Soil and water are the principal resources on which agriculture depends. Increasing land pressure in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) due to the rapid increase in population, has encouraged the use of non-sustainable farming practices and subsequent environmental degradation, characterised by declining soil fertility, widespread soil erosion and loss of biomass and biodiversity. Thus appropriate conservation of these resources is a critical requirement for sustainable agricultural production. The Soil and Water Management Programme was started in 1992 with the advent of the European Union (EU)-supported Soil and Water Management Research Programme. Before then, soil and water management issues were addressed by the Agronomy section.

Collaborators
The major collaborators include the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock Development, and Irrigation and Water Development, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations (farmers’ groups) and the private sector.

Goal
The goal of the programme is to develop appropriate soil and water management technologies for more efficient use of land resources in the ASALs of Kenya with a view to contributing to increased crop production, food sufficiency, alleviation of poverty and conservation of the environment.

Objectives
The objectives of the programme are to—

• develop and promote appropriate technologies for improvement and maintenance of soil fertility
• develop and promote appropriate water conservation/harvesting technologies for crop and fodder production
• develop/promote appropriate systems of small-scale irrigation
• develop and promote appropriate animal-drawn tillage/early planting implements

To achieve its goal, the programme has 3 main research thrusts: soil fertility, soil and water conservation/harvesting, and small-scale irrigation.
The programme has one on-going project on Up-scaling and promotion of suitable integrated soil fertility and water management strategies for increasing productivity in the ASALs of Kenya using Farmer Field Schools and 3 proposed projects on:
Optimising soil water and nutrients for enhancing sorghum productivity in semi-arid eastern Kenya, Improving the efficiency of utilisation of phosphorus from rock phosphate through plant and biological-based interventions, and Evaluation of the yield potential of cassava when intercropped with legumes and fertilised with NPK fertiliser under semi-arid conditions