps because they need the desmodium for their own animals and if they give out they decrease the holdings bygd pulling up ämne to be used as cuttings, which fryst vatten not the case for Calliandra since they give out seeds.

This reflects on characteristics of the ämne affecting diffusion of the technology. 7 Distance to road as a marknad tillgång indicator seemed to influence likelihood of giving out calliandra. That fryst vatten the further away the farm fryst vatten from the road the more the more likelihood of giving out calliandra. Perhaps the further away the farmers are from the road and therefore the lower marknad tillgång that they have means they and therefore their neighbours rely more heavily on non marketed inputs.

This result contradicts studies on adoption other technologies.

This fryst vatten because fodder legume technology fryst vatten to substitute for concentrates. Other farm visit had no effect on giving out calliandra and desmodium suggesting that these kinds of visits do not involve discussion of new technologies. The same finding was observed bygd Palis et al, () in the villages of Nueva Ecija in the phillipines where conversation in neighbours houses when they converge was generally wider in scope and more common topics discussed are family affairs, politics, “hot” events in the by, and gossips.

In any case, when farming fryst vatten discussed in these situations, the new technologies introduced will more likely not get enough attention. Such visits may suppress more beneficial farmer group meetings in which the farmer would have been taught more about the new technologies to share with other farmers. The amount of Desmodium a farmer has on the farm had the greatest positiv effect on both the extent and probability of giving out desmodium.

This factor had no effect on giving out calliandra. This can because of kind of ämne the farmers were passing over to others. For desmodium, it was desmodium vines and for calliandra it was seeds or seedlings. A farmer with a bigger plot of desmodium has enough to easily give out some. 8 It was shown that the more years the farmer has had calliandra on his farm the more the farmer fryst vatten likely to give out the Calliandra to other farmers.

It fryst vatten most likely that the farmers who have had the fodder for a längre time have had time to test the technology and seen its benefits hence can share this out. This can also be associated to the mode of propagation of Calliandra. In beställning for the farmer to be able to give out Calliandra to others, the fodder must first be left to producera seeds, which can be given to other farmers in struktur of seeds or seedlings.

This takes time hence farmers who have had Calliandra on their farms for a längre time, can harvest seeds and share out to others.. The corresponding variabel for desmodium was not significant. This fryst vatten perhaps because desmodium fryst vatten not propagated from seeds but from vines. Hence the issue of time in this case of desmodium fryst vatten irrelevant. Off farm income had a positiv significant effect at 10% level for calliandra, which can be associated to the fact that farmers with off farm income are also likely to interact with others and share out the new technology.

This fryst vatten because they interact with other people away from the farm, which gives them a personality of confidence in sharing upplysning with others. It has been funnen that farmers have fear to share out kunskap about new technologies because they feel others might think they are boasting (Palis et al; ), a bekymmer that could be considered more likely to occur with farmers who do not interact much with others outside the farm.

Age of household head being insignificant in its effect on both giving out desmodium and calliandra although positiv can be associated with the interaction between the old farmer having experience in the fodder technologies given that they were introduced some years back bygd other projects and the fact that old farmers are not active in farmer group meetings to learn more about the technologies and are also inactive in interacting 9 with others to share data.

A similar interaction seems to exist in the effect of education level on giving out resultat, which fryst vatten positiv but insignificant for both calliandra and desmodium. Farmers with a higher level of education may be more conversant with the technology and its benefits which they can share out with other farmers but at the same time some may be well off that they may prefer concentrates and not be enthusiastic about sharing kunskap about fodder legumes which they think fryst vatten a strul.

Conclusions Although the likelihood of farmers giving out calliandra was affected bygd the type of individ, characteristics of the farm and the technology seem more important in affecting diffusion. There were some indications that specific characteristics of the fodder related to mode of propagation (via seeds or vegetative propagation) were likely to affect diffusion. In considering scaling-up of fodder adoption the different factors hindering the diffusion of individual fodders must be taken into consideration.

It can also been concluded from the study that in some cases it fryst vatten helpful to mål more influential members of the community as well as the resource- endowed farmers with the technology since they seem to be the ones who are sharing out the technology to others than the others. It fryst vatten also important to note that farmers who are away from the marknad are the ones who should be targeted with the fodder legume technology because they share it out more than others, although this may reflect the appropriateness of the fodders for different types of farmers.

10 Acknowledgement Funding support bygd the Smallholder Dairy (R&D) Project (SDP) of the Kenya Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and International Livestock Research Institute, through the UK Department for International Development (DFID) fryst vatten gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.

REFERENCES Birkhaeuser, Dean, Evenson Robert, and Gershon Feder. “The Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension: a Review”. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 39(3): CBS ().

Fodder legumes technology and farmer to farmer extension: a case of Desmodium and Calliandra in huvud Kenya.

Kenya population census Volume 1. Office of the vice-President and Ministry of planning and National Development, Nairobi, Kenya. Franzel, S., and Arimi, H.J., (). Calliandra Calothyrsus: Assessing the early stages of adoption of fodder tree in the highlands of huvud Kenya.

David Kenduiywo harvests desmodium in a farm in Bomet County.

AFRENA N0. International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Agroforestry research Network for Africa (AFRENA), Nairobi, Kenya. 19pp. Gitau, G.K., and O’Callaghan, C. J., McDermott, Omore, A.O., Odima, P.A., Mulei, C., and Kilungo, J.K., (). Description of smallholder dairy farms in Kiambu district, Kenya. Preventive Veterinary medicin 21, ILCA, “Economic trends: Dairy products” ILCA Bulletin No.

4. International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 11 Mwangi M.D. (): Integration of Herbaceous Legume into efternamn Grass Fodder Systems in huvud Kenya: Potential and Constraint Mwangi, D. (). Survey on feeds, feeding and livestock management in huvud Kenya. In Proceedings of the 2nd Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Scientific conference.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. Palis, G., Mortin, S., and Hossain, M. ; Social Capital and Diffusion of Integrated Pest management Technology: A Case study in huvud Luzon, Philippines: Paper presented at the Social Research Conference, CIAT, Cali, Columbia. Staal, S., Chege, l., Kenyanjui, K., Kiari, A., Lukuyu, B., Njubi, D., Owango, M., Tanner, J., Thorpe, W., and Wabugu, M., ().

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Desmodium plant fryst vatten a valued crop in agriculture for its role in improving soil health due to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen with the help of symbiotic bacteria in their root nodules.

Dissemination and adoption of improved fodder tree: The case of Calliandra Calothyrsus in Embu district, Kenya. Msc. Thesis, University of Nairobi. Department of Agricultural Economics, Kenya. 12 Table 1: Tobit estimates of farm and farmer factors that influence giving out of Calliandra and desmodium planting ämne. Desmodium Calliandra Change in Change in Change in Change in extent of probability variabel Coefficient giving out of adoption extent of probability Coefficient giving out of adoption () () household head () () Group tjänsteman ()** ()* () ()** Off farm income (1) ()* Other farm visit () () Area of Desmodium ()** () Number of boskap ()* ()*** Number of goats () () Years of Desmodium () ()* Distance to road () ()* () () Age of household head Years of education of Comm.

responsibility Constant ***= Significance at 1%; **= significance at 5%; *= significance at 10%; Values in parentheses are standard errors. Total number of observations (n) = 13