December 2014

Achieving rational pesticide use in outdoor tomato production through farmer training and implementation of a technical guideline

Smallholder farmers were trained by frontline extensionists and local experts on how to apply Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in outdoor tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum, during farmer field schools in Northern Tanzania between 2005 and 2008. Farmers were also organised into newly-established vegetable producer clubs within which they developed a technical guideline defining the minimum requirements for integrated tomato...

Author(s): Richard Musebe, Adeltruda Massawe, Tilya Mansuet, Martin Kimani, Ulrich Kuhlmann and Stefan Toepfer,

December 2014

Farmer perceptions of aflatoxin management strategies in lower Eastern Kenya

Aflatoxins pose a serious problem to maize grains, rendering them unsuitable for human and livestock consumption. This study assessed farmers’ attitude toward, and knowledge and perceptions of, the nature, causes and use of biological technologies in aflatoxin control in Embu, Machakos, Makueni and Kitui Counties of Kenya. A total of 480 households were randomly selected from two districts per county using a GPS...

Author(s): George Marechera and Joseph Ndwiga

December 2014

Perceptions of smallholder farmers on improved box hive technology and its profitability in Northern Ethiopia

This study was initiated to analyze smallholder beekeepers’ perceptions towards the constraints and benefits of using improved box hive and its profitability compared to traditional beehive in Ahferom district of Tigray region, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data sources comprising qualitative and quantitative data types were utilized. Primary data were collected by interviewing 130 randomly selected...

Author(s): Belets Gebremichael and Berhanu Gebremedhin