| dc.description.abstract | Agriculture has continued to play a major role in providing livelihoods to over 85% of the Kenya's population and contributing to over 65% of Kenya's foreign exchange. However, challenges in this sector have been encountered despite the developmental efforts. Among the challenges is dealing with extreme climatic fluctuations, resulting in droughts and floods, poorly developed rural infrastructure that limit production and market access, high levels of poverty and population pressure that is leading people to move from high potential areas to more fragile environments without corresponding appropriate technologies to utilize resources in such areas, etc. This study therefore sought to evaluate the challenges facing implementation of agriculture projects despite the huge investments and efforts put to improve this sector by a wide range of agricultural stakeholders.
Three objectives guided the study: to establish the economic factors on the implementation of agricultural projects in Kilifi County; to establish how land ownership and use influences the implementation of agricultural projects in Kilifi County: and how gender issues influence implementation of agricultural projects in Kilifi County. A descriptive survey design method was used in this study due to its reliability and ability to produce statistical information, which can be analyzed. Data was collected from farmers using structured questionnaires while interviews were done to key informants in the agricultural sector. A pilot study was also conducted using pre-test method to test the viability and reliability of the questionnaires administered. A sample population of 112 farmers both small and large scale farmers and 6 of agriculture implementers including ministry of agriculture, NGOs and research institutions like KARl in Kilifi County of which were selected using stratified random sampling were targeted.
The hypothesis was tested to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variable using Pearson Chi-square at 95% level of confidence. The relationship between economic factors, land and gender in agriculture and implementation of agricultural projects was tested. The significant findings of this study showed that economic, land and gender factors influenced implementation of agricultural projects. Consequently, it was concluded that for successful implementation of agricultural activities in the County, there was need to mainstream economic, land and gender issues in the development stage of the agricultural projects before they are implemented. It was therefore recommended that since these factors among others were core for successful implementation of agricultural projects, future projects must take this into account. It is further recommended that a further study should be carried out to establish other factors influencing implementation of agricultural projects. | en_US |
