Land
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Item Mountain Glaciers in the Mediterranean Area and in Africa.(World Glacier Inventory Workshop Publication, 1980-09) Messerli, B.Few glaciers or glaciers still exist in the Mediterranean area. The snow line between the Alps and the mountains of North Africa and the Near East must be reconstructed with the help of climatic data. The only glaciers in Africa are on Mt Kenya (covering an area of 0.8 km2), on Kilimanjaro (5 km2) and in the Ruwenzori (5 km2). The median glacier elevation increases from the Ruwenzori (4680 m) to Mt Kenya (4790 m) and to Kilimanjaro (5430 m). A retreat of the ice limits since the last century, or during the present one, can be reconstructed for the glaciers of the Mediterranean area and of East Africa.Item Land Degradation Monitoring Programme Kiambu District Kenya 1983(Ministry of Agriculture, 1983-04-30) Laurence, A.L.; Kamau, G.; Cheruiyot, R.C.This pilot study, begun in July, 1981, is the first stage in developing a methodology to provide basic information on soil erosion to planners, district officials and operating ministries in Kenya. The results of this programme will provide some of the crucial environmental data that will help NEHSS to execute its mandate to monitor the state of the national environment.Item Possible Errors During Field Evaluation of Sediment Size Distribution(Kenya Soil Survey, 1983) Meyer, L.D.; Scott, S.HThe results of this research showed that evaluations of sediment - size distribution can be made accurately in a field laboratory, if proper equipment and methodology are used. Wet sieving worked best when done one sieve at a time with sieves of a diameter small enough to be easily handled but with enough area to pass the sediment readily. Sieve mesh openings less than 63 pm clogged seriously. Meshes of stainless steel were more durable than those of brass.Item Land Qualities and Land Characteritics Relevant for Major land Utilization Types-an Assessment with Kenyan Examples(Kenya Soil Survey, 1983) Gatahi, M. M.Rangelands are fragile ecosystems whose ecological balance must be carefully managed to avoid the decline of their resources. However, most of the rangelands are in a steady state of decline. Land evaluation of rangelands is therefore of immediate concern if the decline rates are to be slowed or reversed.Item Proposal to Undertake The USAID Funded Kenya National Agricultural Research Project for The Government of Kenya(Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, 1987) Kenya Agricultural Research InstituteMid America International Agricultural Consortium (MIAC) 215 Sentry Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211 Experience, Inc. 2000 Dain Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 Price Waterhouse Associates, Nairobi Rattansi Trust Building, Koinange St., POBox 43963 Nairobi, KenyaItem KARI WKIEMP Year Two Project Implementation 2007(Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, 2007) Kenya Agricultural Research InstituteWestern Kenya Integrated Ecosystem Management Project (WKIEMP) is anticipated to build the capacity of local communities and other institutions in identifying and managing ecosystem issues as well as the implementation of conservation and/or mitigation measures. The project also addresses the linkages between upstream and .downstream land use practices through the development of community managed Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM) plans. It is expected that, IEM interventions such as sustainable land management will with time increase above and below ground carbon sequestration while simultaneously reducing erosion and harmful agricultural run-off into waterways.Item The Seasonal Assessment of Water Needs In The Irrigation of Coffee(1956/1957) Pereira, H.C.In the areas of unshaded Kenya coffee east of the Rift, planters realize very keenly how dependent are their crop yields upon the vagaries of rainfall. Every coffee planter can do a certain amount to help himself out of these difficulties. The Coffee Research Station at Ruiru, Kenya, has shown what substantial increases in yield can be obtained by securing full penetration of rainfall and its subsequent protection by the use of grass mulches, and this practice is being widely followed. Improved weeding efficiency with implements specially devised to leave a rough cloddy surface which can effectively absorb rainfall, has been shown at the Coffee Research Station to be another profitable way of securing a better share of the rainfall for the coffee (Pereira and Jones, 1954); the encouraging results reported by Robinson (1956) suggest that the supplementing of cultivation by weed killing sprays may soon become routine practice. The third method of assistance to the coffee is the most direct but the most expensive, that of supplementary irrigation. This has been pioneered by enterprising planters, encouraged by the high coffee prices of recent years, and