Course comprises FIVE Sections:
1. Soils, Climate & Agriculture – Prof S.O. Keya
 2. Agricultural Economics – Prof Ackello-Ogutu
 3. Crops – Prof Kimani Waithaka
 4. Animal Production – Prof B. N. Mitaru
 5. Agricultural Engineering – Dr Gichuki Muchiri
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See LARMAT Website
What is LARMAT?
Land Resources management and Agricultural
Technologies (Office Next upper Large Lecture
Theatre
One of the Departments within the Faculty of
Agriculture
1. Land Resources – Soils, Land and Water
2. Sustainable Resources Management
3. Impact of land degradation on food security
4. Climate and Agriculture
5. Kenya’s shrinking land base vs Vision 2030
6. Issues of climate change – Ecological effects
Learners to comprehend that:
Food security depends on good soils
 Kenya has to grow more food on less land
 Climate change threatens food production
 Management of land affects our livelihoods
 You have an important role in managing land
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Coffee
Fallow
Napier
Natural forest
Horticulture
Maize Based
Livestock, Range & Water
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A broad term embodying the total natural
environment of the areas of the earth not covered
by water. In addition to soil, its attributes include
other physical conditions such as mineral
deposits and water supply; location in relation to
centers commerce, population, and other land;
the size of individual tracts or holdings; and
existing plant cover, works of improvement and
the like.
Department of LARMAT = Land Resources
Management and Agricultural Technologies
 Land Resources = Land + Water
 This Department comprises of Soil Science and
Range Management
 Water Resources is a component of both soils
and range.
 Land and water are critical component of
agricultural production
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Soil as a major component of Land
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Land is important for use in crop production to sustain
current world population now at 7 billion people.
Sub-Saharan Africa: 0.9 billion and Kenya – 38 million
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Land is used for crop and livestock production including
structures (roads, farm houses, urban) dwellings.
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Cultivated land is referred to as arable land. This definition
also include land under permanent pastures.
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Land under forest-important for watershed and livelihoods.
1. A dynamic natural body composed of minerals
and organic materials including living forms in
which plants grow.
 2. The collection of natural bodies occupying
parts of the earth’s surface that support plants and
that have properties arising from the integrated
effect of climate and living matter acting upon
parent material, as conditioned by relief, over a
period of time.
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The primary function of soil is to provide plants with air,
water, nutrients and a rooting medium for growth and
physical support
 Provide a medium for plant growth and
biological activity
 Regulate and partition water flow and
storage in the environment
 Serve as an environmental filter and
buffer in the immobilization and
degradation of environmentally
hazardous materials
(Larson and Pierce, 1991)
Production of biomass in natural and man made
systems require water
 Agriculture takes place in open landscape where
the forces of nature are both a blessing and a
curse – difficult to regulate water needs
 Water used in urban context can be re-used since
only a small proportion is consumed
 Negative environmental impacts such as
eutrophication and pollution are felt downstream
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Exploitation of blue water resources has been
instrumental in allowing substantial food
production increase esp, Asia LAC, WANA
 Green water remains the most important water
source for most forms of agriculture
 A growing world population means that more
food is required
 More food can only be provided if water is
available at the right time in the right place, in
the necessary quantity and of the appropriate
quality
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Renewable fresh water per capita stands at
647m3 and is expected to fall to 235 m3 by 2025
if supply does not keep with the population
increase
 Discovery of huge water resources in Turkana
will improve Kenya’s water per capita
 Investment in these water resources anxiously
awaited
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Until 2013, Kenya was classified as one of the
water deficient countries in the world
 Water resources are unevenly distributed in space
and time
 About 56% of the country's fresh water resources
are in the lake Victoria basin
 A large proportion of the country, accounting for
more than 80% is semi arid and arid with annual
rainfall average of 400mm
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Irrigation is practiced in areas where there is lack of
green water
 It is estimated that about 4,000 to 5,000 km3 are
annually withdrawn from blue water sources
 The capacity of the human society to withdraw water
has increased in recent years
 Expansion of irrigation is significant factor
contributing to lowering of groundwater table
witnessed in NAfrica, WAsia, Middle East, Western
NAmerica, Plains of North China
 Galana Irrigation Project launched 2014 – 1 million ha
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Global land surface is 13.4 billion ha
Agricultural land is 1.5 million ha (11% arable)
Cultivated area represent about 1/3 (36%) land
suitable for cultivation
Land with crop production potential - 2.7 billion ha
Hence there is prospects for agricultural expansion
However, there is perception that there is no more
land for agriculture.
