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Kassie, M.

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Kassie
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M.
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Kassie, M.
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0000-0002-5898-3877

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Input subsidies or extension: which policy should take precedence when supporting farmers?
    (CIMMYT, [2017?]) Marenya, P.P.; Kassie, M.; Jaleta, M.; Erenstein, O.; Rahut, D.B.
    The Sustainable intensification of maize legume systems in eastern and southern Africa (SIMLESA) R4D project in conjunction with the adjunct Adoption Pathways project were designed to test the agronomic, economic and institutional requirements for CA-based sustainable agricultural intensification practices (CA-SAIPs) in five countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. One of the research efforts towards understanding some of the micro-level and policy enablers of CA-SAIPs looked at key household and farm-specific and macro (country specific) factors as predictors of adoption of two critical components of CA-SAIPs: minimum tillage and mulching. The study was done in four SIMLESA and Adoption Pathways project countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Many studies in the agricultural development literature that look at the adoption of agricultural technologies often study factors observed at the farm level and policy variables are often discussed as part of the broad interpretation of these results. In this brief we report on results from a study that is based both on adoption and policy simulations models.
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    What's in it for farmers? Farm level advantages of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Kenya
    (CIMMYT, 2016) Micheni, A.N.; Kassie, M.; Marenya, P.P.; Nyarindo, W.
    Conservation agriculture (CA) consists of three principles: reduced tillage, retaining crop residue on the soil surface year round, and crop diversification (either intercropping or rotational systems). This practice is important to sustainably increase crop productivity through improving soil organic matter, conserving moisture, weed control, pests and diseases management, and enhancing farmers’ resilience to drought and climate change and variability. A four year (2010–2014) experiment was established on farmers’ field sites in eastern region (Embu, Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties) and western region (Siaya and Bungoma counties) of Kenya. The experiments included conventional tillage (CVT) or farmers’ average practices, and two CA-based practices involving no or zero tillage (ZT) and a system of tillage involving construction of furrows and ridges (FR) rather than full tillage (although furrows and ridges were not established in the western Kenya sites). Beans in eastern and Desmodium in western regions were incorporated as intercrop in maize cropping systems. The experiments were carried out both in the short rain (SR) and long rain (LR) seasons. The financial analysis of the various treatments was carried out based on average village grain and crop residue prices and daily labour wage rates. For inputs (fertilizer and herbicides) the prevailing market prices were used.
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    Going to scale: How do Conservation Agriculture practices spread among farmers in Kenya?
    (CIMMYT, 2016) Odendo, M.; Micheni, A.N.; Kassie, M.; Marenya, P.P.; Ayaga, G.; Nkonge, C.; Muricho, G.; Obare, G.
    Demonstration sites will continue to be centers of experimentation and learning for farmers. The results presented in this brief, demonstrates the efficacy of the demonstration approach to agriculture extension. It is emerging that group cohesion and multi-stakeholder methodology approaches have the potential to be effective and efficient. Field days were found to be effective in awareness creation of conservation agriculture (CA) technologies.
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    From few to many: taking Conservation Agriculture practices to scale in Malawi
    (CIMMYT, 2016) Tione, S.; Marenya, P.P.; Mutenje, M.; Mwale, C.; Ndambuleni, K.; Kassie, M.
    In the sample of the farmers who were in the vicinity of the farm trial sites and who were contacted for this study, 90 percent reported that they were aware of technologies being promoted. Approximately 63 percent had actually tried the technologies. Farmer preference voting showed that zero or minimum tillage under maize as a sole crop were viewed favorably by most farmers. This was followed by zero/ minimum tillage in maize/legume rotation. The reduction in labor use seem to be a major driver of these preference leanings.
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    Food security as a gender issue: why are female-headed households worse off compared to similar male-headed counterparts?
    (CIMMYT, 2014) Kassie, M.
    The centrality of gender equity for inclusive development is a concept that is not contestable. The manifestations of inequality predicated on gender are myriad. These range from unequal access to educational opportunities, gender-based discrimination and social norms that constrain the participation of women and other groups that are unfairly marginalized from the development process. In this brief, we focus on the results from research projects that examined how the differential food security situation is predicated on gender. We examine why given similar opportunities and demographic profiles, female-headed households (FHHs) tend to perform worse than their counterparts, male-headed households (MHHs). In particular, we find that two households that are similar in every respect (except that one is headed by a woman and the other by a man) have different food security outcomes. What explains this? What does this mean for gender-sensitive inclusive and equitable agriculture? This brief discusses these issues based on recently published research from Kenya.
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