School of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Economic Valuation of Riparian Habitats Protection in Nairobi County Kenya

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Economic Valuation of Riparian Habitats Protection in Nairobi County Kenya Magembe, Esther Machana Riparian habitats (RH) provide aesthetic beauty, clean water and environment among others. Despite these values, RH have been threatened and destroyed by effects of human encroachment among others. RH functioning has been hindered despite various state interventions towards RH protection. The habitats have continued to act as dumpsites. From literature, no study has valued RH protection in Kenya. Therefore, this study aimed to carry out economic valuation of RH protection in Nairobi County, Kenya. Specific study objectives were to determine the effect of changes in: Elicitation Format (EF), Bid Range (BR), Payment Vehicle (PV) and the Valuation Good (VG) all on valuation estimates. Welfare economics and utility maximization theories were utilized. Contingent valuation method (CVM) elicited households‘ willingness to pay (WTP) and its standard deviation (SD). 16 locations were purposively selected for study and stratified into 2 subsamples based on EF, with each subsample further stratified into public and private categories.Within these categories, there were six strata each (Trust, Tax, Raised bid, Lowered bid, Public good, Private good). Stratified proportionate random sampling was used to sample 1000 households. Cross–sectional survey design and experimental cards (Stochastic payment card (SPC) and multiple bound discrete choice (MBDC) generated the data. Primary and secondary data sources were used. Data were collected through structured questionnaires. Two stage random valuation model aided data analysis. Data were processed in STATA and subjected to Mann- Whitney test (MWT) and F test statistics. 64% of households were male, older (>38 years) with mean income of KES. 50,444/Month. 71.8% of households attained post college education level and had smaller family sizes (<4 households) hence found it necessary to protect RH (95%). SPC households expressed lower but consistent WTP values (KES.925.1±48.3) at (p<0.01; MWT=2.717), indicating that such households would consistently make their payments towards protection. Change in EF from SPC to MBDC increased both WTP and its SD by 6.7% and 9.8 % respectively at p<0.01. Raised BR exhibited higher and consistent WTP (KES.1166.6±1003.3). A finding contrary to economic theory where WTP rise with reduction in bid amounts. Regression of change in BR on its estimates, increased WTP and reduced SD respectively by 23.7% and 19.4% at p<0.01. Tax PV showed higher WTP and SD (KES.1180.93.1±1332.6) at (p<0.1; MWT=1.865), evidence that it does not elicit protest responses as noted in the literature. The view of RH as public good elicited higher and inconsistent WTP (KES. 1022.1±1318.5) at p>0.01. Regression of change in VG from Private to Public on VG estimates increased both WTP and SD by 9.9% and 7.9% respectively at p<0.01. Factors: - Age, Distance, income, Necessity to protect RH, EF, significantly affected valuation estimates. In conclusion, households expressed positive WTP amounts towards RH protection. The participation of women, youth, and larger families in protection was limited hence need for sensitization. SPC proved desirable for future valuation given its understated welfare estimates. Change in BR led to households‘ true valuation of RH protection. Tax PV was preferred for valuation of RH protection due to the distrust expressed by households over the Trust fund. Households viewing RH as private expressed confident support for it. It is suggested that conservationists and natural resource management authorities, such as the Kenya National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), should focus on increasing the participation of women, youth, and larger families in RH protection efforts through targeted awareness campaigns. Incorporating SPC format in future RH valuation studies is essential for ensuring consistency in households' WTP estimates. Utilization of Lowered BR in future valuation studies could produce more accurate and motivating WTP estimates, particularly for areas like Karura Forest. County governments are encouraged to establish a voluntary environmental tax fund for RH protection, ensuring transparency to build public trust. The study also advocates for using tax preferences as a PV in future valuations of environmental goods and services. Leasing public RH by the government to private entities for enhanced protection is also encouraged. Moreover, VG estimates could inform budget and policy proposals for managing various public RH, with adjustments made to ensure socio-demographic equity. Finally, future RH protection strategies should be tailored to consider key factors such as age, distance, income, and perceived necessity, which significantly influence valuation estimates.

