| dc.description.abstract | The main objective of this study was to investigate the
ecological and socio-economic factors influencing the production
of smallholder Washington Navel oranges in the southern lowland
zones of Machakos District.
The attention of farmers has shifted from growing other cash
crops such as cotton and sunflower to Washington Navel orange
production as an alternative source of income in the last five
years. A sample size of 183 farmers was interviewed out of 2295
farmers as a representative. In the study four Null hypotheses
(Ho) were tested against their alternatives (Hi). All these were
tested and rejected and their alternatives inferred. Various
methods of data analysis were used.
Simple descriptive statistics were utilized to calculate the
means, frequencies, percentages, standard errors and standard
deviations while multiple regression, stepwise regression and
correlation analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Analysis
of variance was used to test the-variation in yields between the
two years selected (1989 and 1990) and within the five Divisions
selected namely, Mwala, Kilome, Makueni, Yatta and Mbooni.
Agronomic, ecological and socio-economic factors were found to
interplay as a system enabling the farmers to produce their
yields. Some of the problems faced by the farmers were pests
and diseases,labour costs, exploitation by middlemen, poor
markets, low producer prices and inadequate capital to purchase
inputs. Intercropping was found to exist because farmers had
small plots of land ranging from 1-10 acres, This entailed the
production of maize, beans, cowpeas, mangoes, bananas among
ix
others. The stepwise regression analysis entered seven
variables, which were found to explain 97.2% of the total
variation in yields in the southern lowlands of Machakos
District. The remaining 2.8% was probably explained by other
factors not selected by the stepwise regression analysis. This
study revealed that washington Navel orange farming is far from
taking roots, the markets are far from getting saturated and
there is a promising potential in this field.
It is therefore necessary that soil analysis should be done
by planners to map out the ideal soils for crop production ~nd
recommendations made on the best fertilizers to be applied. There
is also an urgent need to provide more Extension Officers and
Technical assistants in the study area to help farmers plan their
farms. Attention should be given to farmers' complaints, by
providing them with credits, increase the producer prices of
oranges and improve local and international markets.
Though, all efforts were made to unearth all the problems
(ecological, social and economic), further research needs to be
conducted on soils and their impact on orange yields. Scholars
should make efforts to study the soil composition, soil texture,
bulk density, structure, moisture, pH, cation exchange capacity
(CEC) and percentage base saturation to find if mineral
deficiencies not studied in this work could be the cause of the
associated orange problems. This will assist farmers in
producing more oranges to cater for the national and
international needs. In conclusion,I would like to point out that
pests and diseases,high transport costs and marketing problems
should be looked into to enable farmers do well in this sector | en |
