Tropical sugar beet land evaluation scheme: development, validation and application under Kenyan conditions |
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| Authors: | Nicodemus M Mandere Andreas Persson Stefan Anderberg and Petter Pilesj? |
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| Institution: | (1) Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund University, S?lvegatan 10, P.O. Box 170, 221 00 Lund, Sweden;(2) Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystems Analysis, Lund University, S?lvegatan 13, 22362 Lund, Sweden;(3) Lund University’s Centre for Geographical Information Systems, Lund University, S?lvegatan 12, 22362 Lund, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | In Kenya the government is promoting diversification of crops to embrace high value crops and drought resistant crop varieties
in efforts to reduce poverty in rural areas. Sugar beet is one of the crops considered as an option in this context and it
is therefore important to increase knowledge about the potentials in the country for cultivating this crop. Sugar beet trials
conducted in Nyandarua and Butere Mumias Districts of Kenya have shown that the crop yields are comparable to those obtained
in traditional sugar-beet cultivation regions of Europe. Since sugar beet yield is affected by climate and soils, the results
of Nyandarua and Butere Mumias sugar beet trials are not adequate to propose that comparable yields can be obtained elsewhere
in the country and other tropical regions. Physical land evaluations assessing the potentials and constraints for sugar beet
production are therefore essential. The objectives of this study was to develop a Tropical Sugar Beet Land Evaluation Scheme
(TSBLES) that can aid assessment of the suitability of different areas in the tropics for sugar beet cultivation; and to test
this scheme for an assessment of suitable sugar beet zones and land areas in Kenya. The development of the scheme was based
on various literature sources and expert judgment on sugar beet requirements, and a Tropical Sugar Beet yield prediction Model.
The TSBLES accounts for physical conditions of land i.e. climatic, edaphic and topographic conditions. According to the assessment
results 27% of the land area in Kenya is suitable for sugar beet cultivation. Of this area, 5% is highly suitable, another
5% is moderately suitable and 17% is marginally suitable. Most of the highly suitable land area is concentrated in Rift Valley,
Central and Nyanza provinces. The Rift Valley has the highest share of the suitable land area. |
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