Spatio-temporal change of selected soil physico-chemical properties in grevillea-banana agroforestry systems.

In Africa, banana is mainly produced by smallscale farmers under complex production systems for both home consumption and income generation. Low soil fertility continually constraints its production and farmers are embarking on emerging technologies such as improved fallow, cover crops, integrated soil fertility management, agroforestry with fast growing tree species to address this challenge. This study aims at assessing the sustainability of grevillea-banana agroforestry systems by investigating the variability in their soil physico-chemical properties.

Assessment of soil fertility and potato crop nutrient status in central and eastern highlands of Kenya.

Inherent low soil fertility remains a hindrance to potato production in Kenya and continues to pose a threat to food security. A study was conducted in Nyandarua and Meru counties to assess the soil fertility status in smallholder potato farms. Soil and plant tissue samples were collected and analysed for selected nutrients (pH, OC, N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Zn, B and Cu) from 198 farms.

Pasture enclosures increase soil carbon dioxide flux rate in Semiarid Rangeland, Kenya.

Background: Pasture enclosures play an important role in rehabilitating the degraded soils and vegetation, and may also influence the emission of key greenhouse gasses (GHGs) from the soil. However, no study in East Africa and in Kenya has conducted direct measurements of GHG fluxes following the restoration of degraded communal grazing lands through the establishment of pasture enclosures. A field experiment was conducted in northwestern Kenya to measure the emission of CO, CH and NO from soil under two pasture restoration systems; grazing dominated enclosure (GDE) and contractual grazing enclosure (CGE), and in the adjacent open grazing rangeland (OGR) as control.

Real or perceived: the environmental health risks of urban sack gardening in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

Cities around the world are undergoing rapid urbanization, resulting in the growth of informal settlements or slums. These informal settlements lack basic services, including sanitation, and are associated with joblessness, low-income levels, and insecurity. Families living in such settlements may turn to a variety of strategies to improve their livelihoods and household food security, including urban agriculture.

Participatory probabilistic assessment of the risk to human health associated with cryptosporidiosis from urban dairying in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya.

We carried out a participatory risk assessment to estimate the risk (negative consequences and their likelihood) from zoonotic Cryptosporidium originating in dairy farms in urban Dagoretti, Nairobi to dairy farm households and their neighbours. We selected 20 households at high risk for Cryptosporidium from a larger sample of 300 dairy households in Dagoretti based on risk factors present. We then conducted a participatory mapping of the flow of the hazard from its origin (cattle) to human potential victims.

A trans-disciplinary study on the health risks of cryptosporidiosis from dairy systems in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya: study background and farming system characteristics.

This paper characterises the dairy farming system in Dagoretti, Nairobi. Characterisation was part of a broader ecohealth project to estimate the prevalence and risk of cryptosporidiosis and develop risk mitigation strategies. In the project a trans-disciplinary team addressed epidemiological, socioeconomic, environmental and policy aspects of cryptosporidiosis, an emerging zoonosis.