Population pressures and the need to optimize the use of limited available land has led to increasing cropping affluence levels within the maize agro-ecologies in Kenya, and a shift from large to smallholder intensification and multiple cropping patterns. Using a geographic information system,...

For quite a while, stated preferences have been a major tool to measure consumer preferences for new products and services. Revealed preference methods, in particular experimental economics, have gained popularity recently because they have been shown to be more incentive compatible, and...

The simple neo-classical household model presents a major problem - the cooperative unique household utility function might not always be appropriate. More specifically, women's and men's utility functions might be different. To accomodate the problem, this paper explores the possibility of an...

Maize is the major food crop and an important cash crop in East Africa, but yields have not increased in the last years. Maize prices fluctuate heavily both over time, causing price insecurity which hampers investment decisions, and over space which, combined with limited knowledge of that...

This paper analyses the impact of the intensity of improved maize varieties adoption on food security and poverty using data collected in 2010 from maize-legume farming systems in rural Tanzania. We used a continuous treatment approach using generalized propensity score matching and parametric...

The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana Sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite...

Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s to over 2 tonnes in 1982, they fell below 1.5 t ha-1 in 2000. Given the limited land area, there is no doubt that Kenya will have to rely more on modern technologies for increased yields .Use of...

This study analyses the impact of the liberalization on the intensification of maize production in Kenya. It first analyses the impact of liberalization on input and output prices, followed by an analysis of farmer practices comparing two major farmer surveys, from 1992 and 2002. The results...

Hybrid varieties have significantly contributed to increased maize proclivity in Kenya and other SSA countries. A number of factors limit access of farmers to maize varieties, smallholder farmers have sort an alternative option of recycling the hybrid maize seeds. Seeds are carefully selected...

During participatory rural appraisals, farmers at the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya and Uganda identified Striga, stemborer and declining soil fertility as three major constraints to maize production To reduce food insecurity, several innovative integrated technologies to address these...