Appropriate Inputs for Kenya's Farmers
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Biological Systems and Agricultural Engineering Design Green Design and Sustainable Engineering International Engineering Education |
| Special Topic(s): |
Engineering Photo Competition |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Teaching - Case Study |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Martin Parr |
| Description: | Small is appropriate, accessible, and productive for Kenya's farmers. Maize is Kenya's most important food crop and provides nearly half of people's calorific intake. But farmers struggle to increase production of this important crop for three main reasons. First, soils are increasingly infertile; second, maize streak virus is prevalent; and third, crops suffer competition from weeds because of late and ineffective weeding. In addition, blanket instructions on how to apply fertiliser to farmers' crops that date back over a decade can result in the use of inappropriate nutrient applications to crops. With support from DFID's Crop Protection Programme, the NGO FIPS-AFRICA (Farm Input Promotions Africa) in collaboration with local mining and fertilizer companies, has helped more than 75,000 farmers to triple their yields, reduce production costs and improve food security in the region. If activities continue at this rate for another five years an estimated 300,000 farmers (producing for average family size of 5) would have adopted the fertiliser and the improved seed by 2011. Farmers who have already adopted the approaches are already reaping the benefits, now harvesting enough maize, beans and vegetable from a small plot to feed their families. |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Is Component of: |
Case Studies in Research for Development |
| Usage Tip | |
| Related ABET Criteria: |
(h) Understand global, economic, environmental, and societal context |
| Use of Resource: |
Could be used as a case in sustainable agricultural engineering class. |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Interactivity Level: |
Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | March 2006 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.research4development.info/caseStudies.asp?ArticleID=17 |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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