Factors influencing uptake of metal silo technology among small-scale farmers: a case of Mwingi central sub-county, Kenya.
Abstract
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing metal silo technology
uptake among farmers in Mwingi Central Sub-County, Kenya. The study was guided
by the following specific objectives; to determine the influence of farmer
characteristics on uptake of metal silos technology among farmers, to identify the
influence of farm characteristics on uptake of metal silos technology among farmers
and to identify the influence of extension services on uptake of metal silos technology
among farmers. The researcher used Statistical Package of Social Scientists (SPSS) to
analyse the data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The data was
presented in tables and interpreted by the researcher and contrasted to the literature
review. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The target population for
the study are 217 smallholder farmers involved in maize growing activities. The study
proposed to adopt multistage cluster sampling, purposive sampling and stratified
random sampling. The study selected 30 % of the population in each of the stratum.
The sample size for the study was 65 respondents. The results show that among the
three independent variables, there was a positive and significant relationship between
education and adoption of metal silo technology with a correlation coefficient of
0.039. Similarly there was a positive and significant relationship between extension
services and adoption of metal silo technology with a correlation coefficient of 0.005.
The most significant relationship was between farm size and adoption of metal silo
technology. These findings imply farm size is the factors that are highly correlated
with adoption of metal silo technology. The study concludes that the farmers do not
adopt the metal silo technology due to the small amount of maize that they harvest
which is associated with the size of the farm. The study concludes that the more
educated a farmer is, the more likely they know about alternative techniques for grain
storage. The study found that farmers had low levels of interaction with extension
agents and this led to low access to information on metal silo technology. The study
also concludes that informal communication among the farmers was found to be the
major source of information on methods of grain storage among the respondents. The
study recommends that training should be provided to the farmers that have already
adopted the metal silo technology to become change agents of the technology among
other farmers in the region. That metal silo technology should be designed to suit the
needs of smallholder farmers as majority of the smallholder farmers have small
parcels of land and do not have quantities of grain harvested to suit the metal silo
technology that is available in the market. That sensitization of the metal silo
technology should be coordinated with the county and central government agencies in
order to reach a high number of farmers.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [6020]
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