Evaluating farmers’ preferences for sweet potato variety traits in Western Kenya

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Evaluating farmers’ preferences for sweet potato variety traits in Western Kenya Bett, William Kiprotich Despite the high investment put in place so far in developing high-yielding sweet potato varieties, their uptake by farmers in the country has been low. While both farm and farmer characteristics have influenced farmers' choice decisions for different crop varieties, the role of varietal traits has only received limited attention in the empirical literature. This study investigated farmers' preferences towards sweet potato variety traits in western Kenya (i.e., Busia, Bungoma Kakamega, and Vihiga Counties). More specifically, the study sought to assess farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for better quality sweet potato varietal traits; evaluate farmers' preference certainty and consistency in their choice decisions for sweet potato varietal traits; explore the role of preference variation in the choices made by farmers towards sweet potato variety traits and; finally, ascertain attribute non-attendance of the farmers in their choice decisions for sweet potato variety traits in the study area. The discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach was used to investigate these objectives. The empirical analysis was based on primary data collection from 400 randomly selected farmers in western Kenya (Busia, Bungoma, Kakamega, and Vihiga Counties). Functional estimations followed several models, namely: the multinomial logit (MNL), mixed multinomial logit (MXL), scaled multinomial logit (S-MNL), generalized multinomial logit (G-MNL), generalized mixed logit (G-MXL) and the equality constrained latent class (ECLC) models, which were estimated using Nlogit V software. Farmers, in the first objective, were willing to pay the highest amount for sweetness of the flesh attribute KES 334.70, P<0.01) followed by tolerance attribute (KES 187.09, P<0.05), yield level attribute (KES 137.58, P<0.05), color of the flesh attribute (KES 100.85, P<0.1) and maturity period attribute (KES 100.28, P<0.05) respectively. As for the second objective, results showed that farmers were considerably specific about their preferences, with an average certainty score of 7.0 on a scale of 0-10. They were also consistent in their choice behavior since they chose the same option on the second occasion as on the first occasion in 65.9% of the cases. Results of the third objective show significant preference variation in farmers' affinity towards Sweet Potato traits such as yield level, sweetness of the flesh, color of the flesh, maturity period, and price change. Similarly, the final fourth objective show survey results that ranked flesh color as the most ignored attribute from both stated (61.8%) and inferred (59.2%) attribute non-attendance. In conclusion, due to solid statistical evidence, all four null hypotheses of the study were rejected. The Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) should consider the production of improved seed varieties (sweet potato breeding programs in Western Kenya) since sweet potato farmers were willing to pay positive amount of money to get sweet potatoes with high-quality attributes. At the National and County level, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) should provide regular agricultural extension services to sweet potato farmers in Western Kenya. Respondents in the survey did not pay attention to all attributes when selecting sweet potato varietal traits, implying a need for researchers to take note of this phenomenon in future undertakings involving farmers. Sweet potato breeding research institutions, such as KALRO should use the findings of this study to support development of high-quality sweet potato varieties in Kenya by employing discrete choice approach; ostensibly choice certainty, choice consistency, preference variation, and attribute non- attendance of individual farmers.

Impact of adopting multiple agricultural technologies on nutrition outcome in east africa: a multinomial endogenous switching regression approach

