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Welcome to the Directorate of Research and Extension

The academic staff of the University of Embu are currently engaged in research activities in ten  thematic areas, namely; Agriculture and Food Security, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Ecology, Education, Organic and applied Chemistry, Energy, Business, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Mathematics. Our members of staff continue to actively seek new funding opportunities so as to attract research grants in the university. The members of staff have also published widely with the high impact journals and top publishers in the world.
Prof. Romano Mwirichia
Director, Research and Extension

Climate Smart Options

The project entitled “Climate smart options allowing agricultural intensification for smallholders in the dry zones of the Central Highlands of Kenya” is one of the VLIR-UOS funded project in Kenya. It is being implemented by the University of Embu in Kenya in collaboration with Kenyatta University, University of Nairobi, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), County Government of Tharaka-Nithi and KU Leuven University in Belgium, who are the project promoters.

The aim of the project is enhancing crop productivity to eradicate poverty and improve livelihood in the Central Highlands of Kenya. The approach is by simultaneously addressing soil and water conservation and soil fertility problems by integrating selected isolated approaches towards sustainable intensification of agricultural productivity in the region. The project is being implemented in the Tharaka-Nithi County, with the experimental trials in Tharaka south sub-County. Read More

Recent Publications

1.    Muriuki, S. W., Rengan, M. S., & Budambula, N. L. (2021). Prokaryotic diversity and potentially pathogenic bacteria in vended foods and environmental samples. Annals of Microbiology, 71(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13213-021-01640-w
2.  Balmford, A., Bradbury, R. B., Bauer, J. M., Broad, S., Burgess, G., Burgman, M., ... & Nielsen, K. S. (2021). Making more effective use of human behavioural science in conservation interventions. Biological Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109256
3.    Onyango, D. A., Mogaka, H. R., Ndirangu, S. N., & Kwena, K. (2021). Household socio-economic factors influencing choice of agro-advisory dissemination pathways for climate change in semi-arid areas of Kenya. Information Development. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669211026005
4.    Isaboke, H. N. (2021). Determinants of Participation of Smallholder Farmers in Weather Index Insurance in Embu County, Kenya. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 25(3), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.4314/jae.v25i3.
5.    Mairura, F. S., Musafiri, C. M., Kiboi, M. N., Macharia, J. M., Ng'etich, O. K., Shisanya, C. A., ... & Ngetich, F. K. (2021). Determinants of farmers' perceptions of climate variability, mitigation, and adaptation strategies in the central highlands of Kenya. Weather and Climate Extremes, 100374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2021.100374 .
6.    Othuon, D. O., Gatimbu, K. K., Musafiri, C. M., & Ngetich, F. K. (2021). Working Capital Management impacts on small-scale Coffee Wet Mills' Financial Performance in Eastern Kenya. Heliyon, e07887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07887
7.    Shinda, C. A., Gitari, J. N., Nthakanio, P. N., Runo, S., & Gichimu, B. (2021). Performance assessment of crosses between Gadam and hardcore tannin sorghum in hybrid lines production. Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences, 9(4), 417-431. http://dx.doi.org/10.18006/2021.9(4).417.431
8.    Mbunzi, S. M., Mungatu, J. K., Waititu, A. G., Mwalili, S. M., Ogila, K. O., Achia, T. N., & Nthiwa, D. (2021). Severity of Infestation Levels of Tunga Penetrans in Central, Kenya: A Bayesian Cumulative Logit Model. International Journal of Statistics and Probability, 10(5), 1-70. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijsp.v10n5p70

Hybrid Rice Research

The hybrid rice research project is established as a special project of the National Research Fund(NRF). The project has been running from July, 2020 and will run upto July, 2023. Our project is dedicated to advanced research and training in rice breeding and biotechnology and advancing knowledge, applying the latest techniques in the following aspects of rice breeding:

1.    Breeding to introgress wide compatibility, drought tolerant and dwarf (sd-1) genes into TGMS to produce a super parent rice for use as female parent in crosses with Basmati 370,
2.    Determining linkages of major genes controlling quality and yield in Basmati370,
3.    Production of super yielding Basmati370 hybrid rice seeds for farmers by crossing it with TGMS super parent varieties,
4.    Determining of compatibility of major TGMS rice varieties in Kenya with Basmati370,
5.    Optimization of Basmati rice anther culture conditions for doubled haploid plants production,

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