This white paper is intended to summarize the key insights gleaned from prior work applying information and communication technologies (ICTs) in support of agriculture and food systems, identifying approaches and opportunities that hold promise for enhancing global food security, and to identify important knowledge gaps that remain, offering guidance for new work that investigates how to apply information and communication technologies in agriculture.
This report aims to o estimate the current use of machinery in rice and bananas value chains; To establish determinants of mechanization in rice and bananas along the entire value chains; and estimate the effects of the determinants on mechanization levels. This study therefore seeks to identify factors that influence
mechanization levels for rice and bananas value chains. The findings from this study will help provide technical and policy recommendations for the improvement of not only the rice and banana value chains but the entire agriculture sector
The current study sought to analyse the livelihood impact of innovation platforms on small holders in the study areas based on the previous studies that identified successful Innovation Platforms in Eastern and Western Kenya. The study concentrated on four successful innovation platforms that were identified in a previous study In that study, fifteen innovation platforms were ranked based on a given criterion out of which the four innovation platforms were purposively chosen.
The study was conducted in Kirinyaga County on rice and bananas and in Kisumu County on rice. Was used qualitative and quantitative methods and interviewed 247 farmers comprising 182 rice and 60 banana farmers respectively. Ten key informant interviews were conducted in Ahero and nine in Mwea Rice Schemes and the surrounding areas. One focus group discussion was held with Mwea Jua Kali/Valley bottom farmers. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and cross tabulations.
This report is divided in 3 studies that acess the status of the agricultural innovation in Kenya.
The workshop objectives were to harmonize understanding of what innovation platforms (InP) are, why they are necessary, why stakeholders should promote formation of County InPs and development of a tentative action plan for each county. The workshop participants comprised diverse county agricultural sector stakeholders in Bungoma and Nakuru and in Kwale including representatives from three national level institutions.
This report is the result of a study that was carried out for the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), to make an inventory of experiences with ‘market-oriented agricultural advisory services’ (MOAAS). Lessons learned have been drawn from the cases studied. These lessons are the basis for guidelines formulated for setting up market-oriented agricultural advisory services.
This study aims to assess if AKIS are effectively disseminating integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) knowledge by comparing results from two sites in Kenya and Ghana, which differ in the uptake of ISFM. Social network measures and statistical methods were employed using data from key formal actors and farmers. Their results suggest that the presence of weak knowledge ties is important for the awareness of ISFM at both research sites.
Kenya has emerged as a frontrunner in information and communication technologies (ICT) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The government has been actively supporting the ICT sector as one of the key drivers of economic growth. In addition to large international firms that are setting up offices in Nairobi, such as Nokia, IBM and Google, local start-ups have also been expanding rapidly.
Smallholders in Asia and Africa are affected by increasingly complex national and global ecological and economic changes. Agricultural innovation and technology shifts are critical among these forces of change and integration with services is increasingly facilitated through innovations in institutions. Here the authors focused mainly on innovation opportunities for small farmers, with a particular emphasis on marginalized small farm communities. The chapter elaborates on the concept of the ‘small farm’ and offers a synthesis of the findings of all the chapters in this volume.