Abstract
Potential for promoting sorghum crop as a climate change adaptation strategy for rain-fed agriculture in Embu County, Kenya was evaluated using farmer perceptions and scientific methods. Three hundred and sixty six smallholder farmers participated in the evaluation. The treatments which were overall rated as ‘good’ are tied ridges with a mean score of 2.9 and mean rank (2,873.87). Under this treatment sorghum grain yield of 3.7 t ha−1 was recorded with application of 40 kg P ha−1 + 20 kg N ha−1 + Manure 2.5 t ha−1. This was closely followed by tied ridges and contour furrows overall rated ‘good’ best three under the same soil fertility management options with a mean score ranging from 2.65 to 2.8 and yielding 2.7–3.7 t ha−1. However, the treatments which were rated as ‘poor’ were experiment controls with a mean score below (1.43), mean rank (1,101.24) and yielding as low as (0.7 t ha−1). Therefore, integration of organic and inorganic inputs under various water harvesting technologies could be considered as an alternative option towards food security under climate change for semi-arid areas of Embu County.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC—Grant Number 105790-003) and Arid and Semi-arid Lands-Agricultural Productivity Research Project (ASAL-APRP). We would like to acknowledge the Director KARI, Centre Director KARI-Muguga and Kenyatta University supervisors for their facilitation. Authors would also like to acknowledge the contributions by staff from KARI-Muguga south, KARI-headquarters, KARI-Embu and KARI-Njoro for their assistance. We are grateful to all the area agricultural extension officers and farmers who participate in this work.
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Njeru, P.N.M. et al. (2015). Integrating Farmers and Scientific Methods for Evaluating Climate Change Adaptation Options in Embu County. In: Leal Filho, W., Esilaba, A., Rao, K., Sridhar, G. (eds) Adapting African Agriculture to Climate Change. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13000-2_16
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