Abstract
Food security in Kenya is at stake due to decline in farm productivity with a combination of an ever increasing population and worsened by global warming. Improvement of agricultural productivity may not be realized soon as rice farmers currently uses traditional method of flooding rice which has been reported to yield low rice. There is need for a deliberate use of new agricultural technologies that improves productivity of rice farming. System of Rice intensification (SRI) provides an opportunity of yield improvements in rice production. This study was undertaken in Ahero Irrigation Scheme to compare yield production of conventional and SRI rice production for IR 2793-80-1 cultivar. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. SRI experiments recorded higher number of effective tillers with experiment having a spacing of 20cm by 20cm and transplanted at 8-11 days gave 321 per m<sup>2</sup> as compared to 226 effective tillers/m<sup>2</sup>. Seed yield/plant was highly significant in SRI (39.61 g) as compared to a traditional paddy system (17.32 g). Transplanting rice seedling at the age of 8 to 11 days and at 20cm by 20cm spacing recorded highest seed yield/ha of 4.7 t/ha as compared to traditional flooding which recorded 2.7 t/ha. These results imply that planting young rice seedlings improves grain yield because of increase in number of tillers per square meters, plant height and better plant rooting ability.
Highlights
Access to adequate food for an increasing population has drew a number of strategies worldwide
This situation has been worsened by global warming due to climate change, food security in Kenya is at stake
The average annual rainfall is approximately 1175 mm, of which 39% is received during the long rain period (March to May), 29% is concentrated in the short rain period (August to November) and 32% is received during drier months
Summary
Access to adequate food for an increasing population has drew a number of strategies worldwide. Shortage of food in Kenya has been experienced due to decline in farm productivity and this has been attributed to low fertility levels of agricultural farms, unreliable weather such that there is delayed rainfall, and high input costs such as the ever increasing prices of fertilizer. This situation has been worsened by global warming due to climate change, food security in Kenya is at stake. This explains an urgent need for a shift from normal food production systems to sustainable water management and at the same time expanding on irrigated agriculture [2]
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