Factors influencing uptake of metal silo technology among small-scale farmers: a case of Mwingi central sub-county, Kenya.

Abstract

x 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.