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Potential for On-Farm Approach in Conservation of Indigenous Tree Species among Smallholder Farmers of Murang'a District, Kenya
No full textToday the world suffers from several environmental problems such as resource degradation, which
has prominently affected biological diversity. One of such biological resources is indigenous tree
species. Currently, their status in many parts of the world especially in developing countries is
scarcely known. These trees occured naturally in the world's indigenous forests that are almost gone
with only one percent being managed and sustainably utilized. The underlying pressure is caused by
increasing population that is characterized by clearance for agriculture, fuel logging, road
construction and settlement. This is moreso in high agricultural potential areas such as Murang 'a
district. where most indigenous trees and shrubs have disappeared.. The threats to indigenous trees species in this area, thus necessitated the study to establish the place of indigenous trees in
smallholders' social and economic decisions.
The study pursued a concept of on-farm conservation of indigenous trees species with a particular
.reference to smallholder farmers. It identified the status of on-farm indigenous trees and factors that
influence their conservation within farmland. Further, It examined the existing local potential among
farmers and within their environment that could be harnessed to promote on-farm conservation. In carrying out the study, a questionnaire, an interview schedule and a guide, and an observation
record sheet were used to collect data. Data collected were collated, coded and analyzed using SPSS
6.1 Version. Data were analyzed descriptively using multi-response cross tabulations and contingency
tables that generated frequencies and percentages. Additional descriptive analytical tools, such as
Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), Content and Structural-functional
analyses were used. Statistical significance testing was also employed using the Chi-square at 0.05
alpha levels to test relationships and association between variables.
The study established that about 43.5 % of surveyed farmers incorporated indigenous trees in their
farms. Farmers raise trees largely from seedlings or wildlings. These trees have been planted and/ or
retained in home gardens, woodlots, compounds, crop fields, roadsides and riversides. The small
number of farmers incorporating indigenous trees species in their farms was attributed to scarcity of
land, farmers' attitudes, dying traditional beliefs and taboos, slow growth rates of these trees and
lack of seeds and seedlings.
Factors such as economic, socio-cultural, ecological and farmers' preferences were found to
influence the choice of on-farm tree species. Economic factors undermined on-farm conservation of
indigenous trees. For instance, majority of the farmers preferred exotic species due to the fact that
exotic trees possess multiple uses value and have capability to generate income faster than indigenous trees due to their fast growth. Additionally, farmers had different preferences for tree
species this was hinged on the tree uses or special their functions. For example, Indigenous species
are preferred because of their special functions that include provision of medicines for livestock and
humans, their effects on soil nutrients enhancement and cultural value.
The agricultural activities determined the spatial pattern of the distribution of indigenous trees among
the farmers. The agro-ecological three, for instance, had more indigenous trees than the other two
agro-ecological zones. This is because in this agro-ecological zone, there are few cash crops such as
coffee and tea that requires clearance of indigenous vegetation during their establishment. In
intensively cultivated areas such as in agro-ecological zone two, indigenous tree species existed only
in places such as riversides, bushes, grazing fields and farm boundaries.
The study revealed a wealthy of knowledge in on-farm trees management among the farmers. This
knowledge includes the ones regarding placement, compatibility with agricultural crops, and
palatability to livestock, rituals and other uses. The respondent had less knowledge about disease and
insect pests affecting indigenous trees. The study further found out that the existing local potential
among farmers has been less utilized in promotion of on-farm conservation of indigenous trees,
among them the local groups / institutions.
The study found out that there is potential for on-farm conservation of indigenous tree species since
the local community member expresses their need for medicinal, ecological , socio-cultural and
economic values. For this potential to be realised, the study recommends the following: 1)
Awareness creation programmes that focus on the economic and ecological value of indigenous trees;
2) Improvement of agricultural and forestry extension services so that farmers are taught appropriate
farming methods; 3) Promotion and utilization of the strategy of contacting farmers through local
groups/institutions; 4) The need to research on how to incorporate indigenous trees species in
farming systems given the decreasing land holdings; 5) The need for clear cut policies on the on-farm
conservation of indigenous tree species to assist agricultural and forest extension officers in
promoting these tree species within the farm lands and also to dejine incentives necessary to
encourage farmers to conserve indigenous species within their farmlands
Human geographies of the rural-urban fringe: Social dynamics of land development in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe, Kenya
Get PDFThe process of urbanization is one of the most important dimensions of economic, social and physical change. It is almost a truism that the planet’s future is an urban one and that the largest and fastest growing cities are primarily in developing countries. As in other parts of the developing world, the urban population in Africa is expected to double by 2025, Kenya is no exception. Rapid urban population growth means an increasing demand for urban land. This land is not available within cities, but in the rural-urban fringes, for various reasons. The conversion of agricultural land to residential uses in these areas is leading to rapid transformations of this space. This thesis is motivated by a concern for the quality of life and environment in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe, specifically Town Council of Karuri (TCK). This is because it is a place where generic problems associated with urban growth (such as pollution, social dislocation, land use conflicts, loss of agricultural land) are increasingly becoming evident and manifest. This thesis thus examines the dynamics of land use change in the TCK with the aim of building an understanding of the drivers of agricultural land conversions, implications of resulting land use changes, and the related response mechanisms to the changes. The leading question that guided the line of enquiry and discussion is: why is agriculture being squeezed out by non-agricultural land uses in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe? To understand land use dynamics it was necessary to frame landholders and their decision-making environments in ‘situated contexts’. However literature, personal experience and interviews, indicated that forces driving or influencing land conversions