| dc.description.abstract | The purpose for this study was to investigate factors influencing maize production
among small scale farmers of Bungoma Central Sub County, Kenya. The study was guided
by the following objectives: to investigate how costs of production influence maize
production of small scale farmers, to establish how demographic characteristics influence
maize production of small scale farmers, to determine how extension services influence
maize production of small scale farmers and to examine how accessibility to credit influence
maize production of small scale farmers of Bungoma Central Sub County. The study
adopted descriptive survey design which was used to obtain information to describe the
existing phenomena. The target population was 18,580 both male and female consisting of
small scale farmers. The estimated sample size was 202 from the target population using
Cochran 1963 formula at 7% level significance. The study employed stratified random
sampling in order to include all the wards; proportionate allocation was used to determine
the number of farmers from each ward that would be the respondents in the study. Systemic
random sampling was used to select the actual respondents from the wards. Content validity
was used where the researcher shared the research instrument with his supervisors to assess
its appropriateness in content. Split half method was employed to test the reliability of the
instrument. A questionnaire with closed ended questions was prepared and distributed to the
respondents in all the wards. The questionnaires were then collected after one week. All the
questionnaires were filled and were used for analysis. Data was analyzed using descriptive
method. Frequency tables and percentages were used for data presentation after analysis.
The findings revealed that fertilizer remains the most costly input in maize production,
followed by land preparation. Also most farmers do not attend field days and only a
negligible percentage have access to credit. The national and county governments should
avail subsidized fertilizer in good time and make it easily accessible. Proper sensitization
should be done by agricultural extension officers to all farmers about the available extension
services and county government should provide sufficient facilitation to agricultural
extension officers to promote extension services. Farmers should be encouraged to form
groups in order to access credit services, market their produce and acquire farm inputs
collectively. Both national, county governments and financial institutions should make
credit easily accessible and affordable to small scale farmers. The researcher recommends
further research on causes of low attendance of field days and low level of accessing
extension services in general to ascertain the underlying causes of low dissemination of
extension information | en_US |
