Influence of digital communication platforms on uptake of financial services and dairy production technologies in Uasin Gishu, Kenya.

Abstract

Dairy farming in Kenya was introduced in mid-1950’s during the colonial era. Today the sector accounts for 14% of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product and is dominated by smallholders who are characterized by subsistence production on small farms of about 0.5 to 2 ha and low levels of application of technology. With increasing pressure on productive agricultural land from human settlement and industrialization, growth in the dairy sector is expected to come from application of new technologies. Research has shown that productivity in smallholder farms can be significantly increased through adoption of better feeding and breeding technologies however, only 20% of the smallholder farmers use these technologies a situation attributed to many factors including inadequate extensions services and low capital levels due to limited access to agricultural credit. The public extension system in Kenya’s dairy sector is generally inefficient due to underfunding and limited staff capacity. Furthermore, financial service providers (FSP) only lend less than 5% of their loan book to the agricultural sector which limits ability of farmers to afford high upfront cost required for adoption of new technologies. The potential for application of digital technologies have been identified in the agricultural sector and special efforts to drive investment in digital technologies have been initiated to ensure the sector is running efficiently, markets are well supplied, and consumers are able to access affordable and nutritious food. This study therefore sought to evaluate how digital communication platforms can be utilized to influencing adoption of dairy production technologies and uptake of financial services in dairy farming. The study was conducted in three villages in Kapseret Sub-County of Uasin Gishu County, using two technologies i.e., mobile phone short message service (SMS) and video mediated learning (VML). 120 participants were randomly allocated into three groups of 40 farmers each and trained using VML for Group 1, SMS for Group 2 and a combination of VML and SMS in Group 3. In the results, the study found that 67% of the respondents depend on agriculture for their livelihoods while 50% kept livestock for milk production. Furthermore, 89% of farmers interviewed had access to mobile phones and 57% of had access to video viewing equipment. The study observed a general increase in adoption of dairy technologies from an average of 38% before the study to 53% after the study across all the study groups. The study found the highest uptake of financial services and dairy production technologies in the combined VML and SMS groups, with an adoption rate of 56% and 67% respectively. Further analysis revealed a strong association between farmer’s socioeconomic factors like age (r=-0.560), gender (r=-0.573), farming experience (r=-0.635), and education level (r=0.570) and utilization of digital platforms for accessing information on dairy production technologies and financial services. The study concluded that digital communication platforms like videos and mobile telephone SMS are effective in stimulating uptake of important technologies and services while better results are seen when they are combined and used in a complementary manner. This study highlights the potential of modern ICT tools for agricultural extension and communication in the Kenyan dairy sector and recommends how they can be utilized by the Kenyan government and relevant stakeholders to improve the smallholder milk productivity.