| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing the adoption of agricultural
technology among small holder farmers in Kakamega North Sub-County, Kenya. The
following study objectives guided the study: to examine how capital and credit facilities
influence the adoption of agricultural technology among small holder farmers; establish how
training influences the adoption of agricultural technology among small holder farmers;
determine how availability of agricultural extension services influence the adoption of
agricultural technology among small holder farmers; determine how market availability
influences the adoption of agricultural technology among small holder farmers and establish
how demographic characteristics of farmers influences the adoption of agricultural
technology among small holder farmers in Kakamega North Sub-County. Conceptual
framework guided the study by illustrating how the various variables were interrelated. The
study adopted an exploratory research design. The target population consisted of 25 producer
groups having 25 small holder farmers (625 small holder farmers), five key producer group
officials in each of the 25 producer groups (125 officials), 15 respondents from Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute and 10 respondents from Bukura Agricultural Training
College and the one respondent from the Ministry of Agriculture. Simple random sampling
techniques was used to select 188 small holder farmers while purposive sampling techniques
were used to select 125 key producer group officials,15 respondents from Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute and 10 respondents from Bukura Agricultural Training College and one
respondent from the Ministry of Agriculture. The questionnaires and interviews schedules
were used to collect data. On validity of the instruments, the researcher used content validity
while Cronbach Alpha Reliability coefficient value was 0.87. Data was analysed by use of
both descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in frequency tables and measures of
central tendency. Regression and correlation analyses were used to test levels of significance
and strength of relationship among study variables. Qualitative data from the in-depth
interviews was also analyzed and presented appropriately. Results of the study were: Capital
and credit facilities had positive and significant association on the adoption of agricultural
technology but at varying degrees; results indicated that training has a marginally positive
and significant influence on the adoption of technologies among smallholder farmers. There
was a marginal weak positive association between availability of agricultural extension
services and adoption of agricultural technology. Results revealed that market availability has
a positive and significant (p<0.05) on the adoption of agricultural technology and the
farmers’ educational levels, gender and age had positive and significant influence on the
adoption of technology while the variable on males and females adopting technology equally
had positive but insignificant influence. Therefore, the following recommendations were
made: There is a need to increase farmers’ capital and credit facilities and make these
services accessible to the farmers. The farmers and extension officers ought to be trained on
yield-raising technologies and fertility-restoring and conservation technologies and other
technologies that can positively contribute to high productivity among farmers. The findings
of this study may prove the need to improve living standards of farmers by upgrading their
production capacity. | en_US |
