Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Challenges Of Grassland Policies Implementation In Kenya And The Sustainable Development Goals, N. Daari

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Since independence, Kenya has found herself at the crossroads caused by economic recession, criminality, corruption and ineptitude leadership that has led to persistent household extreme poverty. It is time now to search for solutions to address the challenges facing sustainable livelihood development in Kenya. This study, therefore examines the challenges of grasslands related policies and their implementation in Kenya and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A review study of the literature on grasslands and rangelands related policies and laws, SDGs frameworks, government and academic literature was carried out. The study results show that; Kenya has faced challenges of grasslands policies …

Evaluation Of Apomictic Megathyrsus Maximus Accessions And Ecotypes To Improve Feed Availability In Western Kenya, David Miano Mwangi, S. W. Mwendia, Joseph G. Mureithi, P. Karimi, Maurice Mudeheri, An Notenbaert, Andres Juan, Tarus David

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

In Kenya, the dairy sub-sector is dominated by smallholder farmers, who keep between 1-10 dairy cows, and produce over 80% of the marketed milk in the country. The sub-sector is characterized by low milk production, long calving intervals and high calf mortality. The main constraint is the lack of year- round quality feeds hence the low lactation yield of 1,400 litres from animals capable of 3,500 - 4,000 litres. The main feed is Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus) formerly Pennisetum purpureum. However, in the last decade the productivity and reliability of Napier grass has been constrained by the emergence Napier …

Development Of A Toolkit For Participatory Management Of Rural Watersheds In Kenya, L. W. Chiuri, F. K. Lelo, M. W. Jenkins, S. N. Miller

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Effective public participation is a foundation for sustainable watershed management, yet there are no demonstrated methods for or examples of its achievement in tropical semi-arid rural grassland watersheds of Kenya which support critical downstream water services. Within the Sustainable Management of Watersheds (SUMAWA) multidisciplinary international research project, a set of tools has been developed and tested to engage local communities and stakeholders in a dialogue and decision-making process to improve the development and management of the River Njoro Watershed in Kenya and reverse declining water quality and quantity problems. A toolkit manual based on the experience is under preparation for …

Linking Research To Development In Pastoral Communities Of Northern Kenya: Recent Experiences And Key Findings In Participatory Research Approaches, G. A. Keya, M. Ngutu, A. Adongo, A. O. Adongo, I. Tura

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Over 50% of Kenya's land mass is arid. The mainstay of the local economies of these areas is nomadic pastoralism. Arable agriculture is limited to the few oases and mountain zones. Due to the harsh climate, there are few alternative livelihood options available to the local communities of mostly herders. Efforts to improve agricultural productivity have often been hampered by low adoption of available technologies. This low adoption is linked to many factors, notably the non-involvement of the stakeholders in the research process and the weak linkage between research and extension. To address these shortcomings, new approaches were tested with …

The Negative Economic Impacts Of Money Laundering In Kenya, Thailand And France, Peyton Tollaksen

Mathematics and Computer Science Capstones

Cybercrime has grown exponentially around the world due to consistently changing technology and the craftiness of cybercriminals often outpacing that of security officers. In the past three decades, cybercrime has been expedited and globally expanded due to the accumulated experience of these criminals, who take advantage of the new found black market, cryptocurrency, and other operations. According to a report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies titled, “Economic Impact of Cybercrime,” it was found that, “close to $600 billion, nearly one percent of global GDP, is lost to cybercrime each year” (2018). Unfortunately, this number will only …

Evaluating The Feasibility And Potential Impacts Of A Recovery-Oriented Psychosocial Rehabilitation Toolkit In A Health Care Setting In Kenya: A Mixed-Methods Study, Regina Casey, Joshua C. Wiener, Terry Krupa, Rosemary Lysaght, Marlene Janzen Le Ber, Ruth Ruhara, Elizabeth Price, Romaisa Pervez, Sean Kidd, Victoria Mutiso, David M Ndetei, Arlene G Macdougall

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

OBJECTIVES: This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and potential impacts of delivering the Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) Toolkit for people with serious mental illness within a health care setting in Kenya.

