Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production
Open Access

Abstract

Kenyaâ??s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is USD 44 billion. Agriculture and tourism sectors contribute over 40 percent to GDP. They also support job creation, especially to youth and women. Over 70 percent of the country is semi-desert. To expand agriculture and tourism in dry areas, this paper discusses an innovation designated SAGLA: Sisal, Acacia, Grass and Livestock Agrotourism Park. Carbon fixation is conducted by 3 xerophytes: Sisal, Acacia and Grass. Sisal produces fiber, water, poles, and medicine. Its cortex is fodder for dairy cattle. Water in sisal supports dip, aquaculture, and horticulture industries. Acacia produce gum, medicine, and charcoal. Bees forage on its flowers, while birds and arthropods nest on its canopy. Acaciaâ??s open canopy feature enables undergrowth of plants. Grass acts as forage for wide variety of herbivores: sheep, deer, antelopes, gazelles, poultry and arthropods among many others. Animal droppings are digested to produce biogas, CO2, and compost which support horticulture. SAGLA food web yield 17 products: fiber, poles, feed, water, medicine, fish, horticulture, meat, milk, leather, eggs, honey, wax, compost, gum, charcoal, and tourism. SAGLA mitigates climate change and controls soil erosion through sisal, acacia and grass forestry. It opens vast dry lands to sustainable land use.

Biography

Evans Obura joined icipeâ??s ARPPIS PhD programme in 2008. He is enrolled at Egerton University, Kenya, where he also obtained his undergraduate degree. Evans is an MSc graduate of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. During his PhD work, he has identified Recilia banda (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) as the insect vector of Napier stunt phytoplasma (NSD) in East Africa. For this, he won the icipe Governing Council Research Scholar Award in 2009. Evans has also made a first report of a phytoplasma infecting Bermuda grass Cynodon dactylon in Kenya, and developed a rapid molecular diagnostic tool for phytoplasma. He has served as ILRI consultant on molecular diagnosis of phytoplasma and smut fungus in eastern Africa.