striking responses have been obtained from water applications.Item The Reliability of the Butterfat Figures Of The East African Milk Recording Scheme(1956/1957) Barrett, M.A.People join a milk recording scheme for one or both of the following reasons: to have official incontrovertible evidence of the total weight of milk produced by their cows, information solely of value to those who sell stock; or to learn which of their animals produce the milk richest in fat. More people are interested in the butterfat percentage of milk than in having a certified yield, for it is of interest to the liquid milk seller, of importance to the stock breeder and to the whole economy of the butterfat producer.Item Land Use and Grain Yields In The Kenya Highlands 1956-1957(1956/1957) Clayton, E.S.The Report on the Kenya Agricultural Census, 1954, [I] contains much useful information which, taken together, provides a broad picture of the pattern of farming in the Kenya Highlands.Item Comparative Values of Fodder Plants In Tanganyika(1956/1957) van Rensburg, H. J.Data embodied in this article were obtained from tests and observations carried out at Mpwapwa in Central Tanganyika and elsewhere in the territory. The altitude at Mpwapwa is 3,500 ft. above sea level and the average annual rainfall about 26 in. Most of the rain falls between December and April while the rest of the year is generally dry. The soil along the fan slopes consists of red sandy loam while along valley bottoms it is generally darker in colour and heavier in texture. The natural vegetation consists of deciduous thicket, which apparently IS the climax formation and is com· posed of many genera and numerous species. It includes genera such as Acacia, Cassia, Grewia, Commiphora, Lannea and many others. The bush thicket prevents grass growth due to competition for light and moisture, but grass grows in open glades and readil} spreads to cultivated fields newly cleared from bush.Item Mound Cultivation in Ufipa,Tanganyika(1950/1951) Lunan, M.Ufipa District in south-west Tanganyika consists, for the most part, of a plateau (altitude 5,000-7,000 feet), covered with tall grass and with only scattered trees, apart from a few patches of hill forest. Each dry season, the pastoralists burn off this tall grass over nearly all the district, presumably to provide fresh grass for their cattle and to reduce ticks. Agriculturally, the afipa are very primitive. They do not put manure on their fields, unless ordered to do so, on the grounds that they have always in the past managed to grow enough food to survive without using manure. The land would become very deficient in humus were it not for the system of mound cultivation practised by the Wafipa. The method of cultivation in the plateau generally follows a rotation starting with mounds, followed by flat cultivation, followed by rough mounds, followed again by flat cultivation and then by ridge cultivation.Item The Chemical Composition Of Three Weeds in Kenya Highlands(1954) Dougall H.W.The need for a wider knowledge of the composition of grasses, clovers, herbs, and weeds, so frequently expressed in the United Kingdom, is no less desirable in Kenya. Boyd-Orr [1] in Scotland, Fagan [2, 3, 4] in Wales, and Brynmor Thomas [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] in the North of England, with their colleagues, have contributed substantially to the present state of knowledge at home, but for East Africa, apart from the work of French [11], similar data is lacking.Item The Destruction of Rice-Eating Birds(1952) Fuggles, C.N.R.Considerable losses of grain occur annually in East Africa due to depredations by birds. While several species are responsible, there are three in particular which do probably 90 per cent of the damage. These are Quelea quelea atthiopica. Quelea erythrops and Quelea cardinalis. In the Northern Province the first and last were responsible for destroying 3,000 acres of wheat on the Ardai Plain in 1944, and every year varying numbers cause damage to wheat near Arusha, to such an extent that at least one wheat grower has given up wheat production for this reason. Native crops in the Eastern Province, and other areas where suitable nesting sites are available, suffer considerable damage. This applies particularly to rice, which is so often grown near to the most suitable nesting areas. In the Eastern Province the first and second species, particularly the second, are the chief culprits.Item The use of micro plots in a reconnaissance survey of the nutrient status of the soils of Zanzibar Island(1949/1950) Tidbury,G.EThe soil micro-plot is' a method of assessing the response of a soil to external factors, such as the application of fertilizers, in terms of the green eight. of a particular plant, the most common one being maize. The chief value of the microplot lies in its cheapness and the rapidity with which a result is obtained as compared with the orthodox field experiment. Several microplots can