Yet others argue that there is a shortage of land for
cultivation.
Will there be an increasing scarcity of land by 2030?
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To answer this question, examine past trends:
1961-63 to 1997-99- expansion of arable land in
developing countries was 172 million ha (25%)
By 2030, an increase of only 120 million ha or 13%
will be possible.
This means adding 3.75 million ha per year
compared to 4.8 million ha per year in 1961-63 to
1997-99.
We observe a slowdown of expansion in land.
Some of the land we consider available (2.8 million
ha) is not available.
Unavailable land is locked up in other uses such as
45% in forests, 12% in protected areas, 3% in
human settlement and infrastructure.
In addition, much of the land reserve may have
qualities that make agriculture difficult such as:
 Low soil fertility
 High soil toxicity
 High incidence of human and animal diseases
 Poor infrastructure
 Hilly or difficult terrain
 More than 80% of the projected expansion in arable
area is expected to take place is Sub-Saharan Africa
and Latin America.
 In S. Asia and near East and North Africa, almost all
suitable land is already in use.
In South and East Asia, > 8% of the increase in production will
have to come from yield increase, hence cropping intensities must
rise in all regions
 Also shortening of fallows periods increased multiple cropping
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Is land becoming scarce?
1. There is widespread concern that the world may be running out of
agricultural land
2. The land scarcity is exacerbated by population growth
3. Conservation of farmland to urban uses
4.
Land degradation and other factors
Non-agricultural uses vary from country to country and the local level.
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Land scarcity is a reality with serious consequences for poverty
reduction and food security.
Land scarcity is likely to worsen unless remedial action is taken.
Land degradation is the process by which the soils
current or future capacity to produce is lowered by
chemical, physical or biological changes.
 The area of degraded land is not known with much
precision. The assessment is often based on expert
judgement rather than objective measurement.
 Estimates by Global Assessment of Land
Degradation (GLASOD) puts the total degraded
lands at 1964 million ha, of which 910 million are
moderately degraded.
 Water erosion is the most common problem,
affecting 1100 million ha, followed by wind erosion,
which affected almost 600 million ha.
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Impact of land degradation on productivity
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Seriousness varies widely from site to site
Degradation is a slow process
Can be masked by application of fertilization and by
changing the crops grown.
Off-site effects of land degradation
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Siltation of streambeds and dams
Flood damage
Loss of fisheries and the eutrophication of lakes and coastal
waters. e.g.
Lake Victoria,
Nyanza gulf – water hyacinth
Lake Naivasha – Siltation
Indian Ocean – sedimentation from Tana River
Siltation of Dams – Masinga, Kindaruma
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The off-site costs of degradation were often greater than
the ones on-site.
The off-site effects of degradation are not all negative:
Losses in one place may result in gains elsewhere
When soil is eroded from uplands boosts productivity in
lowlands (alluvial plains) where it is deposited
Strategies to reduce land degradation [likely to reduce its
extent or impact]
Shifts in livestock production to more intensive systems
will take pressure from the land (dry land pastures)
As people leave rural areas for urban centers and
farming for non-farming occupations,
Marginal lands, Drylands steep slopes tend to be
abandoned
Trends to reduce land degradation:
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No-till/conservation agriculture – maintaining year
round soil cover and increasing organic matter is soils.
Increased fertilizer consumption and more efficient
fertilizer use
The use of irrigation, water harvesting, drought tolerant
crops and grazing-tolerant grasses, which improve crop
and vegetation cover and reduce erosion in dry lands
The cultivation of legumes, which can add nitrogen to
soils and improve their stability and texture in mixed
crop-livestock farming system.
Diversification into higher value crops in protecting
soils. Dry land range rehabilitation. Farmer incentives
for land investments.
