Preliminary Economics Evaluation and Impact Assessment of The Agribusiness Development Project at RRC Perkerra

The attainment of sustainable food security in the drought-stricken sub-Saharan Africa requires farmer participatory research into the development and adaptation of agricultural technologies and their dissemination for adoption by the farmers. The Agribusiness Development Support Project (ADSP) was initiated in the Arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs) of and surrounding Baringo District to acquire test and disseminate improved vegetable varieties, with significant farmer involvement. The project aims at commercializing horticulture and seed technologies. Three superior onion varieties have been tested on-farm and found to be higher yielding than the traditional varieties. More than 9000 improved fruit tree seedlings have been sold, and their popularity is such that, in favourable weather conditions, the Centre's nurseries cannot effectively meet the demand by farmers and groups. As a result, mechanisms to enlarge the scope of the project to cover more districts and to encourage adoption in current operational area should be affected