The African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) in partnership with International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) set out a team of experts to Kajiado to conduct a field data collection engagement for geospatial modelling of Ipomoea carnea distribution from 18th to 22nd Nov 2024. The objective was to validate the preliminary model and develop a database for occurrence data for future forecasting. Ipomoea weed has been a menace to livestock farmers and wildlife in Kajiado County as it is very competitive with the grass in the grazing lands, yet animals do not feed on it. Consequently, there is reduced grazing lands for community livestock, which worsens during dry seasons as the weed is resilient to climate change. There is increase in workload as the community has to uproot it before planting. Lastly, the weed is said to be causing health issues to livestock leading to economic losses. Although the Kajiado County Government has made efforts to deal with the weed, it is necessary to find an effective long term and sustainable solution. For an effective approach to the solution, there is need to understand the distribution of Ipomoea, its ecological adaptability and how it interacts with the rangeland ecosystem. Therefore, research that use species distribution modelling with machine learning was the most effective way to understand the distribution patterns of Ipomoea Carnea in Kajiado County in the short term, from 2025 to 2026 and to project these patterns for 2050 and 2080 in the long term. Spatio-temporal modelling of Ipomoea carnea in Kajiado County required a significant amount of data particularly for machine learning algorithms where data scarcity poses a potential challenge. In this regard, the team collected 86 sampling points in Kajiado county employing the previously modelled scenario for Africa, projected to Kajiado County at 1km spatial resolution as a guiding map to enhance the validation exercise
Traversing Kajiado, Sampling Ipomoea Occurrence Points
Observations revealed that Ipomoea carnea is most prevalent in Kajiado Central and East, with significantly lower presence in the northern and southern regions of the County. The team set apart a day for each of the sub counties to collect sampling points. They started from Kajiado South where they collected 11 sampling points, followed by Kajiado East collecting up to 21 sampling points. On the third day, the team proceeded to central collecting 28 points, and 14 in West, on the fourth day. On the last day of the fieldwork, in Kajiado North, they collected 12 sampling points.
Distribution of Ipomoea in Kajiado County and Preliminary Observations
In Kajiado West, the weed is concentrated along the borders of Kajiado Central, particularly in the Illoodokilani area. In the northern region, its prevalence was notably higher in Kiserian and Enoosurutia parts bordering Kajiado West. Both Kajiado West and North have limited occurrences of the weed. The low occurrence in the west is probably due to the dominance of another invasive species, Prosopis juliflora (Mathenge). In Kajiado north, the extensive human settlements could be a reason to the low occurrence.
The low occurrence of Ipomoea in Kajiado south can be associated with the cool temperatures of the area because of its nearness to Mt Kilimanjaro which thrives best in warm temperatures and moist soils. Further, the ipomoea weed is sparsely distributed in Kajiado south and mostly found in the dry parts of the constituency.
On the other hand, the ipomoea in Kajiado East is densely distributed as the area is significantly warmer and drier, conducive for the growth of the weed. The area of Mashuru has the largest occurrence of the Ipomoea weed within the Kajiado East region. In Kajiado Central the team observed that Ipomoea carnea is notably prevalent in areas such as Bilis, Kumpa, and Duka Moja.
Call to Action
Conclusively, Ipomoea carnea is gradually spreading across the region, posing significant threat to the socio-economic activities in Kajiado and the environment. This demands urgent intervention through a comprehensive, collaborative approach involving multiple stakeholders including researchers, policymakers, and community representation