Professors and PhD students take time off

to mentor pupils at Naigai Hosana

Academy in Bungoma County

Professor R.D Narla and Professor J. W.

Kimenju both from the Department of Plant

Science and Crop Protection, Faculty of

Agriculture, University of Nairobi were

recently involved in community service in

Bungoma County. The two dons were on a

field visit in mid-May 2014 to sites in

Western Kenya where two of their PhD

students, Ms. Luiza Munyua and Mr.

Samuel Were conducting their research.

Figure 1: Prof. Narla (left) and Prof. Kimenju in

discussion at trial farm in North Teso

Figure 2: Prof. Narla and PhD student Mr.

Samuel Were (in blue shirt) at a trial site in North

Teso

The research project is a joint collaboration

between the University of Nairobi, National

Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA),

USA and International Institute of Tropical

Agriculture (IITA). The students are

conducting on-farm bean trials on small-

holder farmer’s fields in North Teso,

Bungoma and Kakamega in Western Kenya

with a view to managing nematodes and root

rot causing pathogens with organic soil

amendments while improving low fertility

soils and increasing bean productivity.

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Figure 3: Prof. Narla and PhD student Ms. Luiza

Munyua (in blue hat) at a farmer's field in N. Teso

The main activity involved assessment of

the bean crop which was a active flowering

stage, observing the crop for disease

symptoms caused by the two pathogens of

interest as well as making comparative

observations of experimental plots based on

the type of treatment applied as well as

making recommendations.

Figure 5: Bean crop in Bungoma with symptoms

of fungal infection

Figure 4: Bean crop in Bungoma with roots

infected by root-knot nematodes

The team began by visiting four farms in

North Teso before moving to Bungoma

where they visited two farms. One of the

farms in Bungoma County turned out to be

of great interest to both Prof. Narla and Prof.

Kimenju. The owner of the farm Mrs. Prisca

Muyande not only grows crops on her farm

and raises livestock – she also runs a fully

fledged primary school on her farm. After

assessing the crop on her farm and making

recommendations to the farmer, the two

dons took time off their schedule to interact

with the primary school children and with

Mrs. Muyande. The primary school was a

brainchild of Mrs. Muyande and her

husband who realized that there were a

number of needy children in their

neighbourhood. The school has classes

running from lower to upper primary.

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Figure 6: Prof. Kimenju and Prof. Narla with

Mrs. Prisca Muyande, farmer and proprietor,

Naigai Hosana Academy, Bungoma

Mrs. Muyande provides lunches for the boys

and girls in the school but over and above

that, she houses close to thirty pupils in her

compound; whereas the majority of the

pupils go back home to their parents at the

end of the day, there are those who are from

very needy backgrounds or whose parents

are not alive. These are the ones whom Mrs.

Muyande provides food and shelter for

every evening, over the weekends as well as

during the school holidays. Prof. Narla, Prof.

Kimenju and the PhD students spent time

talking to and interacting with the very

excited and enthusiastic pupils. The pupils

were very excited to learn about whom their

unexpected guests were and mingled freely

with them as though eager to glean all they

could from them during this impromptu visit

to their school. The dons also took time to

discuss a number of matters with the

school’s proprietor and also paused to take a

number of photographs with them before

bidding the excited and jovial pupil’s good

bye. The two dons did indeed leave a lasting

mark and impression on the community of

pupils at Naigai Hosana Academy.

Figure 7: Prof. Kimenju and Prof. Narla pose with pupils of Naigai Hosana Academy in Bungoma