Informal agroforestry tree seed quality and supply systems: a case of peri-urban Nairobi, Meru and western Kenya

The supply of germplasm in sufficient quantit ies and quality at the small-scale users level is a limiting factor to agroforestry de velopment. While the past trend has been to put more emphasis on central supply systems such as national tree seed centres and government nurseries, policies are now being adopted to encourage decentralized supply of seeds, seedlings or vegetative propagules. This study was therefore carried out to investigate the mechanisms of suppl y and quality of the seeds supplied by the informal supply systems, the species a nd amounts supplied by these systems in selected parts of Kenya. The study focuse d on the seed supply systems in Nairobi, Central (Meru district) and We stern Kenya (Vihiga district ). The selected districts were representative of the regions and t hough nurseries were base d in the districts, seed suppliers from neighbouring district s were considered. The study involved a survey of the nursery operators and seed d ealers in the districts and seed tests and nursery experiments at ICRAF to compare seed quality and early seedling vigour. The seed tests at the laboratory followed th e International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) rules on seed testing while the nursery experiment was on a completely randomised design to analyse seed qu ality and seedling vigour issues

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