ABSTRACT
The general objective of this study was to carry out an integrated assessment of agroecosystem health and sustainability with special focus on smallholder farms in the central highlands of Kenya (Chapter 1). The agroecosystem health framework was successfully adapted for use in a smallholder-dominated agroecosystem (Chapter 2). Participatory methods (Chapter 3), systems analyses (Chapter 4), soft systems methods (Chapter 5), and conventional research approaches were combined in an open-ended, adaptive research-and-development process. Two suites of health and sustainability indicators were developed. The first suite, which was community driven, enabled farmers and communities to assess the health and sustainability of their own agroecosystem. The second suite was research based and complemented the community-driven suite. This was used to assess the potential impact of community goals on health and sustainability of the Kiambu agroecosystem. Pulse process models (Chapter 4) were used in these assessments. Correspondence analysis was used to refine the research-based suite of indicators (Chapter 6) as well as to analyze data obtained using indicators (Chapter 7).
