Browsing by Author "Murimi, Henly"

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    Analysis of technical efficiency and rice output of small-scale Rice farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya.
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-05) Murimi, Henly
    The demand for rice in Kenya is growing, with yearly consumption increasing at a rate of 12 per cent per year. Kenya has thus put into place measures to reduce demand-supply gap. An initiative such as National Rice Development Strategy (N.R.D.S.) Phase 2 (2019–2030) has been implemented to accelerate rice production. Despite these polices, rice output has grown slowly, widening the gap. 949,000 metric tons of rice are consumed nationally yearly, compared to 180,000 metric tons produced. Full potential of rice production hasn’t been achieved over the last decade despite government efforts such as fertilizer subsidy, aimed at increasing its output. Achieving full potential in rice production would help in increasing rice output thus reducing rice import bill and increasing food security. This research aimed to determine the technical efficiency of small-scale rice farmers in Kenya's Kirinyaga County and the effect inputs have on rice output. The study was conducted in Kirinyaga County, Kenya. Mwea irrigation scheme was chosen since it accounts for over 80% of rice produced in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and targeted 6000 small-scale rice farmers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme. To get 362 farmers, the sample size was calculated using Cochran's methodology. A layered, multi-phase random sampling approach was used to choose the respondents. A survey questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data for this investigation. This research used primary data, which was collected for the agricultural season of 2023. Technical efficiency was estimated using Stochastic Frontier Analysis Model. The assumptions of regression analysis were examined before running the regression, including homoscedasticity, multicollinearity and normality. The mean of technical efficiency was found to be 87.8% and ranged between 39.9% and 98.3%. This implied that technical inefficiencies exist among the small-scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County. The study found that the coefficients for fertilizer, farm size, labour and capital were positive and statistically significant revealing that and increase in the amount of fertilizer used, land size, labour and capital in rice production would result in an increase in rice output. The study concluded that the technical efficiencies of small-scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County differs among the farmers. Further, the study concluded that small scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County do experience technical inefficiencies which account for loss in rice output. The study also concluded that fertilizer, farm size, labour and capital contribute to changes in rice output. The study made recommendations that policy makers in the ministry of agriculture should formulate policies that will aid the farmers in improving technical efficiency up-scaling to adapt to technological changes, automating systems and implementing robotics and AI in production processes. This can also be achieved through process optimization that will help in reducing inefficiencies in production processes.