IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/afma12/159392.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Participatory Evaluation of Pulse Crop Suitability to Mountain and Oasis Zones of Northern Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Golicha, D.
  • Ngutu, M.
  • Obanyi, S.
  • Muya, E. M.
  • Charfi, H.
  • Bulle, H.
  • Mamo, S.
  • Geikuku, P.

Abstract

The biophysical and climatic characteristics of the arable pockets of northern Kenya are different from other arable parts of the country. The mountain and oasis areas of northern Kenya, where crop farming is practiced are characterized by heterogeneity. The suitable pulse crops for these zones are not well understood, which has led to promotion of pulse varieties which are not suitable in mountain and oasis areas of northern Kenya. This study evaluated pulse varieties in these regions. Beans, cowpeas and green grams were tried in mountains, foot slopes and lowlands areas of northern Kenya. The focuses of the study were the crop yields, communities’ preference and gross margins. For yield comparison experimentation, a randomized complete block design was done and data analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To gauge community preference, pair-wise ranking was used. Gross margins were determined from total inputs and outputs. Results showed that all pulses performed best in irrigated lowland and mountains, with no significant difference between lowlands and mountains. Foot slopes performed poorest across pulses. Beans were highest yielding while green grams were lowest yielding across sites. Cowpeas and green grains were affected severely by sucking pest mainly aphids especially in foot slopes and irrigated lowlands. Across the sites, beans were most popular mostly due to their better marketability, locally and outside. Green grams had the highest gross margins despite having the lowest yield. It is concluded that in areas of lowlands and mountains, all the three pulses are viable crops and should be pursued. Bean pulse is recommended for food security and green grams are recommended for commercialization across the sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Golicha, D. & Ngutu, M. & Obanyi, S. & Muya, E. M. & Charfi, H. & Bulle, H. & Mamo, S. & Geikuku, P., 2012. "Participatory Evaluation of Pulse Crop Suitability to Mountain and Oasis Zones of Northern Kenya," 2012 Eighth AFMA Congress, November 25-29, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya 159392, African Farm Management Association (AFMA).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:afma12:159392
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.159392
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/159392/files/Participatory%20Evaluation%20of%20Pulse%20Crop.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.159392?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:afma12:159392. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afmakea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.