Browsing by Author "van de Weg, R.F."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Soil Conditions of the Marafa - Magarini Area, Kilifi District: A Preliminary Assessment(Kenya Agricutural Research Institute, 1976) van de Weg, R.F.; Sombroek, W.G.; Kenya Agricutural Research Institute; Kenya Agricutural Research InstituteAt the request of the Ministry of Lands and Settlement, in view of a soil-conservation orientated pilot project for settlement scheme improvement, to be financed and executed in cooperation with the Australian Development Assistance Agency, at the evaluation of the area was carried out on 17th and 18th of April 1976 in the Marafa-Nagarini area, N.W. of Malindi township. The data gathered should help the Ministry and the A.D.A.A. in the plan..'1ing of the proposed project. No soil data of the area existed; therefore with the help of aerial photographs on scale 1:50.000, e preliminary soil map of the area was prepared. It should be stressed however the present mapping is a provisional one, based mainly on aerial photograph interpretation and a few field observations (augerings, profile pits, road cuts) and laboratory data. Due to the limited time available, the site evaluation concentrated on the coastal plain and the uplands; the alluvial plain of the Sabald river was surveyed earlier (1975) by the Minor Irrigation Development Special Task Force of the Kenya Soil Survey. Use could be made of their field and analytical data on the alluvial soils. These results of their site evaluation will be published in the near future in more detail (Bonarius, in prep.) Execution of a project a envisaged should however be preceded by a proper semi-detailed soil survey, together with a topographical survey.Item SOILS OF THE KINDARUMA AREA (Quarter Degree Sheet 136)(Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, 1975) van de Weg, R.F.; Mbuvi, J.P.; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute; Kenya Agricultural Research InstituteThe present soil survey is the first in a series of "reconnaissance soil surveys", with a multi-purpose land evaluation. A programme of systematic inventory of the soil and land resources of the country was initiated by the Kenya Soil Survey in 1972, after strengthening with manpower and funds from the Netherlands Directorate for Development Co-operation through the "Kenya Soil Survey Project", of the then Soil Survey Unit of the National Agricultural Laboratories in Nairobi. This long-term programme envisages the mapping of the so-called "high potential" areas and most of the "medium potential" areas of the country at scale 1:100,000, and of the "low potential" areas at scale 1:250,000 (see Fig. 1). Reconnaissance soil maps and the associated multi-purpose land evaluation form the logical basis for the selection, by planning officers at both National, Provincial and District level, of areas to be developed for one or another specific type of land use. Once such areas and their preferred land use are identified, then these parts of the survey area may be covered by more detailed soil surveys, accompanied with a land evaluation in more quantitative terms, for that particular land use. At the chosen scale, the reconnaissance soil survey can however also be used as a first basis for location and extension of trials on soil fertilizing, and the programming of soil conservation and soil management in general. It can also be taken as starting point for the estimation of actual and potential human carrying capacity in the area, on the notion of sustained preservation of its soil and land resources. The comprehensive character of the land evaluation on the basis of reconnaissance soil surveys implies that not only the soils themselves are studied and mapped, but also the topography, the climate conditions, the vegetative cover, the present land use, and the soil erosion incidence and hazards. Concurrently and in association with agro-economists and the potential users, an identification and characterization is provided of the relevant land utilization types, ie. the physically possible and socially (and economically) promising forms of land use. It is shown in this report that land resources in the Kindaruma area are limited. There is little scope for opening up new land for agriculture. One of the most limiting factors in this respect is climate, the scarce and unreliable rainfall is a major constraint for most of the land use alternatives. The development of the land potentialities will have mainly to come from improvement of the existing types of land use, to be obtained by a gradual improvement of land use techniques, measures of soil conservation and grazing control. Being the first of the series, the report gives an ample description and discussion of the methods employed. Part of these methods are liable to be improved upon as more experience with this type of survey and land evaluation is being gathered, and the needs of the users of the map and data become better known. Suggestions to this effect are therefore whole heartedly invited.
