KARI: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute

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ARF ARIS ATIRI KAPP KASAL USAID E. Afr. agric. For. J. UPALNet-Kenya

The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) is a premier national institution bringing together research programmes in food crops, horticultural and industrial crops, livestock and range management, land and water management, and socio-economics. KARI promotes sound agricultural research, technology generation and dissemination to ensure food security through improved productivity and environmental conservation.

Animal drawn planters for vertisols and lighter red soils to save labour and time

At present farmers cannot plant most soils until after sufficient rain has fallen to allow the current mouldboard plough to penetrate. Thus planting is late with a loss of potential yield. Various designs of chisels and rippers exist, which can penetrate and break up dry soils but the force needed to pull them is high and greater than two animals, weakened by the limited dry season grazing, can exert for more than a short period of time.

Therefore two tools have been developed by KARI and Triple W Engineering that enable early planting. One is for vertisols and the other is for lighter red soils. [more....]

Fertilizer sparks Africa Revolution claim
(Tabo Ramadjita Tabo, Desert Margins Programme - ICRISAT - Niamey)

Fertilizer applied in small doses at the right place and at the right time is triggering the much-awaited Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa.
More than 25,000 farm families in the barren lands of West Africa have doubled their crop yields and incomes using improved seeds nourished with strategically applied tiny doses of fertilizer.

The technique of strategic fertilizer application, known as microdosing, has the potential to end widespread hunger in drought prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where the soil has been vastly degraded. Moreover, it is a cutting edge innovation that could help poor farmers cope with the soaring prices of food and fertilizer.

Farmers who practice microdosing apply 6 gram doses of fertilizer— about a full bottle cap or a three-finger pinch—in the hole where the plant is placed (at the time of planting). That translates to about 60 kilos of fertilizer per hectare (53 pounds per acre). [more..]

Our tenets

KARI's culture is built on five tenets of transparency, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and impact, through scientific excellence

Doing Business with KARI
KARI provides a number of avenues through which the private and public sectors can conduct business and benefit from KARI products and services. [more...]

Newcastle disease is the major cause of death among local chickens. Chickens suffering from Newcastle disease show nervous signs, diarrhoea and die in large numbers. The disease is spread by sick birds usually brought in from the market or by other birds from the neighbourhood. Visitors, dogs and wild birds can also spread the disease. The disease cannot be cured. [more..]

Production of Kales (Sukuma wiki ) and onions using bucket drip Irrigation

Grow a variety of vegetables for your family and neighbors using the bucket drip irrigation kit during the dry season. You only need three buckets of water a day at most. [more....]