Background and Mandate
KARI-Kakamega by then (Western Agricultural Research Institute) was started in 1953 as a seed farm near the present GK prison, Kakamega and has grown to become one of the 23 main KARI centres.  The centre is located within Kakamega municipality, 1.5 km south-east of the town centre.  It occupies an area of about 100 hectares, and has a sub-centre at Alupe in Teso district which was established in 1956 and occupies about 240ha.  The centre is located at an altitude of 1585 metres, within a high potential agro-ecological zone,  and has an annual rainfall of 1850mm.  Alupe receives 1000 – 1700 mm but with high evapo-transpiration of 200mm.  Priority crop enterprises in the region include:  maize, beans, cassava, sorghum, millet, sweet potatoes, bananas and vegetables as food crops, while the major cash crops are:  sugarcane, tea, cotton and tobacco.  The major livestock enterprises are dairy cattle and poultry.  These priority enterprises were identified during the enterprise priority setting for KARI centres in 2006.

The centre mandate covers currently 26 districts in western province and 7 districts in Nyanza province.  The 33 districts cover an area of 13000km2 with a population of 5 million people in about 1 million household.  The region has a variable topography ranging from Lake Victoria plains to Mt Elgon highlands.  It also has a varied agro-ecology ranging from upper highlands (UH1) to lower midland (LM4) agro-ecological zones (AEZ).

KARI-Kakamega centre is mandated to conduct adaptive, strategic and applied research using the farming system approach to research extension and training (FSA-RET) focusing on key crop and livestock enterprises plus others with potential to do well in the region.  The key enterprises are:  maize, pulses, sorghum, millet, oil crops, dairy, poultry and natural resource management.  The FSA-RET is an inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional approach which focuses on participatory identification and prioritization of production, planning, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of remedial technical intervention with the process.  Other mechanisms for facilitating linkage and ensuring research quality and relevance include:  centre research advisory committee (CRAC) and pre-CRAC both of which are broad based and consultative research proposal review.

Centre’s objectives:

1. Setting priority research agenda for the mandate region
2. To conduct research that develops new improved products and technologies in crop, livestock, soil, water and socio-economics
3. To add value to existing technologies for the benefit of the end user on the mandate region
4. To establish and strengthen collaborative linkage with other organizations and institutions of higher learning on matters relevant to research and technology transfer
5. To strengthen existing research extension farmer linkage involving relevant ministries, community based and non-government organizations
6. To assist KARI to generate income towards sustainable funding of its activities
7. To assist in disseminating research findings and catalyze adoption of suitable technologies with collaboration
8. To build scientific farmer capacity by organizing on-station and on-farm trainings