Sloping land is particularly prone to water erosion,
especially in wet areas where slopes exceed 10 – 30%
 Desertification, a term referring to land degradation
in arid and semi-arid areas. In Kenya, 80% of the
country is Arid and Semi-arid land (ASAL)
 Salinization occurs in irrigated areas, usually when
inadequate drainage causes salts to concentrate in
the upper soil layers where plant root.
 It is a problem in arid and semi-arid zones, where 10
– 50% of the irrigated area may be affected.
Salinization can cause yield decreases of 10 – 25%
for many crops and may prevent cropping altogether
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 Nutrient
mining is also a serious
problem. Farmers often use insufficient
fertilizer to replace the nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium (NPK)
harvested with their crops and lost
through leaching. Micro-nutrients may
also be deficient, e.g.
 Fe
 Boron
 Mo
Stress
1. Heavy load due to
traffic
2. High intensity rains &
winds, overland flow
3. High evaporative
demand, high salt []
4. Poor internal drainage
5. Intensive cropping
6.
Intensive use of
agrochemicals
Principal processes
Physical degradation e.g.
compaction, structural decline,
crusting,
Accelerated erosion by water and
wind
Drought, desertification,
salinization or sodication
Soil wetness and anaerobiosis
Chemical degradation, nutrient
imbalance, SOM depletion
Biological degradation,
acidification, reduced biodiversity
Increase research and technology development for
land management, and improve the flow of
information by user friendly farmer networks.
 Promote land-improving investments through
technical assistance and financing arrangements
suitable for low income farmers. E.g. Building soil
organic matter, planting trees, installing small scale
irrigation
 Encourage long-term land improvements by
securing property rights and rights of access to
natural resources, particularly for the poor.
 Develop planning systems for sustainable land use
that involve key resource use groups
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 Improve
the economic environment for
farmers by developing market infrastructure,
correcting distorted price incentives, and
encouraging rural income growth and
diversification.
 In
the case of marginal lands/ drylands
regions/counties:
 Encourage more public investment in
infrastructure, soil services and agricultural
support services.
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The problem of food production lies in the soil
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The solution of food production lies in the soil
1. Eradicate poverty and hunger
 2. Universal primary education
 3. Gender equality
 4. Reduce child mortality
 5. Improve maternal health
 6. Combat diseases
 7. Ensure environmental sustainability
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 Food Security - Components
1. Enactment of consolidated agricultural reform bill
2. Fertiliser cost reduction – produce 200,000 metric tons of
various fertilizer types and ensure accessibility and
affordability
3. ASALs irrigation development – put 0.6 to 1.2 million
hectares under irrigation
Opportunities and Challenges
April 13, 2015
37
 Increase economic growth rate from 7% achieved in 2007 to
10% by 2012 and sustain an average 10% economic growth
rate to 2030
 Six sectors have been identified:
1. Agriculture
2. Tourism
3. Wholesale, retail and trade
Opportunities and Challenges
April 13, 2015
38
6. Water and sanitation
7. Human resources development
8. Security, peace building and
conflict management
Opportunities and Challenges
April 13, 2015
39
Three pillars are anchored on:
1. Infrastructure
2. ICT
3. Science, Technology and Innovation
4. Land reforms
5. Public sector reforms
Opportunities and Challenges
April 13, 2015
40
41
Vision 2030
Economic
Pillar
Political
Pillar
Social
Pillar
Enablers and Macro
National Values (Moral Foundation)
Overview of Vision 2030
Opportunities and Challenges
April 13, 2015
April
13, 2015
41
Bende, Nigeria, rice and many
others
Bende, Nigeria, rice and
Cassava& Yam
Makeni, After rice
Mopti, Mali
Gao, Mali, Oryza Glaberrima
Weeds are stronger: upland rice, Bida
Nupe’s traditional partial water control system
Nupe’s indigenous partial
water control system
No ecotechnology measures
Once Sawah systems are developed by farmer
self-support efforts and water is controlled,
Inland Valley, Sierra Leonemajority of HYV can produce higher than 5 t/h
Issues on land are crucial for realizing Kenya’s
Vision 2030 and Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)
 Better use of land will help in meeting the MDGs
 Among the Flagship projects in Vision 2030 is
Fertilizer Manufacture, Irrigation projects etc.
 The recently enacted Land Bill will require
scientists and policy makers like you
 Good Policy is informed by Science and
Technology
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