2. Agriculture is considered a powerful tool in poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability IMPORTANCE Farming patterns have been categorized into two main groups i.e Intensive and Extensive Farming With increasing pressure from the role agriculture plays in the economy, there has been a push towards intensifying production INTENSIFICATION The steady fall in Africa’s stock of soil nutrients appears to be linked to soil fertility management practices that are ill-suited to the relatively recent imperative of continuous cultivation under increasing population pressure The variability in soil fertility at farm level may be associated with land degradation intensities among other factors including land usage history FERTILITY

3. Land Policy Soil Fertility Change in Farming Systems A farming system is a population of individual farm systems that have broadly similar resource bases, enterprise patterns, household livelihoods and constraints and for which similar development strategies and interventions would be appropriate (FAO). Economic efficiency and advent of cheap synthetic nitrogen leads the western world into intensified agricultural production n the 20 th Century.(JA Kirkegaard) Mechanization and improvement in scale and efficiency of farm machinery has also added to the move towards intensive cropping. According to general reviews, extensive farming maintains the correct pH of the soil since it does not utilize artificial fertilizers. On the other hand, intensive farming affects the soil fertility due to its use of artificial fertilizers (Westarp 2002) Alteration in soil structure, nutrient loss and in particular changes in quality and quantity of soil organic matter are some of the principal soil degradation processes deriving from an intensive agricultural system (Rao et al 2009) Land use policy is largely determined by land policy. Land is an important resource for agriculture in Kenya and lack of access to or ownership of land was considered one of the major causes of poverty making land policy an important issue (UNDP 2002) The assimilation of agriculture as an integral urban function and the protection of the agricultural lands from the threats of expansion of other urban land uses, have become important development imperatives for Nakuru making land policy a matter of urgency.(Kenya Fact Sheet).

4. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Over the past few years, the Kenyan Government has strived to improve agricultural productivity through government and donor supported programs such as;  Kenya Agricultural Productivity Project (KAPP)  Agricultural Sector Programme Support (ASPS)  National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP)  National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Programme (NAAIAP). However, there has been an increasing decline in the trends on productivity of the agricultural sector. Food insecurity in Kenya having grown at an alarming rate, most of the researchers have attributed it mainly to, climate change and also population growth. This not entirely being the case, other factors such as; Shifting to mono-cropping for commercial purposes, Limited or no addition of fertility enhancing inputs, Leaving no rest periods after each season of crop, Have been noted to contribute to the low productivity of the soil. There is therefore a need to ensure that land use policies are well implemented and appropriate farming patterns are identified, with their impacts on the soil resource being noted in Subukia sub-county, Kenya.

5. Descriptive Research Design. It describes the state of affairs as they exist without manipulation of variables Location of the Study: Subukia Sub County area of 424.2 Km 2 34000ha is agricultural land with 60% of it being cultivated Sampling Procedures: Stratified random sampling procedure will be used to select the sample Sample Size: 8330 (50% of 16,660) households Target Population: 16,660 households which are undertaking farming activities METHODOLOGY

6. Stratum (ward) Target population (50% of 16660) Sample sizePercentage (%) Subukia3024311.02 Mbogoini2478251.00 Kabazi2828280.99 Key informants 6 TOTAL833090 Data Collection Procedure: Data will be collected through a self- administered questionnaire for the farm households and an interview guide for the key informants Data Collection Instruments Questionnaire Interview Guide 18 soil samples (6 for each ward) will be collected from the farm households which undertook the questionnaires Validity of Instruments: This will further be ascertained by a panel of experts or scientists drawn from Nairobi University who will establish its content and construct validity Reliability of Instruments: The study will use questionnaires and interview schedules

7. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and MS Excel will be used; whereby frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations, generated from the various data categories will be computed and shown in different graphs, tables and figures. Ethical Considerations The researcher will receive informed consent from respondents to be involved in the study. She will also remain impartial and keep the respondents and their responses confidential.

9. Items/particularsQuantity Unit cost (Ksh) Total (Ksh) Proposal Development Computer servicesPrepare 6 drafts5003,000 Travel and accommodation3 times3,000 @9,000 Stationery and photocopy3 reams of printing and photocopies 2,000 Sub-total 14,000 Proposal Defense Photocopy servicesphotocopies 2,000 Computer services6 copies5003,000 Travel and accommodation2 times3,000 @6,000 Telephone servicesCalls 1,000 Sub-total 12,000 Data collection Telephone servicesCalls 3,000 Travel and accommodation4 times3,000 @12,000 Stationary and photocopy 6 reams of duplicating papers and photocopies 4,000 Sub-total 19,000

10. Data analysis and project report writing Computer servicesTypesetting 2,000 Telephone servicesCalls 1,000 Travel and accommodation2 times3,000 @6,000 Stationery and photocopy 4 reams of duplicating papers and photocopies 3,000 Soil testing 20,000 Sub-total 32,000 Defense of Final Report Computer servicesTypesetting and printing 2,000 Photocopy servicesPhotocopies 2,000 Travel and accommodation2 times3,000 @6,000 Telephone servicesCalls 1,000 Sub-total 11,000 Correction of the report Computer servicesTypesetting and printing 2,000 Sub-total 2,000 Preparation / submission of the final report Photocopy servicesPhotocopies 1,500 Computer servicesTypesetting and printing 3,000 Travel and accommodation2 times3,000 @6,000 Telephone servicesCalls 2,000 Sub-total 12,500 Grand total 102,500