interact and operate at varying scales and in an interrelated manner. With this understanding the study adopted an approach that embraced a nested set of scales, an approach that enabled an understanding of the complex local and macro forces and their localized consequences and responses. A case study research that adopted a multiple method qualitative approach and made use of a conceptual framework that borrowed from different theoretical perspectives was adopted. This study, in the main, has indicated that the geography of rural-urban fringe is the outcome of a host of public and private economic, social, cultural, environmental and political forces operating on a variety of scales from the global to the local/human. As a result, a full understanding of the rural-urban fringe and of the problems and prospects for different people and places needs to be grounded in the knowledge of the structural forces and processes that operate on and in combination with contextual factors to condition the geographies of the rural-urban fringe. This study has explored the complexity of geographies of the rural-urban fringe from a social perspective. It has illustrated the significance of macro, micro, local/human forces in creating and recreating the rural-urban fringe environment. The study achieved this by delving into the TCK to examine the diversity of places and actors and the way they affect land development. This study points out that a number of powerful conditions/factors operate at broad scales to determine what is possible at the level of the individual landholder in respect to land use. These forces are leading to land conversions which produce both intended and unintended consequences. These consequences are contributing to change in social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects of the Nairobi rural-urban fringe. Actors (landholders and the residents) are however not passively accepting the fate of being victims of land use changes but instead they are evolving varieties of local/human-level responses (and also developing/recalling subaltern strategies) to enable them to live in the rapidly changing environment. Their varied individual and collective agency is however at times limited or strongly constrained by structural factors and conditions that are beyond their knowledge repertoire or control. This has led to differences in collective and individual responses to the conditions that shape the effects of drivers of land conversions. The differentiated responses are, however also, unintentionally creating conditions for further land conversions, either through making the hitherto unfavourable areas for settlement favourable or creating more obstacles for the continuation of viable agricultural activities. The findings of this thesis point out that the explanation of why agricultural land use is being edged out by non-agricultural uses in the Nairobi fringe is contingent on many factors/conditions, primary of which is population increase through natural growth and in-migration. Population growth thus is a necessary condition for land conversions from agricultural to residential use in the Nairobi fringe. The process that produces population growth is, however, a part of the processes that produces land conversions in the Nairobi fringe. The study argues for redefinition of focus as is embodied in the dichotomous definitions such as rural/urban, legal/illegal, formal/informal to definitions that reflect hybrid characteristics that rural-urban fringes are manifesting. Further implications of the findings on the future research, policy and planning in urban/rural-urban fringe contexts of the developing countries are also enumerated. Areas/aspects in which this thesis was considered weak are identified and future rural-urban fringe research directions are proposed
Community and social responses to land use transformations in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe, Kenya
Get PDFThe process of urbanization is one of the most important dimensions of economic, social and physical changes. It is almost a truism that the planet’s future is an urban one and that the largest and fastest growing cities are in developing countries. Approximately 25 percent of Africa’s population lived in towns and cities in 1975. By the year 2000, due to rural-urban migration and rapid rates of natural increase, 38 percent of the continent’s population lived in urban areas. The proportion is expected to increase to 47 percent by 2015 and to double by 2025, Kenya is not an exception. Rapid urban population growth means an increasing demand for urban land. This land is not available within the city, but in the rural-urban fringe, for various reasons. This is partly due to low land prices, high rents at the core of the cities and legal flexibility in land use planning in the rural-urban fringe. Urban growth is already engulfing the surrounding agricultural lands and small villages. The conversion of agricultural land to residential uses is leading to the rapid transformations in the agricultural production, spatial structure, social structure, land ownership and land market in these areas. This chapter focuses on the responses/actions of the communities within Nairobi rural-urban fringe and how they manoeuvre through the consequences of changes occasioned by land conversions. It used Town council of Karuri as a case study. The chapter is based on qualitative research approaches presents evidence on how subaltern’ actions plays an important role in creating order in an otherwise chaotic situation as a result of ‘poorly planned’ residential development. The subalterns’ actions, as evidenced by their agency, are manifested in community’s contribution and participation in provision of infrastructure and services within the Nairobi’s rural-urban fringe due to inability of formal provision by planning authorities
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Trend and Variability in Interannual Air Temperature Over South West Mau Forest, 1985 - 2015
Get PDFThe research is sponsored by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation Kenya. Abstract Globally high altitude forest regions are considered to be more prone to rapid warming. These regions have also shown great seasonal and inter annual temperatures variability. In Kenya mean annual temperatures increased by 1.00C since 1960. Going by global trends it is plausible to argue that high altitude forest areas in Kenya might have shown great seasonal and inter annual temperatures variability over time. This study assessed interannual trend and variability as well as change point detection in average annual air temperature in South West Mau Forest, Kenya between 1985 and 2015. South West Mau Forest is an indigenous montane ecosystem with a tropical montane climate. Annual average air temperature over the South West Mau forest pointed towards climate warming of 0.01880C per year (Kendall’s tau = 0.3677, p value = 0.0033) but with low interannual variability (CV= 0.11%). A shift in the annual average air temperature of 0.3680C at p= 0.0051 was detected between 1985-1998 and 1999- 2015. There was a weak positive anomaly in the annual average air temperature with a slope of 0.0192 and R2 = 0.3074. Overall the region experienced climate warming. Keywords: Climate warming, Trend, Variability, Average temperature DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-16-04 Publication date:August 31st 202
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