NDLI: Productivity of Jatropha curcas under smallholder farm conditions in Kenya

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Iiyama, Miyuki Newman, David Munster, Cristel Nyabenge, Meshack Sileshi, Gudeta W. Moraa, Violet Onchieku, James Mowo, Jeremias Gasper Jamnadass, Ramni
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	With the global bioenergy boom, the planting of jatropha (Jatropha curcas) was widely promoted by the private sector and non-government organizations as one of the candidate tree species for bioenergy in Kenya. This was motivated by the belief that it grows easily with minimal management requirements. The present study attempts to determine whether management practices by smallholder farmers, which are heterogeneous, are optimal for jatropha yields in Kenya. A survey conducted in different agro-ecological zones showed that yields are very low under Kenyan farm conditions. Regardless of the age and management condition, 41 % of the farmers obtained no seed yield, while 79 % obtained up to 0.1 kg/tree. This is dismal in comparison with the figures (up to 2.0 kg/tree) reported from elsewhere for 1–5 year old trees grown under similar conditions. Examination of farmer management practices indicated that irrigation, manuring and weeding, in order to maximize yields, could be offset by misapplication of other components especially, selection of planting materials, timing of planting and choice of intercrops during the establishment phases. This indicates that the anticipated high yields have not been achieved partly because growers are still using unimproved germplasm, management practices are sub-optimal, and the biophysical boundaries of high jatropha yield are poorly defined. Thus at the current stage, jatropha should not be grown by smallholder farmers in Kenya because of low or dismal productivity. If jatropha is to play a role in the pro-poor bioenergy development, future projects need to identify management recommendations that optimize yields. This also needs to take into consideration the preferences and constraints of farm households on labor and land allocation to other farm and livelihood activities.
Starting Page	729
Ending Page	746
Page Count	18
File Format	PDF
ISSN	01674366
Journal	Agroforestry Systems
Volume Number	87
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	15729680
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2012-12-19
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Jatropha curcas Sub-optimal management Agroforestry Domestication Forestry Agriculture
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Forestry Agronomy and Crop Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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