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Impact of adopting multiple agricultural technologies on nutrition outcome in east africa: a multinomial endogenous switching regression approach k. levy, Kachilei Majority of the population of East African households are malnourished and much of the effort to address the problem of stunting, wasting and underweight have focused on interventions that are designed directly to address its immediate causes. It is expected that the adoption of multiple agricultural technologies such as improved beans varieties, bio-fortified maize variety, grafted fruit trees, and garden vegetable techniques can be a means by which malnourished rural households who may have less access to diverse meals, supplements, and fortified foods can enhance their balanced diet but malnutrition still remain a salient problem facing rural households in East Africa. This study determined the factors that affect the adoption of joint multi-agricultural technologies then analyze the impact of the best four combinations adopted in East Africa countries that is; improved beans variety, biofortified maize variety, grafted fruit trees, and use of garden vegetables techniques on the household nutrition outcome indicators of underweight (WAZ), wasting(WHZ) and stunting(HAZ). Where TC = base with no technology used, TC1 = Improved beans variety, biofortified maize variety, and grafted fruit trees, TC2 = Improved beans variety, biofortified maize variety, and garden vegetable techniques, TC3 = biofortified maize variety, garden vegetable techniques, and grafted fruit trees, TC4 = Improved beans variety, garden vegetable techniques, and grafted fruit trees. The study utilized a secondary household panel data of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda that was collected by IFRI for ten waves from 2007 to 2017 and each country with 500 households. This study utilized multinomial endogenous regression model so as to casual the impact of technology adoption and to correct for the self-selection bias. It was conceptualized that the decision to adopt a combination of multiple agricultural technologies (MATs) is modeled in consumer theory, specifically, a random utility framework. The latent model (U*jit) which describes the ith farmer’s behavior in adopting MATs j(j=1,...4) at time t over any alternative MATs combination was utilized in three stages. In the first stage, the analysis determined the factors for adopting multi-agricultural technologies using a multinomial endogenous switching regression. In the second stage, the inverse mills ration generated in stage one is used as linkage between adoption of technologies nutrition outcome, and on the third stage, the treatment effect was used to establish the relationship between adopters of the joint multiple agricultural technologies and non-adopters. The results show that year increase of the education of household head, general participation in community meetings and barazas increases the adoption of TC1 (45%), TC2 (44%), TC3 (25%), and TC4 (35%) respectively. The 1% percent increase in the adoption of joint technologies, the prevalence of stunting reduces by 17.4%, wasting 15.4%, and underweight by 16.8%. Results of the average treatment effects show that the households who adopted joint multiple agricultural technologies had a positive significant impact (HAZ β= .62, p<0.01), WAZ (β = .72, p<0.01), and WHZ (β = .74, p<0.01) which improves the nutrition status by HAZ (103%), WAZ (87%), and WHZ (84%). The best technology combination was TC3 which impacted all nutrition outcome at the highest percentage HAZ (25.8%), WHZ (24.2%), and WAZ (25.3%). Kenya(reference) had a higher significant propensity of adoption hence higher impact on nutrition outcome than Uganda (β = -.128, p<0.01) and Tanzania (β = -.155, p<0.01). This study concludes that adoption of multiple agricultural technologies improves household nutrition outcome. The household that adopted the joint multiple agricultural technologies had systematically higher nutrition outcome than the households who did not adopt even after controlling for all confounding factors. Among the three countries Kenya has a higher significant propensity on nutrition outcome. This study offers insight to policymakers, researchers, and extension workers regarding the advancement of factors suitable for joint technology combination to be adopted by the East Africa households. Consequently, this study recommends that household should focus on adopting the multiple agricultural technologies to improve their nutrition status. And more so focus more on the combination of TC3 (Biofortified maize variety, garden vegetable techniques, and grafted fruit trees) since it was the combination with greatest impact on nutrition outcome.

Breeding objectives and breeding strategies for small ruminants in the tropics

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Breeding objectives and breeding strategies for small ruminants in the tropics Kosgey, Isaac Sanga Small ruminants (i.e., sheep and goats) are widespread in the tropics and are important to the subsistence, economic and social livelihoods of a large human population in these areas. The aim of this thesis was to identify the breeding objectives for tropical small ruminants, and to develop appropriate breeding strategies for their improvement. The results indicated that breed substitution and crossbreeding programmes involving temperate breeds are rarely successful due to incompatibility of the genotypes with the farmers’ breeding objectives and the production systems. Within-breed selection programmes utilizing indigenous breeds are likely to be more sustainable than breed substitution and crossbreeding. In addition, they help to maintain biodiversity. Indigenous genotypes were predominantly found among pastoral/extensive farmers and mixed crosses among smallholders. In general farmers perceived crosses less favourably than indigenous breeds for a range of traits. The effect was studied of including intangible benefits in the calculation of economic values of breeding goal traits. It resulted in increased values of traits related to longevity. Litter size and lambing frequency were more important traits in smallholder and pastoral production. 12-month live weight also featured prominently in pastoral production. Constraints to small ruminant productivity included low levels of management, disease and parasite challenge, inadequate feed and poor marketing. Nucleus breeding schemes are recommended to optimize the limited available resources. However, ‘interactive cycling screening’ schemes would be more practical under village settings as the farmers are actively involved in genetic improvement, and minimal recording is required in the commercial flocks. A single nucleus could serve both the smallholder and pastoral production. In conclusion, it is prudent to examine the production system holistically, and involve the producer at every stage in the planning and operation of a breeding programme, integrating traditional knowledge, practices, behaviour and values.