Factors influencing adoption of greenhouse farming technology among small scale horticulture farmers in Gem Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Food security continues to be a major concern all over the world while the role of technology in agricultural production has been growing in importance with time. Greenhouses are quickly gaining popularity in Kenya as progressive farmers get more acquainted with modern technologies available in the sector. There use is mostly informed by unfriendly environmental conditions which are not favorable for open field crop production. This study aimed at establishing factors influencing adoption of greenhouse technology among small scale farmers in Gem Sub-County, Kenya. This is in line with vision 2030 which identifies agriculture as a key sector through which annual economic growth rate of 10 percent can be achieved. In this regard the following objectives guided the study:- To assess how access to financial capital influences adoption of greenhouse technology among small scale horticulture farmers; To establish the extent to which technical skills of greenhouse influences the adoption of greenhouse technology among small scale horticulture farmers; To establish the extent to which availability of market influences the adoption of greenhouse technology and To determine the extent to which technology characteristics influences the adoption of greenhouse technology among small scale farmers in Gem sub-county. Innovation diffusion theory as advanced by Rodgers (1995) was adopted in this study. This research adopted a descriptive survey design. Systematic random sampling and purposive sampling was used to choose a sample from open field and greenhouse horticulture farmers respectively to participate in the study. The target population was 37,203 small scale horticulture farmers in Gem Sub-County. The study employed Yamane’s (1967) formula to arrive at a sample of 395 respondents. The researcher carried out a pilot study in Kisumu west Sub-County on a sample comprising 15 respondents. The study adopted a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from the respondents. The instruments were validated using content validity through discussion with supervisors and other professional experts. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze descriptive statistics with the aid of statistical package for social sciences version 20 and the findings presented using frequency distribution tables The findings of this study is expected to provide insight to various stakeholders in Gem sub-county on factors influencing adoption of greenhouse farming among small scale farmers. The findings indicated that access to financial capital; technical skills; availability of market and technology characteristics influenced adoption of greenhouse farming technology among small scale farmers. The study revealed that 87% of respondents reported lack of access to credit as a major factor influencing adoption of greenhouse technology. The study also showed that market stability was significant with 80% of the respondents citing the same. User perception and technical skills were also cited as factors influencing adoption of greenhouse technology with 71% and 66% of the respondents respectively. The study made the following recommendations: The study recommended the need to increase smallholder farmer’s capital and credit facilities and make these services accessible to the farmers and to further improve institutional and infrastructure development to ensure broad-based, low cost market access, and well-functioning input and output marketing.