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DETERMINANTS OF THE DECISION TO ADOPT INTEGRATED SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES BY SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF KENYA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

JAYNE MUGWE ,
DANIEL MUGENDI ,
MONICAH MUCHERU-MUNA ,
ROEL MERCKX ,
JONAS CHIANU  and
BERNARD VANLAUWE
JAYNE MUGWE*
Affiliation:
Kenya Forestry Research Institute, P.O. Box 20412-00200 Nairobi, Kenya
DANIEL MUGENDI
Affiliation:
Kenyatta University, School of Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Sciences P.O Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
MONICAH MUCHERU-MUNA
Affiliation:
Kenyatta University, School of Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Sciences P.O Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
ROEL MERCKX
Affiliation:
Katholeike Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
JONAS CHIANU
Affiliation:
Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT, c/o World Agroforestry Centre [ICRAF], U.N. Avenue, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
BERNARD VANLAUWE
Affiliation:
Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT, c/o World Agroforestry Centre [ICRAF], U.N. Avenue, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
*
†Corresponding author: jaynemugwe@yahoo.com
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Summary

Declining soil fertility is a major cause of low per capita food production on smallholder farms of sub-Saharan Africa. This study attempted to provide an empirical explanation of the factors associated with farmers' decisions to adopt or not to adopt newly introduced integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies consisting of combinations of organics and mineral fertilizer in Meru South district of the central highlands of Kenya. Out of 106 households interviewed, 46% were ‘adopters’ while 54% were ‘non-adopters’. A logistic regression model showed that the factors that significantly influenced adoption positively were farm management, ability to hire labour and months in a year households bought food for their families, while age of household head and number of mature cattle negatively influenced adoption. The implication of these results is that the adoption of ISFM practices could be enhanced through targeting of younger families where both spouses work on the farm full-time and food insecure households. It is also important to target farmers that lack access to other sources of soil fertility improvement. Examples include farmers that do not own cattle or those owning few and who, therefore, have limited access to animal manure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 61 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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