Factor Influencing Sustainability of Community-based Agricultural Crop Production Projects in Limuru Subcounty, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Kiambu County has seen an increase in the number of community-based projects focusing on crop production. However, these projects have never achieved the defining objective of sustainability. The study seeks to determine the factors influencing sustainability of community-based agricultural crop production projects in Limuru sub county, Kiambu County, Kenya. The study is based on descriptive survey research design. This study targeted 10 crop production community-based projects examining a population of 138 junior project staffs with crop production community-based projects in Limuru sub-County and 10 project managers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the 5 crop production projects. The sample size for the study will be 7 projects and 140 respondents. The study used purposive sampling to select 1 project manager, 2 finance officers, 3 project coordinators and 15 liaison officers working in each project. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the junior staff. An interview guide was used to collect data from the project managers. 2 crop production projects in Thika Sub County were piloted with 4 respondents per project (12 respondents). Data collected was analyzed by descriptive analysis. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis where the responses were grouped into themes. The data was presented in prose form. The study found that lack of adequate resources and political factors had a negative impact on sustainability of community-based agricultural projects. The study also found that strong leadership and technology adoption promoted sustainability of projects, The study revealed that community-based agricultural projects, should have sound financial base arising from reliable sources of funding, most community development projects have failed to become self-reliant and have failed to continue running them after funding organizations withdraw their support, Thus the study concludes that availability of funds had a positive influence on sustainability of community-based projects in Kenya. In order to ensure sustainability of community-based projects, the study recommends that the community-based projects should have strong skilled competent leadership committee in place. This will help to steer the project forward even after the implementation period elapses the management of should periodically organize training sessions for the project local management team, this will help to equip the local managing team with the prerequisite management skills which were found to be fundamental in day to day running of the business. Project management need to continually embrace the use of technology as this was found to promote transparency, efficiency and accountability thus alleviating managerial barriers. Further studies are recommended based on other variables influencing sustainability of projects, focusing on other projects other than crop production projects, and based on crop production projects in other areas other than Limuru or Kiambu county