Farmer Tree Nurseries as a Catalytst for Developing Sustainable best Management Land Use Practices in the Nile River Basin: Case Studies from East Africa
Loading...
Date
2007
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
LARS
Abstract
Support to farmer nurseries is classified as either “hard” referring to material inputs (tree seed,
water, tools and fencing) or “soft” (information, training and backstopping advice). Against a
background of poor services for smallholder farmers in the Lake Victoria basin, it was
hypothesized that a number of support agents operating at the grassroot level together with
farmers themselves provide the different support functions needed in the establishment of farmer
tree nurseries. Through financial support from Inter-University Council of East Africa
coordinated VicReS Project, a collaborative project involving Kenyatta University (Kenya),
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and Mulingano Agricultural Research Institute (Tanzania)
has been able to initiate reforestation/afforestation activities in Lake Victoria catchments
ecosystems of western Kenya and western Tanzania. Through the initial activities, a total of
twenty four (24) farmer groups have been identified in western Kenya and supported through
capacity building and supply of basic inputs for tree nursery seed bed preparation and
management. The groups have been able to set up tree nurseries and are now managing seed
beds with a total of 450,000 agro-forestry seedlings, mainly Grevillea robusta and Casuarina
spp. The farmers intend to distribute the seedling among the members for planting on farm
boundaries, around homesteads, and woodlots within the homesteads and sell the surplus.
Preliminary findings show that there is an urgent need to facilitate grassroot level support
systems with larger participation from the national extension service for provision of training and
backstopping advice. Strengthening the human capital of farmers and service providers emerges
as critical in increasing impact. Farmer nurseries are shown to play a number of important and
interrelated functions in building natural, human and social capital. Monitoring and evaluating
farmer nurseries in catalysing these three functions should therefore receive proper attention in
assessing the impact of sustainable land use systems. Policies need to be well articulated to
address some of the major constrains identified in the Lake Victoria catchments ecosystem.
Description
Full text article, also available at URL: http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/123456789/14909/Farmer%20Tree%20Nurseries%
Keywords
Extension services, Germplasm supply, Nurseries, Human capital, Lake Victoria, Natural capital, Social capital, Tree transplanting
Citation
Shisanya, C. A., Kalumuna, M., & Tenge, A. Farmer Tree Nurseries as a Catalytst for Developing Sustainable best Management Land Use Practices in the Nile River Basin: Case Studies from East Africa.