METHOD: This study used a convergent mixed-methods design. Participants were people with serious mental illness (n = 23), each with an accompanying family member, who were outpatients of a hospital or satellite clinic in semirural Kenya. The intervention consisted of 14 weekly group sessions of PSR cofacilitated by health care professionals and peers with mental illness. Quantitative data were collected from patients and family members using validated outcome measures before …

Where To Invest Project Efforts For Greater Benefit: A Framework Formanagement Performance Mapping With Examples For Potato Seed Health, C. E. Buddenhagen, Y. Xing, J. L. Andrade-Piedra, G. A. Forbes, P. Kromann, I. Navarrete, S. Thomas-Sharma, Robin A. Choudhury, K. F. Andersen Onofre, E. Schulte-Geldermann

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Policymakers and donors often need to identify the locations where technologies are most likely to have important effects, to increase the benefits from agricultural development or extension efforts. Higher-quality information may help to target the high-benefit locations, but often actions are needed with limited information. The value of information (VOI) in this context is formalized by evaluating the results of decision making guided by a set of specific information compared with the results of acting without considering that information. We present a framework for management performance mapping that includes evaluating the VOI for decision making about geographic priorities in regional …

Evaluating Human Pressure On Protected Areas In East Africa, Bailey M. Ytterdahl

Student Publications

Protected areas (PAs) are crucial to achieving effective conservation goals and mitigate the loss of biodiversity. I investigated the following research questions: How does human pressure threaten PAs in East Africa? Is human pressure associated with the factors of country, ecosystem characteristics, size, or governance type of a PA? For this study, I used a combination of a GIS analysis and case studies to evaluate human pressure on PAs in Tanzania and Kenya. For the GIS analysis, I used 589 terrestrial PAs from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Within each PA, I summarized the landform, landcover, moisture level, …

Pastoralist Use Of Reseeded Fields For Additional Resilience To Climate Variability Through Alternate Livelihood Activities, D. W. Githu, J. S. Fehmi, M. Mcclaran, M. Elizabeth, A. Josephson

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Land degradation, climate variability, socio-economic changes and population increase are some of the factors that shrink grazing lands making forage availability less predictable and affecting the resilience of pastoralists communities. Reseeding as an intervention can rehabilitate degraded lands for profitable use through offering pastoralists alternative sources of livelihood and encourage livelihood diversification. This study evaluated two pastoral communities, the Tugen and the Njemps from Baringo County, Kenya, who have owned, managed and used reseeded fields to study the dynamics of reseeding land. A total of 193 pastoralist households were interviewed. These two pastoral communities used their fields for: dry season …

Accelerate Scaling Up Forage Intensification Using Novel Digital Extension Approach In Kenya, Donald M. G. Njarui, Mwangi Gatheru, Jessica M. Ndubi, Alice W. Murage, Anne W. Gichangi, Elias M. Gichangi, Udaya S. Nogothu

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Wide scale adoption of diverse forages improves livestock productivity and farmers welfare. However, limited access to information and knowledge on forage production results in slow adoption in Kenya. There is need to enhance information and knowledge exchange among farming communities for efficient and effective adoption and decision-making. An inter-institutional pilot project was initiated in 2017 to scale-up forages in Kenya using a novel extension approach - the village knowledge centre (VKC). A VKC is an information and communication technology (ICT) digital platform-based linking farmers through smart phones and social media as a conduit for faster and effective information and knowledge. …

Water Insecurity, Water Borrowing, And Psychosocial Stress Among Daasanach Pastoralists In Northern Kenya, Leslie Ford, Hilary J. Bethancourt, Zane Swanson, Rosemary Nzunza, Amber Wutich, Alexandra Brewis, Sera Young, David Almeida, Matthew J. Douglass, Emmanuel K. Ndiema, David R. Braun, Herman Pontzer, Asher Y. Rosinger

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This article quantifies Daasanach water insecurity experiences in Northern Kenya, examines how water insecurity is associated with water borrowing and psychosocial stress, and evaluates if water borrowing mitigates the stress from water insecurity. Of 133 households interviewed in 7 communities, 95% were water insecure and 74.4% borrowed water three or more times in the prior month. Regression analyses demonstrate water borrowing frequency moderates the relationship between water insecurity and psychosocial stress. Only those who rarely or never borrowed water reported greater stress with higher water insecurity. The coping mechanism of water borrowing may help blunt water insecurity-related stress.

Comparing Empirical With Perceived Trends In Wildlife, Livestock, Human Population And Settlement Numbers In Pastoral Systems: The Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem, Kenya, Juliet B. Kariuki, Joseph O. Ogutu, Shem C. Kifugo, Jully S. Senteu, Gordon Ojwang, Han Olff

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Human activities are driving wildlife population declines worldwide. However, empirical understandings of their operation and consequences for wildlife populations and habitats are limited. We explored relationships between empirical and perceived wildlife and livestock population trends in Kenya using data on i) aerial monitoring of wildlife and livestock populations during 1977-2018, ii) human population censuses; and iii) semi-structured interviews with 338 male and female respondents from 250 households from four zones of the Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem in 2019 and 2020. Wildlife numbers declined by 72.3% but sheep and goats increased by 306.4%. Yet nearly 50% of the interviewees perceived increases …

