Browsing by Author "Kirimi, J."

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Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic and Adaptive Strategies to Build Resilience in the Kenyan Aquaculture Sector
(AfricArXiv Preprints, 2022) Munguti, J.; Iteba, J. O.; Outa, N.; Kirimi, J.; Mungai, D.; Kyule, D.; Obiero, K.; Ogello, E. O.
This study examines the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic and adaptive strategies to build resilience among stakeholders and actors in the aquaculture value chain in Kenya. Prior to the pandemic, Kenya's aquaculture sector had progressed from a minor player to a key component of the country's fish food system. Fish and fishery products have become the most heavily traded food commodity in Kenyan markets. The results indicate that the pandemic had major impacts on the access to aquaculture inputs, fish trade, and socio-economic livelihoods of the aquaculture value chain stakeholders and actors during the two whole years. Thus, initial and longer-term adaptive measures, in particular by private sector players and government agencies can contribute to building resilience to multiple shocks and stressors among stakeholders and actors in the aquaculture sector. Some of the measures include government incentive package to overcome the damage to the fisheries and aquaculture sector, improve farming operations and win market trusts and adoption of new methods such as intelligent sensors, camera systems and automated or remotely controlled monitoring/feeding strategies to reduce labour intensity. Such measures and policies can cushion the sector against future shocks occasioned by such pandemics.
KEY LIMITATIONS OF FISH FEEDS, FEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AND OPPORTUNITIES IN KENYA’S AQUACULTURE ENTERPRISE
(African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 2021-04-30) Munguti, J.; Obiero, K.; Odame, H.; Kirimi, J.; Kyule, D.; Ani, J.; Liti, D.
Profitability is key in fish farming, just as it is to any other enterprise. For the farmers to actualize high-profit margins, it is imperative to have access to well-balanced nutritive and cost-effective feeds, backed by sound on-farm feed management practices. This paper audits Kenya’s fish feed industry and the on-going on-farm feed management practices, and emerging opportunities for fish farmers. The development of fish feed quality standards has boosted the aquaculture sector in Kenya, providing them hope that farmers will access high quality fish feeds. Much of the fish feed currently being used in Kenya is produced on-farm or by small-scale fish feed manufacturers within the East African region, while a few are imported directly from overseas countries, notably Israel, Netherlands, Mauritius and Denmark. Fish feeds produced by small-scale manufacturers are not closely monitored by quality standard agencies and not surprising that a majority are of poor quality. The improvement in the quality of these feeds is likely to lead to increased productivity and profitability because they are cheaper and readily available to fish farmers, compared to imported fish feeds. Besides feed quality, feed management practices markedly impact both the growth and economic performance of fish production. Adopting appropriate feed management strategies, therefore, is instrumental in the maximization of fish production and economic returns. Research has demonstrated several strategies for best feed management practices, which have not hitherto, been adopted by fish farmers in Kenya. Farmers have mainly focused on the mode of delivery of feeds to the fish. Furthermore, promoting natural pond productivity and supplementary feeding is still a common practice in the East African region. Provision of species-specific feeds and targeting the nutritional requirements of the different life stages of fish is still a major issue, although some local companies like Unga Farm Care (EA) have come up with a size and species-specific feed for catfish such as Fugo catfish®. To improve access to such information, public-private partnerships should be developed and, programmes that utilize the local media platforms such as extension service outlets must also be encouraged. Feed quality checks can also be carried out amongst fish feed suppliers. Lastly, farmers should be trained in various fish feed aspects like formulation, transportation and storage to sustain a steady fish feed supply and save on associated feed costs.
Mathematical Analysis of a Comprehensive HIV AIDS Model: Treatment versus Vaccination
(HIKARI Ltd,, 2013) Okongo, M. O.; Kirimi, J.; Murwayi, A. L. Murwayi; Muriithi, D. K.
A comprehensive deterministic HIV/AIDS transmission model incorporating social behaviour, treatment, vaccination, stages of infection, age structures, discrete time delay and vertical transmission is presented and rigorously analyzed. Two age structures are considered with group one consisting of children aged (0 - a) years and group two consisting of adults aged (a) years and above. In this study we investigate wether a trade-off exists between vaccination and treatment. Numerical simulations shows that treatment that does not reduce infectiousness is worse than when the treatment is not applied at all, however when coupled with effective counseling, then it is very effective in combating the spread of the disease and finally eliminating it. A trade off seems to exists between vaccination and treatment and therefore careful considerations should be made when vaccination and treatment is to be applied together because a combination of the two could be counterproductive or helpful depending on how it is implemented.