Determinants of adoption of conservation tillage practices in maize-cowpea cropping systems: The case of Makueni District, Kenya
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Date
2011Author
Mutune, Jane
Mburu, John
Nyikal, Rose
Kironchi, Geoffrey
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The low soil moisture cannot support productive agriculture to meet the increasing population in the
low rainfall tropical areas. Ripping and tied-ridging are some of the recent technologies introduced by
the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and is used to conserve moisture in the
semi-arid areas. Although farmers are aware of the technical gains of these technologies, the adoption
rates have remained below the expectations of researchers and policy makers. The objective of this
study was to analyze household and technology characteristics that influence the adoption of ripping
and tied-ridging techniques of conservation tillage. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to
interview a random sample of 177 farmers. Using a logit model, different factors that influenced
farmers’ use of ripping and tied-ridging were identified. The significant variables include availability of
off-farm employment, closeness to local markets, group membership, availability of family labour,
contact with extension services and conservation tillage promoters, and farmers’ farming experience.
The paper recommends that future demonstrations of ripping and tied-ridging should target farmers
who cannot easily access markets for farm inputs and outputs. Moreover, non-adopters should be
encouraged to join or form new groups to establish contacts with extension services, and organizations
promoting the tillage practices if adoption rates of these technologies are to be improved in the study
area.
URI
http://www.academicjournals.org/JSSEMhttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/13976
Citation
Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management Vol. 3(10), pp. xxx-xxx, October, 2011Publisher
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya
Description
Journal article