Does institutional isolation matter for soil conservation decisions? Evidence from kenya

Abstract

This article investigates the role of institutional isolation on the adoption of soil conservation technologies in Kenya. The study is based on the theory of induced technical and institutional innovations and on the literature on land tenure security and investment incentives. A multinomial logit model for adoption of various soil conservation investments (SCI) is estimated. To test whether institutional isolation affects soil conservation decisions, we evaluate the impacts of tenure security and market access, the impact of their interaction terms, and the significance of the joint impact of the two groups of variables and their interaction terms. The results show that the impact of development domains on soil conservation depends on the type of conservation investment. The results suggest that opening up of remote areas and educating farmers on appropriate land conservation technologies and farming systems suitable for different development domains are necessary for adoption of sustainable soil management practices.