CRAPAE

Building Climate Resilient mixed crop-livestock and Agro Pastoral farming systems in Elgeyo Marakwet County through AgroEcology: Quantification, reduction and community sensitization on greenhouse gas emissions

Led by our collaborator Dr. Abigael Otinga at the University of Eldoret, in October 2023 we started the CRAPAE project to investigate soil chemistry, yield and plant growth, and greenhouse gas emissions under different agropastoral management practices in the Elgeyo-Marakwet county in the Rift valley region of Kenya. The project is funded by the RUFORUM Global Research Alliance Graduate Research Grants. This program aims at building the capability of graduate students and post-graduate scientists in Africa to conduct applied research on agricultural greenhouse gases in non-Annex I countries in Africa.

In this project we are looking at the impact of fertilisation – organic and synthetic, nitrogen and phosphorus – on crop yields, soil nutrients, and greenhouse gas emissions. The experimental set up also incorporates three cropping types: Maize, desmodium sp. and an intercrop of maize and desmodium. Maize is one of the most important cereal crops in Kenya, and desmodium is a key fodder crop. There have been very few studies into greenhouse gas emissions from croplands in Kenya, despite expectations that fertiliser use will increase strongly in coming decades. Food security is a key issue in this region, and well-planned agricultural development using the principles of agroecology could help improve food production while minimising excess environmental impact in this region.

Phosphorus deficiency makes the leaves of the maize turn purplish. Unterstanding the fertiliser needs of the plants and supplying the right nutrition at the right time improves both sustainability and yields.

The CRAPAE team at the Chebiemet site. L-R: MSc student (N2OSSA project) Kevin Churchil Oluoch, MSc student Irine Odera, Dr. Eliza Harris, the farmer responsible for the beautiful crops, PhD student (N2OSSA project) Turry Ouma, Collins Oduor (ILRI), CRAPAE PI Dr. Abigael Otinga.

In March 2023, the whole visited the CRAPAE sites with MSc student Irine Odera, who is responsible for the site and carrying out the sampling. Irine has set up an impressive array of plots, and is collecting soil samples from each plot every two weeks, as well as greenhouse gas samples using manual chambers from a subset of the plots. We visited a site near the town of Chebiemit in the Marakwet West political division, and another site in Keiyo North, around 10 km north of the famous running town of Iten. Irine will follow the crops as they grow until harvest. She will measure the yield of maize and desmodium and compare this to the greenhouse gas emissions and soil nutrient profile in each of her treatments. We hope this data will help us understand this impact of different management practices and thus develop better recommendations for sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Maize and desmodium intercropping at the Chebiemet site. Treatments include maize and desmodium in isolation, as well as intercropping, in addition to different fertilisation approaches.

The CRAPAE team at the Keiyo North site. L-R: MSc student (N2OSSA project) Kevin Churchil Oluoch, PhD student (N2OSSA project) Turry Ouma, MSc student Irine Odera, Dr. Eliza Harris, CRAPAE PI Dr. Abigael Otinga, and the farmers responsible for the beautiful crops.

Project scientists

Department of Soil Science, University of Eldoret: Dr. Abigael Otinga (Project PI)

Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Eldoret: Dr. Frank Masese

Department of Tourism and Tour Operations Management, University of Eldoret: Dr. George Ariya

Climate and Environmental Science, University of Bern: Prof. Dr. Eliza Harris

ILRI: Dr. Sonja Leitner

Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization: Dr. Keziah Magiroi

This project is funded by the RUFORUM Global Research Alliance Graduate Research Grants.