Modern technology and sustainable irrigation of small scale dry-land farming in Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

The Purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of technology on sustainable irrigation of small scale dry land farming in Kitui Central District, Kitui County, Kenya. The study sought to establish the extent to which adoption of new irrigation technology, gravity free flow irrigation and access to access to credit has influenced sustainable irrigation of small scale dry land farming. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. A sample of 150 participants was randomly selected from 1540 small-scale dry land irrigation farmers in the district. Data was collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. Descriptive and inferential statistical procedures, including Pearson's correlation coefficient and one way ANOVA were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed by daily briefs, categorization into themes and narrations of respondents' quotations and verbatim explanations. The .findings revealed that irrigation of intensive, small scale dry-land farming yields statistically significantly higher farm outputs from a 2-acre dry-land farm than the natural rain-fed small scale dry-land farm of similar acreage at 95% confidence interval. The study recommended that farmers and County governments should adopt both indigenous and new technologies that are supportive to the development and growth of small scale dry land farming. Further studies should be done' on the relationship between training and sustainable irrigation of small scale dry land farming to ensure successful artificial agricultural productivity from the Arid and SemiArid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya.