| dc.description.abstract | Modern technologies in beekeeping have advanced over the years. However, it has been
observed that satisfying the basic needs of the rural people to improve their living standards
by adopting modern beekeeping technologies is still a challenge despite these technological
advances. This is due to the relative slow adaption rates of the new technologies. This study
was, therefore, designed to find out the determinants of adoption of modern technologies in
beekeeping projects in Kenya, with particular emphasis on the women beekeeping groups in
Kajiado County in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to establish the social/cultural
factors that influence adoption of modern beekeeping technologies; determine how
managerial factors influence adoption of the new technologies; assess how institutional
factors influence the adoption and also determine the influence of economic factors on
adoption of modern beekeeping technologies. The target population for this study were the
beekeeping women groups in Kajiado County in Kenya where a sample size of 116
respondents were drawn. The study employed descriptive research design with the use of
personal interviews, questionnaires, observation guides and key informant interview guides to
collect data from the sampled respondents. The collected data was cleaned, edited, coded and
then entered into SPSS (version 21) for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that
socio-cultural factors highly influenced adoption of beekeeping technologies among the
women beekeeping groups in Kajiado County. Among the social /cultural factors identified
were sex of the house hold head, marital status, education levels, size of the house hold, size
of land and cultural beliefs. Further, the study revealed that managerial skills (human,
technical and conceptual skills) are very necessary for adoption of modern technologies; and
that they are acquired through training and awareness creation. It was also found out that
institutions like finance institutions and extension services do positively influence adoption of
new technologies through farmer education and capacity building. The study further revealed
that economically, movable comb hives (New technology) produced higher net returns per
colony compared with local hives (Old technology) and that adoption of new technologies
increased farmers yields and net benefits. The study therefore, concluded that social/cultural
factors, managerial skills, institutional and economic factors actually do influence adoption of
new beekeeping technologies in one way or the other and therefore recommended that
Extension Officers responsible for introducing new technologies should always address these
factors before and during introduction of new technologies. | en_US |
