The socio-economic factors influencing the adoption -of crop management technologies among smallholder maize farmers in Western Kenya

Abstract

This study focused on the adoption of CM techniques on maize crop considering that CM issues, apart from fertilizer adoption, have hitherto received scanty attention in Kenya. The CM practices considered were: Weeding frequency, use of organic manure versus fertilizer and fertilizer-manure combinations as well as timely planting. The overall objective of this study was to make an appraisal of the status of CM technologies in the area of study in order to identify and analyze the major socioeconomic constraints to the adoption of CM practices and identify possible policy options that can foster their adoption. Limited dependent variable models were used to assess the factors influencing the adoption of the relevant practices. The model results showed that factors that are related to farmers' resource endowments such as farm size and livestock ownership and factors that reflect costs of production such as use of animal traction or tractor equipment in farming operations impact on the adoption of capital and labour intensive practices such as multiple weeding. Profitability as indicated by per hectare gross margins was found to positively affect the use of inorganic and organic fertilizers. Human capital factors such as number of years of education and full time family labour also represent important factors influencing the adoption of the CM practices considered. The major policy implication was that there is need to find ways of reducing the costs of the CM techniques considered and also raising farm level yields to improve returns to their application.