Determination of entrepreneural factors that affect agriculture development: a case of horticulture farmers in Kajiado Central and Kajiado East Sub Counties

Abstract

The study sought to determine entrepreneurial factors affecting agriculture development in Kajiado County. The study was conducted in three divisions of the county due to the vastness of the county and time and financial constraints. The Sub-Counties are Kajiado central and Kajiado east. The study specifically focuses on three variables that are; entrepreneurial Skills, Human resource development and nature of co-operative agriculture marketing and how these variables affect agriculture development in Kajiado County. The study employed descriptive research design and the target population for the study comprised of all the horticultural farmers in the two sub-counties. The two sub-counties have 278 registered households engaged in horticulture farming according to the Horticulture crop Development Authority. The sampling frame was obtained from HCDA list of registered horticulture farmers in the county. The study used simple random sampling method to select the sample. The sample size was 30 percent of the total population that is 84 respondents. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Reliability and validity was undertaken through pre testing of questionnaires and conducting test - retest technique to check reliability and verification by peer review and supervisor review. Data analysis was done through inferential and descriptive statistics. The study established that the farmers used family as a source of labour in the horticulture farms. Further, the study found out that majority of the farmers had an average of 2-4 full time employees in their horticultural farms and an average of 5-7 part time employees in their horticultural farms respectively. The study further established that networking skills, strategy skills, management skills and professional skills were the entrepreneurial skills which were considered important by the respondents. Based on the findings of the study, it was observed that farming was not the respondent’s primary source of income for the farmers and that horticulture farming was used to supplement income of the farmers. The study established that majority of the respondents have not registered with any horticultural oriented corporative society but appreciate the importance of being in one. The main benefit of belonging in a corporative society was access to market and sourcing of cheap inputs. The study concludes that horticulture farming was essential for development in the county hence it was important to build the skills of the farmers. It further concludes that the major source of labour was hired temporary labour and farmer networks. It was also noted that commercial banks provide majority of financing into the sector. The study recommends that county governments should emphasize on equipping the horticulture farmer with the requisite skills while building the capacities of the societies for them to access new markets and cheaper inputs finally the county governments should strengthen farmer network and work with this networks at policy development. The suggested area for further research was on how corporative societies could be used to access markets and source cheap inputs for its members. Further studies can also be done to determine how the current policy affects horticulture development and suggest changes and improvements to the current policy