Assessing the communication methods potential in adoption of kale production for income generation by youth in Matete, Kakamega county

Abstract

Agriculture remains a major employer worldwide after service and is mainly carried out in small scale, more than half a billion ageing farmers working in small land parcels to produce a large amount of the world‟s food. Its slow growth rate of less than one percent annually falls short of transformative and diminishes the prospect of rural youth finding decent work in many countries in the developing and emerging economies. Young people are the key to the future of agriculture but are plagued by low earnings and growing disinterest and are moving away to urban areas in search of menial jobs. Youth who aspire to practice farming as a livelihood face many obstacles some common to small scale producers and others related to their age group. The study examines communication methods used among the youth for adoption of kale production to generate income. The survey instrument targeted youths in kale production groups. Our findings indicate that youth have access to multiple communication methods and just like other small scale farmers preferred group and individual contact methods. These methods were viewed to offer opportunity to interact with the service providers and builds trust. Farm and office visits had no challenges. In mass communication methods, radios were the most utilized though they were rated as less effective, useful and acceptable. Radio, telephone calls and newspapers are important communication methods among the respondents. They are plagued by challenges mainly from the service provider side of implementation that will need to be addressed for their benefits to be realized. We recommend the methods viewed positively by the respondents and that have few or no communication challenges such as farm visits, office visits, group meetings, demonstrations and field days be enhanced when reaching the youth. We recommend further studies on use of ICT by service providers and the youth to shade light on issues affecting their use and hence in coming up with ways of addressing the communication problems. Keywords: Communication methods, adoption, youth, income generation.