An evaluation of the influence of information sources on adoption of Agroforestry practices in Kajiado Central Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Access to information on agroforestry is a key transformer to agricultural productivity. This study was undertaken to identify the Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) information sources and determine factors influencing access and use of these information sources by smallholder agroforestry farmers in Kajiado Central, Sub County. A survey of 67 respondents was analyzed using Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance to determine relationship between socio-economic characteristics of households and access to agroforestry information sources. The results showed 37.4% of the farming households used face to face communication namely; neigbours and friends, extension agents and group meeting, whereas 31.8% use mass media communication pathways and other modern ICT information sources namely; radio, television, telephone and internet are actively used to disseminate (one way) or share (receive and send feedback) information on agroforestry practices. Land size, secured land tenure, education level, monthly income and distance to the shopping centre were socio-economic factors identified and found significant and positively influencing farmers' access to sources of agroforestry information. The study recommends policy makers, planners and implementers to empower farming households through capacity building, incorporating farmer to farmer meetings and use of modern communication methods to promote agroforestry practices in Kenya. Key words: Agroforestry, information sources, socio-economic factors