Socially Differentiation In (Agro)Pastoral Climate Change Adaptation: Intersectional Perspectives On Socio-Technical Change In Kenya And Burkina Faso, Todd Crane, Lisa Nebié, Teresiah Ng’Ang’A

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Actors And Activities At Dagoretti Livestock Market In Nairobi City, Kenya, Walter Magero Wafula, Oliver Vivian Wasonga

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Pastoralism is the main economic activity in the massive drylands of Kenya, consisting over 70% of the countries’ livestock population. It employs 90% of communities living the arid and semi-arid parts of the country. Although few small-scale livestock markets exist in rural pastoral areas, most of the animals end up in the urban markets with peak demand of livestock-based commodities. Dagoretti livestock market, located in Nairobi City (the capital of Kenya) is the largest and terminal market for pastoralist communities countrywide as well as a source of income to various market actors and government revenue. Despite this immense contribution, there …

Milk Yield Of Dairy Cattle Fed Common Urochloa Grass In Kenya, R. W. Muinga, Michael N. Njunie, Mwangi Gatheru, Donald M. G. Njarui

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Urochloa grass mainly grown in South America, East Asia and Australia has its origin in East and Central Africa. Its success in South America for animal production triggered interest in Kenya where the main forage species Napier grass was threatened by head smut and stunt diseases. Therefore, a study was carried out at Mtwapa research station in the coastal lowlands of Kenya under controlled condition to compare the lactation performance of dairy cattle fed on Urochloa hybrid cv. Mulato II, U. decumbens cv. Basilisk, U. brizantha cvs. Piata, MG-4 and Xaraes with Napier grass. An on-farm participatory study was conducted …

Effects Of Herding On Rangeland Use Efficiency In Kenya, A. Seidel, F. Asch, B. Warth

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Within each foraging itinerary, herders can intervene in the forage selection process, encouraging herds to use highly palatable and less palatable rangeland resources. Such a herding strategy could prevent rangeland degradation and increase livestock productivity. The objectives of this study were to examine forage availability and identify factors influencing stocking rates around night resting places on a ranch in Laikipia County, Kenya.

Forage availability was measured along six regularly spaced transects around night resting places corralling one herd of camels, one mixed herd of goats and sheep, and two herds of cattle, with biomass sampling points at 50-, 150-, 250-, …

A Participatory Assessment Of The Development Needs Of Semi‐Sedentary Pastoralists In Kenya, George A. Keya, M. Muga, M. Okoti, A. Adongo, M. Ngutu, D. Mbuvi, F. Wayua, M. Shibia

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Supporting Community Action With Science To Balance Pastoral Livelihoods And Wildlife Conservation In Savannas Of East Africa, R. Reid, D. Nkedianye, M. Said, D. Kaelo, M. Neselle, O. Makui, L. Onetu, P. Kristjanson

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Silage Making By Smallholder Dairy Farmers In Kenya: Potential And Constraints Of Small Bag Silage, J. N. Methu, David Miano Mwangi, L. Karienye

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of Terrestrial Decapoda Diversity Across Three Ecological Zones In Mida Creek, Kenya, Reese Yount

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangroves make up one of the most effective natural remedies at combating climate change today. They represent great commercial interest worldwide and yet, are being degraded at an unsustainable rate. If successful mangrove conservation plans are to be implemented for our posterity, mangrove ecosystems need to be better understood at the community level. Mangrove crabs make up the most diverse and populace mangrove inhabitants. They are classified as ecosystem engineers and their potential for being used as bioindicators makes them integral to assessing mangrove health. Yet, their diversity and distribution patterns are not well understood. The aim of this study …

Comparative Performance Of Friesian‐Sahiwal Crossbreds And Sahiwal Steers On Naivasha Stargrass In Kenya, W. B. Muhuyi, T. Muasya, S. N. Ole Sinkeet

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Nandi Clean Kitchen Study, Samantha Dykhuis, Stephanie Schiavo, Avalin Senefeld

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Indoor air pollution is a widespread environmental health challenge sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of premature death in many sub-Saharan African countries. This pollution is primarily caused by the burning of biomass fuels inside an enclosed kitchen in order to provide heat for cooking. Global Air Quality Trekkers is an undergraduate engineering team within the EPICS department at Purdue that began in fall 2016. Our objective is to create a kitchen design that utilizes natural ventilation to mitigate the amount of air pollutants present in these kitchens, specifically in the Nandi community of Western Kenya. This year, our …

The Role Of Sansevieria Intermedia In Degradation And Recovery In Kenyan Drylands, Elizabeth Gallant King

