| dc.description.abstract | Although traditional fanning is prevalent in Nyamira County, now new fanning technology like
poly-greenhouse fanning provides better income and nourishment. The purpose of this study was
to establish the factors influencing development of greenhouse fanning projects in Nyamira
County, Kenya. The research objectives of this study were to: assess the extent to which socioeconomic
factors influence development of greenhouse fanning projects; ascertain the influence
of technological factors on development of greenhouse fanning projects; establish the
contribution of environmental factors on development of greenhouse fanning projects and
examine how implementation of green house projects influences their development in Nyamira
County. This study was guided by the theory of Agrarian Transformation and Socio-cultural
change which entails transition from "traditionalism" to" modernity". When modernization of
agriculture takes place, old practices are abandoned in favour of the new and more viable
practices. Thus change in agriculture creates economic development and brings change in the
social structure and organization. This study adopted descriptive survey research design. The
target population in this study was 150 respondents comprising of 130 fanners and 20 assistant
agricultural officers (AAOs).In this research, Census was used to collect data from assistant
agricultural officers. This method was used on this sample group because it can influence
decision and ensure community strategy policy development. Census was also used to select the
fanners who participated in the study. The researcher made use of questionnaires to obtain
information from the greenhouse fanners on the projects. A pilot study was conducted in some of
the green house fanning projects that were randomly selected from the county to validate the
research instruments and test the reliability of the instruments. Validity obtained in this study
was 0.78125 while the reliability coefficient of 0.854 was obtained and therefore indicating that
the instruments were valid and reliable for data collection. It was established by majority of the
fanners that culture influences the development of greenhouse projects in Nyamira County, the
fact that perpetual land sub-division in the County influences the development of greenhouse
fanning projects, it was established by majority of the fanners that perpetual land sub-division in
the County influences the development of greenhouse projects. The findings further showed that
a majority of the fanners agreed that the agricultural extension/advisory services from assistant
agricultural officers and the fanners' inner interests and long standing experience in fanning
greatly influence the development of greenhouse fanning projects in Nyamira County. The
findings further revealed that majority of the fanners agreed that availability of hybrid seeds/
disease resistant varieties and the existence and knowledge of pesticides and herbicides use
influence the development of greenhouse farming in the County. Based on the findings of this
study, the following recommendations are made, the County Director of Agriculture and other
stakeholders should help in improving technical support through the Ministry using common
interest groups (CIGs) approach. This will enhance the socio-economic ability of the fanners in
the county, the County Director of Agriculture and other stakeholders should put more emphasis
on regular mobilization of fanners of the County to adopt this new farming technology, that is;
the government should sensitize all citizens to embrace this type of farming. The Jubilee
Government initiative for women and youths fund ( UWEZO FUND) should be channeled to the
greenhouse fanning projects as wealth and employment creation. This will further lead to
achieving the millennium development goals on poverty alleviation which is likely to alleviate
food poverty in the region. | en_US |