be established for the same cost as one large field trial. and, within the recognized limitations of the microplot method, give' results . which are particularly acceptable because they are based on a number of assaysItem Indigenous Clovers Of Kenya(1956/1957) Bogdan A.VIn the flora of Kenya, among the naturally occurring leguminous grazing plants, clovers are fairly important in the highlands at altitudes over 6,000 ft, and it is possible that several of them will be introduced into cultivation In the near future as components of leys. It is desirable, therefore, that information on Kenya clovers, including the means for their identification, should be available to those interested In agriculture, and especially in grassland problems.Item Soil Rock(1953/1954) May, W.B.The use of soil blocks in place of clay pots for raising plants has been in general practice in Britain for the past five years. Many large nurseries have practically discarded clay pots completely, and now raise all their nursery stock in soil blocks, which have proved extremely useful in raIsmg tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other glasshouse crops.Item A Simple Pot Culture Technique for Studying the relative Early availability of Phosphatic fertilizers when added to different soil types(1948/1949) Gethin, G.HIt ~lll be appreciated that much progress has stU1 to be made in working out more trustworthy laboratory methods for estimating the true available phosphate status of virgin and manured soils. This is especially the case with leached, highly coloured, lateritic tropical soils which hold phosphate against acid extractions but which liberate large amou~ts of anion phosphate with eak alkali. With most temperate soils, the standard methods, involving the use of weak mineral or organic acids, are useful when the interpretation of the range of values obtained for particular soil types can be correlated with field response, and when the reaction values of the particular soils are known. In the case of lateritic soils, the range of values obtained by static methods of acid extraction are exceedingly low, and are very close for soils which are known to vary greatly in their true available phosphate status. Thus, the available phosphoric oxide indicated by the citric;-solubility method will only vary from, say, 0.0010 per cent to 0.0015 per cent for soils with known different responses to added phosphate and, indeed, the actual need for phosphate c~n often be better judged' bythe base status, reaction value, .organic matter content and structure of individual soil samples within a soil type. However. When dynamic, and not s~tic. methods of acid extraction are used, tbe values obtained show no marked falling off of the amounts of P205 liberated in successive extractions and the summation of these do give a fair indication of phosphate availability throughout the growing season, as long as it is certain that no unabsorbed, recently applied phosphate is present. When these lateritic soils are treated with weak, cold alkali, about twenty 'times as much phosphate, comprising about one-third of the total P20~ content' of the soil is very readily displaced, but again, the correct interpretation of the results in terms of the true need for phosphate is difficult.Item A note on the Nitrate Content of soil under pennisetum purpureum(1948) Griffith, G.Under Ugandan conditions two important effects of the(Pennisetum purpureum)fallow are noted ,firstly that the land newly opened from elephant grass must be left for several weeks before successful planting of a crop can be undertaken and secondly that when the grass is grown in strips a marked adverse edge effect shown itself for several fact into the neighbouring crop.Item Comments on a plant breeders informal conference(1984) Greenway, P.JWe not only need heavier yields in our crops but resistance to insect and bird attacks as well as diseases. Longer-keeping qualities are required· for storage against famine which . still stalks the land. In conclusion I will mention that processing and cooking qualities should also be considered when breeding food plants. For instance, it is not much use the administrator, agricultural officer or welfare worlcer advocating Co an African population a grain as a food if it is only suitable for beer-making, as is the case in some varieties of Sorghum's, or recommending a pulse which requires hours of boiling before it is edible in areas where cow dung is the only fuel obtainable for cooking ..Item Eye Trouble Attributable to Photosensitization Following the Use of Phenothiazine in Bovines(1948) Barabara, L.A type of keratitis affecting bovines,following treatment with phenothiazine,has been studied in calves and reported on fully by new Zealand workers,but so far trhis condition has not been recorded in Kenya.According to whitten and Filmer(1947) this Keratitis is due to photosensitization,and though it may be severe all animals eventually recover.
