Relationship between Agricultural Entrepreneurship Education and Poverty Reduction Among Farmers in Kisumu County, Kenya
Date
2014-10-09
Authors
Mical, Phoebe Adhiambo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Most of Kenya's population, about 80%, live in the rural areas and depend on farming for
their subsistence. Despite continuous cultivation of the farms, there is widespread poverty among farmers. A few farmers who try to sell part of their produce are struggling out of the vicious poverty circle. Poverty can be reduced by increasing food production and the purchasing power of the rural poor. One way of empowering the rural poor is through agricultural entrepreneurship. However, the main problem in the rural areas is that most farmers have not embraced the idea of farming as a business. Education improves the quality of human life by imparting knowledge which will enable individuals to be self-reliant. It provides learning experiences which modify or change the behaviour of a person. Behaviour incorporates change of attitude towards other people, ideas, things and institutions. New forms of behavior acquired through education help in dealing effectively with new ideas and situations encountered in life. Education would propel the farmers towards the adoption of agricultural entrepreneurship. The objective of this study is to establish the relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship, education and poverty reduction in Kisumu County.
The specific objectives of the study will be; to establish whether there is any relationship
between farmers' innovativeness and poverty reduction, to determine the relationship between farmers' risk taking propensity and poverty reduction and to establish whether there are support factors which affect agricultural entrepreneurship in Kisumu County. Agricultural Entrepreneurship could prove useful as a poverty reduction tool if it leads to increased income, which would translate to improved living standards. The research design will be cross sectional survey. The population for the study will comprise of 554 farmers practising active agricultural entrepreneurship in all the six sub-counties of Kisumu County. This number will be distributed in the six sub-counties. The sample for the study will be derived from among the entrepreneurial farmers in three out of the six sub counties, using systematic sampling technique, guided by a calculated sampling fraction (Saunders, 2004). To ensure randomness
of the sample the first case will be selected randomly from the respective clusters (sub -
counties). The respondents from each sub county will be proportionate to the respective
populations. The instruments to be used for data collection will include questionnaires and interview schedules. The primary data from the field will be coded to reduce it to manageable summaries. The data will then be analyzed by use of descriptive statistics like measures of central tendency. Multiple regression analysis will be carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. It is expected that the study will offer new information on the relationship between, agricultural entrepreneurship, education and poverty reduction among farmers in Kisumu County.