GENETIC STUDIES OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITY TRAITS IN RICE UNDER LOW AND HIGH SOIL NITROGEN AND PHOSPHOROUS CONDITIONS, AND A SURVEY OF FARMER PREFERENCES FOR VARIETIES BY

Rice is an important crop ranking third after maize and wheat in Kenya. Its demand is growing at 12 % per annum, while production has stagnated for quite a number of years. This situation has lead to consumption outstripping production by about 84%. There is therefore an urgent need to step up domestic production. To understand farmers ’ preferences, the first survey on rice production was carried out. To supplement on this survey information, focus group discussions and key informants were incorporated to further shed more information. The farmers demonstrated their preferences for varieties that were high yielding, hybrid rice and with high nutrient use efficiency and these constituted 53.7 % of their wishes. Among the crops grown by the selected farmers, rice was the most important followed by maize, however, the hectarage of maize was higher followed by rice. The farmers also identified labour costs as a factor limiting production especially for irrigated rice and thus they preferred upland rice due to its ease of production. Farmers identified land preparation, inputs, planting, weeding and harvesting as the most expensive activities. The existing varieties wer