Researches

Kent was ground-zero for the concept of organic farming. Amidst the pandemonium of World War II, Kent farmer and estate owner, Lord Northbourne (Walter James) (1896-1982) published ‘Look to the Land’ (30 May, 1940). The book introduced to the world, the term ‘organic farming’ along with the philosophy and rationale of practice. Northbourne’s terminology and philosophy were rapidly adopted and championed globally, notably in the USA by the publishing entrepreneur Jerome Rodale (1898-1971) and in Australia by the grazier Colonel Harold (Bill) White (1883-1971) and the Australian Organic Farming & Gardening Society. Organic agriculture is now a worldwide phenomenon which is reported from 186 countries, and globally accounts for 71 million hectares of farmland and GBP86 billion of retail sales per annum. A multinational sequence of events led to Northbourne's 1940 manifesto of organic agriculture. In 1924 the Austrian New Age philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) presented his Agriculture Course at Koberwitz (now Kobierzyce, Poland). In 1938 the German chemist and acolyte of Steiner, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899-1961), working in Switzerland, published his ‘Biodynamic Farming and Gardening’. Northbourne was keen to introduce these ideas to a British audience. He visited Pfeiffer in Switzerland in January 1939 to recruit him to present a conference on Biodynamics at Northbourne’s farm in Kent. The outcome was the Betteshanger Biodynamics Conference (1-9 July, 1939), with lecturers from Switzerland and Holland, and attendees from Britain and New Zealand. Northbourne recalled “the spirit of friendliness, happiness and unity which prevailed … for nine days the possibility of war was scarcely alluded to; things more real and more constructive absorbed attention”.

An investigation is carried out for the evaluation of the performance of Microbial Fuel Cell, which is designed and operated under specific parameters. The experimental study has been extended about 45 days cycle and brought out four essential findings. Firstly, cow dung slurry ratio 1:10 is found to be suitable for harnessing sustained power generation; Second, MFC produced a maximum voltage of 1.4V within 18 days in a 45days cycle and maintained 1.0V and above for 14 days. Electricity generation continued until the end of the period. Current density and power density showed a similar trend. Thirdly, pH in anolyte decreased from 10.5- 8.5pH and catholyte increased from 3.5-4.5pH where a higher voltage recorded at pH 4.5 and pH 9 in anolyte and catholyte. Finally, during the 45-days cycle, either anolyte or catholyte was not recharged which indicates the suitability of the components selected for the MFC. All these findings are compared with previous reports and found that this is first of its kind regarding electrolytes used and generated electricity. Further studies on optimization of major parameters are required to evolve a prototype for cow dung-fed magic reactor as a potential substitute for dairy farms electricity requirement.

Urbanization has been defined as an inter-sectoral trend that directly encompass all aspects of human civilization and the economy. The major driver of rapid urbanization in Kenya is demographic dynamics. Urban population in Kenya has been on the rise since the inception of census activities in Kenya in 1897. Based on KNBS findings, it is projected that by 2050, 55% of the entire country’s population will be living in urban areas. This trend has had major influence so far on the nature of our landscape with most arable lands, protected areas, riparian reserves and wetlands in Nairobi City County paving way for urban developments. This project employed the use of Remote Sensing Technologies, GIS Technologies and AHP Multi-Criteria decision-making tool to map urbanization and analyze its effect on quantity of arable land in Nairobi City County. The study was in a position to map and categorize arable lands in the county based on their level of suitability for crop farming as Very Highly Suitable, Highly Suitable, Suitable and Low Suitability areas. Nairobi City County has undergone rapid urbanization in the past two decades with the annual rate of urbanization standing at 5.02% as per the findings of this project. From the findings of this project, approximately 4,514 Hectares of land considered suitable for crop farming were lost to Built-Up Areas as from the year 2000 to 2018. This clearly highlights the impact magnitude that development of urban areas has had on the quantity of arable land.