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Browsing by Author "Laker-Ojok, Rita"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Adoption and impacts of conservation agriculture: Quasi experimental evidence from E. Africa
    Bashaasha, Bernard; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Norton, James B.; Owori, M.; Peck, D. (2013)
    Conservation Agriculture is a recent and evolving concept to land management that seeks to optimise crop yields and farm profits in a manner that balances economic and environmental benefits. The underlying principles include avoiding soil tillage, maintaining soil cover and retaining crop residues, practicing crop rotations and improved fallows, precision placement of appropriate fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides (targeting of inputs), reliance upon integrated pest management (IPM) principles and avoidance of soil compaction, among others.
  • Agricultural Actors, Networks and Mind-sets: Discovering the predisposition for CAPS in the Mt Elgon region of Uganda and Kenya
    Moore, Keith M.; Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Nyachwo, Julian; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Mukhwana, Eusebius J.; Bashaasha, Bernard; Norton, James B. (Blacksburg, VA: SANREM CRSP, Virginia Tech OIRED, 2012)
    Scaling up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for smallholders requires
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    Development and transfer of conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for small-holder farms in eastern Uganda and western Kenya
    Norton, James B.; Arnould, Eric; Norton, Urszula; Peck, Dannele; Press, Melea; Okalebo, Robert; Omondi, Emmanuel C.; Mukhwana, Eusebius J.; Bashaasha, Bernard; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Okeyo, Jeremiah; Odhiambo, Judith A.; Owori, Moses; Oluko, Patrick; Ogonga, Phanice; Chepkurui, Isaac; Sikuku, Dominic (2011)
    This poster provides an overview of the Long Term Research Activity 10 of Phase IV of the SANREM CRSP in two upland and two lowland areas in Mt. Elgon region of Kenya-Uganda border: Kapchorwa and Tororo Uganda; Trans Nzoia and Bungoma, Kenya. The project aims to assist farmers and other stakeholders in determining whether soil-building practices result in healthier soils and economically higher yields. They will have identified, developed and tested tools for reducing soil disturbance over this 5 year project. The research will also result in defined policy and regulatory constraints to agronomic and market innovation.
  • Innovation networks and complex contagion in East Africa: modeling adoption of conservation agriculture in the Mt. Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda
    Rivers Gunter, J. C. M.; Moore, Keith M.; Eubank, Stephen; Kuhlman, C.; Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Ngosia Sikuku, D. (2014)
    Community support networks play a key role in smallholder farmers’ willingness to adopt
  • Multiple knowledges for agricultural production: Implications for the development of conservation agriculture in Kenya and Uganda
    Moore, Keith M.; Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Norton, James B. (2014)
    This article explores the interactions of different agricultural knowledges in order to examine mindset changes related to the adoption of conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS). Farmers in the Mount Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda were presented with 20 statements representing three different agricultural frames: conventional modern agriculture, conservation agriculture, and risk-averse agriculture. Responses were recorded on a five-point Likert scale. Factor analysis was also used for the three separate principles of CAPS. The findings legitimate the diversity in local agricultural knowledge systems, identify a difference in perspectives of farmers and of agriculture service providers and community agents, and demonstrates the role of local networks in influencing farmers’ technological frames. The article demonstrates that the mindset change necessary for farmers to adopt CAPS requires adaptation to the local agro-ecology and social network.
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    Social networks and agricultural production knowledge: Findings from the Mt. Elgon Region (Kenya and Uganda)
    Moore, Keith M.; Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Norton, James B. (2012)
    Technological change leading to sustained smallholder innovation in conservation agriculture (CA) involves more than just the introduction of new practices by a transforming agent (extension or NGO). Many observers note that conservation agriculture requires a change of mind-set for adoption to occur (Hobbs, 2007; Wall, 2007). Successful cases of CA development have also demonstrated active engagement of a network of producers and their partners throughout the agricultural sector (Coughenour, 2003; Swenson and Moore, 2009). Social networks and their associated local and scientific knowledge systems have been shown to have potential for collective management of natural resources, albeit with variable results depending on the structure of the social network (Crona and Bodin, 2006; Schumann, 2011). Based on farm household and modified snowball surveys of agricultural sector and community agents, this paper examines social networks and technological beliefs in four agricultural communities surrounding Mt. Elgon in western Kenya and eastern Uganda.
  • Social networks and smallholder conservation agriculture in East Africa
    Moore, Keith M.; Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Norton, James B.; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Nyachowo, J.; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Bashaasha, Bernard; Mukhwana, Eusebius J. (2012)
    Scaling up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for smallholders requires facilitating a change in mindset within a supporting network of agricultural production partners. Entering into the dialogue necessary to achieve these changes depends on the capacity of CAPS promoters to interact and communicate effectively with the existing network of farmers, agricultural service sector providers, and community agents. Effectively negotiating these interactions to create innovative ways to integrate the three conservation agriculture principles (reduced tillage, maintaining a permanent crop cover, and crop rotations) into local production practices will require: (1) an understanding of the current (local and scientific) knowledge and perspectives concerning best agricultural norms and practices; and (2) identifying the relevant actors and their resource and communication channels in the local agricultural production network. As a contribution to building this communicative competence, this paper presents findings from the study of four local networks involved in CAPS research in Kenya and Uganda.
  • Technology networks for conservation agriculture: Kapchorwa, Uganda
    Laker-Ojok, Rita; Sikuku, D.; Lamb, Jennifer (2012)
    The presentation was concerned with farmer networks research findings, locally-held perceptions and beliefs about conservation agriculture, and integral stakeholders in the agricultural production network. The study included focus groups and surveys
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    Using a Social Network Approach to Improve Participatory Research for Conservation Agriculture: Initial Findings from the Mt. Elgon Region Initial Findings from the Mt. Elgon Region
    Lamb, Jennifer Nicole; Moore, Keith M.; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Norton, James B. (2012)
    The presentation reviewed initial findings for a study on social network approaches to improve participatory research for conservation agriculture in the Mt. Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda. Changes in technology transfer and international agricultural research were presented along with the notion of using social networks to study the co-innovation process. The key contributions of the study to project management were the building of trust and improvement of participatory research and the key contributors to CAPS technology development were the revelation of differences between perceived and reported network contacts, ill-informed perspectives about the beliefs of others, and the problems regarding actual agricultural technologies. The study helped to identify challenges to Conservation Agriculture (CA) such as herbicide use in Tororo and CA as a hand technology.