Factors that determine service quality in state corporations: a case of National Cereals and Produce Board

Abstract

The study was carried out in Imenti South district which is in the highland slopes east of Mt. Kenya. The area has high horticultural activity with fruits as a major source of income for the farmers. Due to high perishability of horticultural produce, there is need for development of post production technologies to reduce wastages. Various technologies have been introduced in the area but have not been adopted by the farmers as expected. This study was to find out why farmers were not adopting the technologies and identify the factors that influenced their decisions to adopt or not to adopt the technologies. A field study was carried out through structured questionnaires administered to sixty-two farmers randomly selected from areas where fruit post production technologies had been introduced in the three divisions of Imenti South. Farmers exhibited various levels of knowledge and application of and continuing the investment in a technology and availability of markets for products were the major determinants of whether or not farmers adopt and sustain PPT. Availability of raw materials, information, skills and experience were important; however farmers tended to assume they were already available and therefore did not consider them as critical factors for adoption. The method of disseminating new technologies was important; farmers who received information through training and demonstration continued with the technologies they had started. introduced post production technologies. Some of the farmers had known or had heard of the technologies but had not tried them; others had tried them and then abandoned after sometime, whereas others were continuing with the technologies. Each category of farmers had different reasons for adopting or not adopting various technologies. Availability of capital for initiating.