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Human Migration, Squatters And Land Cover Change In The Chyulu Hills, Kenya, G. W. Muriuki, G. Baxter, C. Mcalpine, B. Price

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Niches For Integration Of Brachiaria Grasses In Smallholder Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming Systems In Kenya, Donald M. G. Njarui, Elias M. Gichangi, Mwangi Gatheru, Michael N. Njunie, Elkana Nyambati, Keziah W. Ndungu, Joseph G. Mureithi, Sita R. Ghimire

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Inadequate quantity and quality of feed is the major constraint to livestock productivity in Kenya. Low rainfall, lack of adapted forages and poor management of sown forages are major factors that affect feed resources production. In most of the farming systems, forages are relegated to the less fertile and degraded soils resulting into poor growth. As a result the growth is poor resulting in deficient in minerals content, low crude protein (CP) and energy. The situation in exacerbated by climate variability and frequent drought. On the other hand, feed resources derived from crop residues, particularly cereals are of poor quality …

Relationships Between Institutional Success And Length Of Tenure In A Kenyan Irrigation Scheme, Camille Washington-Ottombre

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

In a global context of climate change and increased water scarcity, the development of efficient irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa where rainfed agriculture still prevails could significantly support food security. However, developing efficient irrigation schemes is highly challenging and necessitates the resolution of a number of collective action problems. Since the 1980s, a large body of research has explored the conditions needed for successful collective action, sustainable use of the resource in irrigation schemes, and the development of efficient institutions. Although there is no agreed-upon definition of what successful, sustainable, or efficient governance schemes or institutions are, there is a …

The Polycentric Turn: A Case Study Of Kenya's Evolving Legal Regime For Irrigation Waters, Daniel H. Cole, Stefan Carpenter, Elizabeth Baldwin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Formal legal systems comprise a major part, but not the only part, of the “rules of the game” that structure social and social-ecological interactions. Throughout the twentieth century, centralization and consolidation of legal authority were dominant themes among many, if not all, legal systems. That process may have been successful in some cases, but in others the presumed economies of scale from consolidation and centralization either did not materialize or were offset by other social costs, including the failure to accommodate local knowledge, expertise, and preferences. In what could become a theme of the twenty-first century, many countries, including developing …

Using Survival Analysis To Identify Risk Factors For Treatment Interruption Among New And Retreatment Tuberculosis Patients In Kenya, Enos O. Masini, Omar Mansour, Clare E. Speer, Vittorio Addona, Christy L. Hanson, Joseph K. Sitienei, Hillary K. Kipruto, Martin Muhingo Githiomi, Brenda Nyambura Mungai

Vittorio Addona

" Despite high tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rate, treatment adherence is one of the major obstacles to tuberculosis control in Kenya. Our objective was to identify patient-related factors that were associated with time to TB treatment interruption and the geographic distribution of the risk of treatment interruption by county. Data of new and retreatment patients registered in TIBU, a Kenyan national case-based electronic data recording system, between 2013 and 2014 was obtained. Kaplan-Meier curves and log rank tests were used to assess the adherence patterns. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards modeling was used for multivariate analysis. Records from 90,170 patients were …

Using Survival Analysis To Identify Risk Factors For Treatment Interruption Among New And Retreatment Tuberculosis Patients In Kenya, Enos O. Masini, Omar Mansour, Clare E. Speer, Vittorio Addona, Christy L. Hanson, Joseph K. Sitienei, Hillary K. Kipruto, Martin Muhingo Githiomi, Brenda Nyambura Mungai

Faculty Publications

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Despite high tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rate, treatment adherence is one of the major obstacles to tuberculosis control in Kenya. Our objective was to identify patient-related factors that were associated with time to TB treatment interruption and the geographic distribution of the risk of treatment interruption by county. Data of new and retreatment patients registered in TIBU, a Kenyan national case-based electronic data recording system, between 2013 and 2014 was obtained. Kaplan-Meier curves and log rank tests were used to assess the adherence patterns. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards modeling was used for multivariate analysis. Records from 90,170 patients were …

Eucalyptus In Kenya; Impacts On Environment And Society, Brandy M. Garrett Kluthe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eucalyptus trees were introduced to Kenya a little over a century ago. European colonization along with the development of a railway system increased the demand for a fast growing wood source. The expansion of the tree across the fertile lands in Kenya raises concerns about the environmental impact on ecosystems where it has been introduced. These concerns include degraded soils, loss of water resources, co-introduction of ectomycorrhizal species, and allelopathy. Economic benefits to local landowners were also explored as well as the potential for large Eucalyptus woodlots to maximize the sequestration of CO₂ from the atmosphere. This was examined through …