Sorghum is considered a staple food for most rural communities in Kenya. Sorghum is mainly favoured for its ability to thrive in adverse climatic conditions. This study was carried out to determine sorghum consumption in selected rural communities in western Kenya. This was done by determining how much sorghum the children aged 2-5 years consume daily, what the consumption patterns of sorghum are and also to determine if biofortification of sorghum with protein, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, iron and zinc will make any significant contribution to the children‘s nutrient intake. A cross-sectional food consumption survey was conducted using an interviewer administered Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (QFFQ) to 102 mothers and caregivers. The QFFQ was run concurrently with focus group interviews as data collection tools. The results indicated that the diet consumed by the children in the selected communities offered a variety of foods resulting in sufficient nutrient intake for the majority of the children. The daily contribution made by sorghum, however, was low with 36.4 g soft porridge (uji) and 26.2 g stiff porridge (ugali) being the average amounts given daily to the children. The nutrient contribution made by sorghum was; energy 140 kJ (2%), protein 0.9 g (1.7%), iron 0.3 mg (4.3%), zinc 0.1 mg (2.1%), Vitamin A (0%), Vitamin E (0%). The proportion of the population who consumed a diet deficient in one or more of these nutrients was 36.3% energy, 4.9% protein, 48% iron, 21.6% zinc, 46.1% Vitamin A and 17.6% Vitamin E. The small contribution made by sorghum to the diet made it a minor component in the children‘s diet. For the deficient children, the insufficient nutrient intake from the diet is an indication that the diet quantity rather than the quality needs to be improved. A multiple dietary approach that is practical and sustainable for rural people through dietary diversification would be more beneficial. The multiple dietary approach would ensure that people consume a variety of locally available foods that contain a rich source of micronutrients and energy in order to address shortfalls in the diet quality and quantity. Biofortification of sorghum would not make any significant contribution to the children‘s nutrient intake because of the fact that the children are consuming a very small amount of sorghum daily. For biofortification of sorghum to make a significant difference in the children‘s nutrient intake in these communities, the people in these communities need to be encouraged to consume more sorghum than they are currently consuming. Educating the rural communities about the importance of growing locally adapted crops such as sorghum and incorporating them in their diets would assist in improving the micronutrient status of rural people. / Dissertation (dissertation)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Food Science / unrestricted

This study formed part of the collaborative IDEAL (Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock) project, which focused on the sedentary mixed crop-livestock smallholding system in Western Kenya. This was a longitudinal study where calves were recruited at birth and followed at 5-weekly intervals until 51 weeks of age. The main aim was to investigate the total disease burden of cattle in the study area for the first year of life. The main objectives of the study concerned anaemia as a syndrome in the calves. Anaemia can provisionally be diagnosed based on clinical signs, but a confirmatory diagnosis is based on measuring of red blood cell parameters, such as packed cell volume (PCV), red cell counts (RCC) or haemoglobin (HGB). The FAMACHA / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Veterinary Tropical Diseases / unrestricted

In my essay, I have considered whether the data in publications on sexual violence against children reflectreality. I suspect that there are cases of child sexual abuse that goes underreported, and I try to investigate why this happens and the key possible reasons that lower the statistics. My essay focuses on the community in Western Kenya, yet I think the presumptions I made can be generalised and applicable to other contexts. I analyse material from research in Kisumu County and national data, and I support myself with information about child abuse from UNICEF. I name four key reasons why the data may not reflect reality: the taboo of being a sexual victim, economic dependency, psychological manipulation, and how society defines rape and sexual abuse. I use critical feminism as a framework to tackle the issue of a marginalised group of people.

This exploratory study assessed attitudes and perceptions of smallholder farmers towards agricultural technologies in Kakamega County, Kenya. Through a mixed-methods sequential design, the study evaluated the key variables predicting farmer adoption of agricultural innovations. While social sciences provide a clear human-driven pattern explaining the process of choices and behaviors regarding technology use, there is still little clarity on the influences of adoption decisions among smallholder farmers in rural Kenya. Using the diffusion of innovations theory, the study explored the attitudes and perceptions of smallholder farmers toward technology adoption in seven sub-counties of Kakamega County (Lurambi, Ikolomani, Shinyalu, Mumias East (Shianda), Malava Butere, and Khwisero). The study design utilized a quantitative survey of 245 smallholder heads of households, followed by focus group discussions to further probe attitudes, values and practices that could influence technology adoption. The survey questionnaire tested two hypotheses: (H1) socio-demographic characteristics are related to agricultural technology adoption; and, (H2) farmer access to extension services was related to agricultural technology adoption. A binary logistic regression model was used to quantitatively estimate socio-demographic variables presumed to influence the adoption of agricultural innovations. Subsequently, four informal focus group discussions of 28 discussants was conducted across representative sub-counties (Lurambi, Shianda, Malava and Ikolomani), to elicit an in-depth understanding of farmers’ perspectives on technology adoption. The focus group participants included farmers recruited from among survey participants. The qualitative research instrument sought to answer three questions, (RQ1) what are farmer attitudes and perceptions towards agricultural technologies; (RQ2) what socio-cultural values influence farmers’ choice of agricultural technologies; and, (RQ3) what sources do farmers use for obtaining information on agricultural technology? Quantitative results included a principal component analysis (PCA) in which 14 attitudes questions were reduced to five conceptual clusters. These clusters included: challenges in accessing modern agricultural technologies (explained 19.09% of the total variance); effectiveness of agricultural technologies (11.88%); enjoyment of agricultural technologies (10.02%); social influence in use of technology (9.47%); and experience with agricultural technologies (8.13%). A logistic regression model indicated that independently age (.07), education (.10), and off-farm income (.08) were significantly associated with adoption of technology at the 90% confidence level when controlling for all other variables in the model. However, agricultural extension (.42) was not a significant predictor of agricultural technology adoption in this model. Qualitative results provided rich insights which enhanced findings from the survey data. Key insights in the thematic analysis included: farmers’ ambivalence about agricultural technologies; lack of trust in agricultural agents; low levels of agricultural technology knowledge; extension services as the main source of information dissemination to farmers; predominance of gender in determining agricultural technology adoption; and gender inequity in agricultural decision-making. In conclusion, the study results suggested that a mixed-methods approach was valuable in probing the nuances of farmers’ perceptions of agricultural extension and technology adoption among smallholder farmers. The results supported the following recommendations: the agricultural extension efforts could be more effectively structured in order to support the dissemination of agricultural information; the issue of gender should be adequately addressed by engaging male and female in collaborative agricultural efforts to help break the barrier of gender inequity; and future research would benefit from disaggregating public and private extension services as a more robust method for determining their individual effects in the promotion of agricultural innovations among smallholder farmers.