Socio-Economic Determinants of Horticultural Farming in Yatta Furrow, Machakos County, Kenya
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Date
2024-02
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
In many African nations, including Kenya, horticultural gardening has been regarded as one of the primary pathways to eradicating poverty and alleviating food insecurity. Nevertheless, despite the favorable climate, focused policy and program implementations through a number of technical advancements, its development has not been as anticipated. The sector ensures food security as well providing employment which raises income to many households in the country. Despite several production-improvement initiatives, small-scale farmers' expansion in horticulture farming inside domestic markets has lagged behind. Horticultural farming is still a significant part of Kenya's economy, but it has become stagnant, endangering domestic food security and household income. Majority of the studies have focused on technical aspects of adopting modern farming technologies among the farmers with little attention being given to the social and economic aspects that would improve innovation mechanisms to improve production among the farmers. In Kenya, socio economic factors are major concern affecting horticultural productivity. In attempt to address this, efforts have been fruitless. The sector has failed to expand and little has been done to solve the challenges arising from the socio-economic factors within the farmers. Specifically, in Yatta furrow, horticultural farming has declined significantly, with the farmers turning away from the sector to other viable economic ventures. The studies conducted only concentrated in climatic hazards, ignoring the human socio-economic part. This study therefore sought to examine how the prevailing socio-economic factors influence horticultural growth in Yatta furrow. The main objective of the study was to establish the socio economic factors influencing horticultural farming in Yatta furrow. The study targeted 109 farmers, computed using the Cochran’s formula(1963) from the 526 farmers as per the 2019 horticultural report, selected using stratified random sampling across the three wards in Yatta Sub County. The study employed structured questionnaires to source information from the farmers. Interviews were conducted with the key informants being purposively selected. Quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS. Tables, frequencies, and percentages were used to create and show descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis and presentation of tables using qualitative data. The impact of socio economic determinants on the horticultural growth in Yatta furrow was investigated using a regression model. The findings of this research revealed that factors specifically age (p-0.001.), income, gender (p-0.911) education level (p-0.0403), household size (p-0.005) access to extension service (p-0.003),were statistically significant at 5% significant level. The study recommended that, of great concern is the creation of platform from which the socio-economic challenges can be addressed if horticultural growth was to be attained. Men and women should have equal access to training opportunities so they may learn about efficient manufacturing techniques. The study concluded that socio economic factors are significant components that continue to affect horticultural growth in Yatta furrow, and under whatever reasons, the effects are undesirable and therefore, there is the need to improve on socio economic aspects through the services of the relevant bodies.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of Requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts (Geography) In the School of Law, Arts & Social Sciences of Kenyatta University, February 2024.
Supervisors
1. Jackson Musau
2. Philomena Muiruri