Agricultural Production and Its Constraints in Central Kenya. A case study of Kiambu District

Abstract

Kiambu District lies in the high potential area of Kenya, which constitutes 20% of total arable land. The rest of the land is either marginal or arid. These areas have been the focus for many research and extension processes and are deemed to have benefited enough to optimise agricultural production. However, the agricultural sector in Kenya, just like any other SSA countries continues to face major challenges as the engine of development especially in the face of declining per capita food production, rising levels of malnutrition and increased food insecurity over nearly three decades (Lynam et al., 1998). While the causes of this negative trend are complex, emerging evidence point to the fact that declining soil fertility, lack of robustness in addressing agricultural policy concerns and farmers' socio-economic and biophysical environment are some of the prime underlying causes for this trend (Sanchez st af, 1997; Muriuki and Qureshi, 2001; Deugd et al., 1998; Hilhorat et a/ 2000; DALEO, 2000). calls for new approaches in agricultural technology Reversing this trend development and diffusion, which take into account farmers' knowledge and biophysical and socio-economic circumstances. It is, thus apparent that there is need for new approaches to increase farmers' capacity to test new technologies in their fields, assess results and relevance of technologies to their particular circumstances and to interact with researchers and extensionists on a demand driven basis (GoK and UNDP, 2001). This calls for shift from the current top down approaches to participatory approaches for enhanced soil and farm productivity. Farmer field school is seen as one approach that can contribute substantially to bridging this gap (Braun et al., 2000). The drive towards farmer field schools has been due to the search for robust approaches to arrest declining agricultural productivity and to increase opportunities for facilitating learning at farm level. Farmer field schools are deemed important in addressing the existing cobwebs in agricultural technology development and adoption, weaknesses in research and extension linkages, low rating of farmers expert knowledge, communication gaps between scientist and farmers' and in strengthening community-based institutions. The report presents a Review Literature on Agricultural Production and its Constraints in Central Kenya with Focus in Kiambu District. It Details Agricultural Production Levels of Various Crops or Livestock Enterprises and Problems Facing Existing Systems.