Assessment Of The Effects Of Greenhouse Farming On Food Security At Ikutha Sub-County, Kitui County
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Date
2018Author
Kyembeni, Dorothy Mutheo
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Food insecurity in Kenya continues to rise due to inflated food prices, civil and political unrest,
recurrent seasons of failed or poor rains, prolonged high food prices, environmental degradation,
outbreak of diseases and flooding. Population increase has largely contributed to shortage of food
globally. In order to meet the food needs of the increasing population, countries globally have
come up with agricultural technologies for example genetically modified foods (GMOs),
greenhouse technology, use of drones, agricultural robots and remote. The study sought to assess
the effects of greenhouse farming technology on food security at Ikutha area. Ikutha being an
ASAL region has been receiving inadequate rainfall that leads to food insecurity. Due to
unpredictable weather patterns, greenhouse technology which involves controlled environment for
crops was introduced in this area by government and non-governmental organizations. The study
was led by the following objectives; to compare the productivity before and after the greenhouse
adoption, to compare the income of the farmers before and after greenhouse adoption, to identify
challenges faced by the farmers after greenhouse adoption and to make recommendations for
addressing the challenges. Methods of data collection used included questionnaires, observation,
interviews and documentary review. Data analysis and presentation in this study focused on
frequencies, T-test, tables, graphs, and percentages. Response rate was 62% with over 70.5% of
farmers being 38 years and above. Male farmers contributed to 51% of the respondents. It was
observed that about 9.5% of the respondents had experienced food insecurity. Productivity and
income changed after greenhouse adoption as the null hypothesis on production before being the
same as production after greenhouse adoption was rejected. About 73.2% of the farmers had their
farming land above 5.0 acres with 97.4% indicating that farmers received more income after
greenhouse adoption. The study results showed that the uptake of greenhouse technology has
however been low with lack of water (33.3%) and cost of greenhouse installation (16.7%) and
maintenance being cited as a major obstacles. This study found out that there is an increase in
income and yields for those who have adopted the technology. Some of the major challenges
identified in this study include lack of adequate water (33.3%), high cost of greenhouse, high cost
of customizing the greenhouse, high cost of maintenance of greenhouse and reluctance of Ikutha
farmers to adopt the technology. This study recommends that Kitui County government intervenes
by ensuring greenhouse technology is well known and understood by Kitui farmers. There should
be incentives from the Kitui County Government for those who choose to adopt it for example
affordable greenhouse materials, seeds, pesticides, seminars for training and also markets for their
produce. National government in collaboration with county government can find a way on how to
solve the issue of inadequate water. They can build water pans, dams, wells, provide tapped water
which can be used in farming. For those who don’t have storage containers for harvested rain water
can be provided.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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