Institutional constraints affecting farmers' access to production services in small-scale irrigation schemes in Kenya: the case of the Yatta Cana in Machakos District

Abstract

This study is a bout institutional constraints a ffecting farmers' access to production services in Yatta canal, Machakos District. The production services studied are; fertilizer, pesticides, seed and extension services. The study analyses access constraints such as availability, affordability and farmers' knowledge on these services.

Data collection was carried out using semi-structured and unstructured questionnaires. The semi-structured questionnaire was administered to sixty farmers in the canal. Using the unstructured questionnaire, thirteen key informants were interviewed. Data from the field was coded into a codebook for qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Quantitative data analysis involved computation of frequency distributions and crosstabulations, among other statistical techniques. Qualitative analysis, on the other hand, involved content analysis of the emerging relations, themes and patterns of access to production services in relation to the hypothesized variables.

The study found out that irrigation agriculture is essential in Yatta division due to poor climatic conditions. Further, it was established that productivity of the scheme might be low or even fall with time unless farmers have adequate access to production services such as fertilizers, pesticides, seed and extension services. Study findings further revealed that a majority of farmers in the scheme use fertilizers, pesticides and certified seed. However, the level of access to these inputs remains low forcing the farmers to resort to various coping strategies. In particular, farmers buy and utilize low quantities of fertilizers, pesticides and certified seed. They also use farmer-saved seed (non-certified) when they encounter constraints in accessing certified seed. Further only a few farmers in the canal have access to extension services.

The study found out that institutional environment and arrangements for service provision in the canal has led to problems of limited access to these services. Some of the institutional constraints identified in the study include; high and unstable prices of farm inputs, problems associated with the nature of input availability, poor markets and marketing arrangements, limited scheme-level organization, inadequate extension services, poor relationship between the farmers and suppliers of production services, poor quality monitoring mechanisms for the inputs, the nature of input supply chains, underdeveloped rural growth points and the impact of market liberalization, among others.

The study recommends that institutional adjustments should be put in place in the scheme to facilitate effective access to production services. In particular, institutional changes are required in order to reduce the transaction costs associated with access to these services. Therefore, the institutional environment and arrangements should not only ensure the availability of these services, but also the ability of the farmer to essentially buy/access them in a satisfactory manner. Scheme-level farmers' organisations should be established to enable the farmers to buy production services as groups and market their produce effectively. The government should facilitate access to production services through constant surveillance of the quality of inputs sold to the farmers as well as developing rural infrastructure such as roads.