Browsing by Author "Kimani, CW."

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Characteristics of rural poultry production in different agro-ecological zones in Kenya
(1998-11-09) Ndegwa, JM.; Kimani, CW.; Siamba, Donald N.; Mukisira, EA.; Jong, R de.
A cross-sectional was conducted to establish the characteristics of rural poultry production in Nyandarua, Nakuru and Laikipia districts of Kenya. Sites of diverse agroecological zones (AEZ) in the 3 district were selected, thus Ol Kalou in Nyandarua, Njoro in Nakuru and Ng'arua in Laikipia. Each site was divided into 4 clusters according to AEZ and land size. Systematic sampling techniques were applied to select farmers. A checklist was then used to collect the baseline information for every household. The study revealed that the average flock size was 17.3 chicken with Ng'arua region demonstrating the largest flock size of 21 chickens. The purpose of rearing indigenous chicken were stated as home consumption and sale of eggs and meat, hatching eggs, and as gifts.Farmers in Ng'arua region reported the highest sale of eggs and chicken meat. the average number of broodings per year, number of eggs laid before a chicken becomes broody, eggs set for hatching and hatchability was 2.5, 16.5, 11.1 and 84.2%, respectively. The average chick mortality reported by farmers in te first eight weeks was 47.9%. Disease especially Newcastle, were cited as the main cause of mortality. Farmers did not commonly practice selection for genetic improvement, but occasionally they purchased a cock or hen to control inbreeding. In all the 3 regions, 78.4% of the respondents indicated that women took greater responsibility and decision making in the production of indigenous chicken; 54.8% of farmers used different herbs to treat and control diseases. Conventional vaccination,disinfection and deworming rarely practiced. On most farms, chickens were left to scavenge around the homestead, often they were supplemented with kitchen leftovers and a handful of grains. The survey results demonstrated that there was potential for improving rural poultry production through interventions using appropriate technologies that are currently on-shelf.
Evaluating characteristics of indigenous chicken system with flock size trends in a participatory research on improved management practices in Kenya
(2015) Ndegwa, JM.; Meada, R.; Norrish, P.; Shepherd, DD.; Kimani, CW.; Wachira, AM.; Siamba, Donald N.; Ndegwa, Joseph M.
Analysis and evaluation of agricultural systems use these criteria: energy, economic, agronomy, environmental conservation and time. Because of time importance indicator for reducing timeliness cost, project scheduling techniques are used. Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT) is widely used as a tool for managing projects. In this research GERT Networks were used and operations scheduling of sugarcane production (land preparation, planting and preserve operations) in Khuzestan province of Iran as a case study was analysed, by using WinQsb software. Critical activities, events and path were determined. The earliest project completion time is 214.03 days. The results show a high potential for operations scheduling of sugarcane production.
Investigating eggs hatchability in indigenous chicken system with smallholder farms in Kenya in a participatory research using analysis of variation
(Elewa bioSciences, 2014) Ndegwa, JM.; Mead, R.; Norrish, P.; Shephered, DD.; Kimani, CW.; Wachira, AM.; Siamba, Donald N.
Objective: The aim of this farmer participatory research was to investigate the treatment effects of housing, vaccination, deworming and feed supplementation on production characteristics of indigenous chicken in different farms in Kenya. Methodology and results: The research involved 200 farmers in five regions in three counties (Laikipia, Nyandarua and Nakuru). Four villages were selected per region and10 farms in each village. The selection of farms was based on farmer’s willingness to participate. Training and sensitisation meetings, introduction of intervention options, implementation by farmers, and monitoring and evaluation were carried out. The project was monitored over a span of five, 3-months long period. This paper has dwelt on the inferential statistical analysis of production characteristics hatchability, using variation analysis. The data used was from 107 and 121 farms recorded in three consecutive typical hen-cycles. The production characteristic hatchability was obtained as percentage of the eggs hatched over the eggs set for each hen that had records for each cycle. The mean hatchability values in the 20 villages ranged from 62 – 76% and frequency distribution of individual values had a range of 20 – 100 percent. The analysis of variation has produced evidence for no cycle effect on hatchability while showing large enough variations within and between farms and consequently between regions. Lack of cycle effects on hatchability could possibly be associated with the fact that the characteristic was more or less mancontrolled. The regression analysis provided evidence that a number of variables in four different combinations influenced hatchability levels in different regions. Conclusion and application of results: The results of the analysis indicate that there is strong evidence that farmers’ actions, (management), animal behaviour (indigenous chicken hens genetic potential) and environment (regions) all have some influence on the performance of indigenous chicken flocks. This study also provides empirical evidence that farmer participatory research is a development concept that has great potential in supporting innovation and technology development and transfer for poverty alleviation and livelihoods enhancing of rural poor people.
A rural poultry production manual
(1998) Ndegwa, JM.; Kimani, CW.; Siamba, Donald N.
: Indigenous chickens in Kenya are about 22 million and are kept by 90% of the rural communities in small flocks of up to 30 birds mainly under free range system. The industry is flexible and does not require a lot of space. When people retire or are retrenched they easily start poultry keeping. Distinct indigenous chicken ecotypes have been identified and named. The names are phenotypic descriptions of the birds. The names used to describe the common phenotypes in Kenya are-frizzled feathered, naked neck, barred feathered, feathered shanks, bearded and dwarf sized. The local ecotypes of the chickens vary in body size, conformation, plumage colour and performance. The birds are hardy and thrive under a harsh environment with minimal inputs. They get most of their feed from scavenging and may occasionally benefit from kitchen and other household wastes. Eggs and chicken meat contribute to the protein nutrition of the rural population thus alleviating malnutrition. Sales of eggs and meat earn and diversify incomes for rural households especially among women and children who control benefits accruing from the enterprise. It has also helped those affected and infected by HIV Aids because it does not involve a lot of hard work. Indigenous chicken in Kenya are about 76 % of the total poultry population and produce about 55 and 47% of the total meat and eggs respectively. Productivity is low due to factors which include genotype, poor nutrition, diseases and management. Feed supplementation, provision of housing and disease control was found to improve growth rate and egg production.