Assessment of socio-economic factors influencing adoption of natural pastures improvement technologies in arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya

J K Manyeki, D Kubasu, E C Kirwa and W N Mnene

KARI-Kiboko Research Centre,
P.O. Box 12-90138, Makindu, Kenya
manyekijk@yahoo.com

Abstract

Livestock production plays an important role in the arid and semi arid lands economy though it is constrained by intensively natural pasture degradation. Early 1999, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute Kiboko research centre in collaboration with other related institutions embarked on designing and disseminating appropriate natural pasture improvement technologies. Defer grazing, over-sowing and reseeding technologies were some of the technologies recommended for rehabilitating the denuded pastures. However, due to geophysical constraints, severely resource constrained livestock farmers and some socio-cultural factor have hindered the pace of livestock production in this areas. The main objective of this study was therefore to evaluate social and economic factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of natural pasture improvement technologies. Two sites were purposively selected in Makindu (agro-pastoral) and Mashuru (pastoral) Sub-Countys. A household survey using semi structured questionnaire was conducted to collect primary data applying multi-stage random sampling procedure consisting of 99 households. Multible regression was employed to estimate the factors that significantly influenced the adoption of natural pasture improvement technologies for improved livestock productivity.  

In the two sites, the main factors affecting adoption of natural pasture improvement technologies were age and education level of household head, land ownerships and affiliation to farmers group(s). In addition, in Makindu site, sex, formal technical training of the household and number of extension visit also influence adoption. For wider uptake of natural pasture improvement technologies the study concluded that the best approach for disseminating natural pasture technologies was through the Nongovernmental organizations although enhanced research-extension linkage would also play a bigger role.

Keywords: adoption, dissemination approaches, natural pasture improvement technologies

Introduction

Livestock production in Kenya is mainly concentrated in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). ASALs account for 88% of Kenya's land area and supports over 25% of human population, employs 50% of agricultural labour force and contribute to 5.6 – 12.6% and 30-45% to national gross domestic product (GDP) and of agricultural GDP respectively (RoK 2004, Muthee 2006). In the year 2000, it was estimated that pastoralists hold over 60% of the national livestock herd, with a monetary value of between Kshs. 60 and 70 billion (RoK 2000). Livestock production in the ASALs of Kenya is characterized by traditional subsistence oriented farming. The sector is pasture based and is in line with the increasing international demand that require livestock reared on natural pastures. However, geo-physical constraints, severely resource constrained livestock farmers and some stereotyped socio-cultural factor have hindered the pace of livestock production in this areas.

Natural pasture degradation in Kenyan ASALs was established as one of the priority problem limiting livestock productivity (Mnene et al 1999). The pasture are degraded so intensively that their vigour is reduced, less productive grasses and weeds invade the pastures and reduced soil fertility and erosion soil prevalent. During the onset of the Agricultural Research Supports Programme Phase two (ARSP-II), within Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), it was reported that there was inadequate knowledge and skills on pasture establishment, management and use among many farmers in Kenya ASALs (Mnene et al 1999; Kibet et al 2006). Based on this fact, KARI Kiboko research centre in collaboration with other related institutions embarked on designing and disseminating appropriate natural pasture improvement (NaPI) technologies. Some of the technologies recommended for rehabilitating the denuded pastures of Kenyan ASALs were defer grazing, over-sowing and reseeding technologies (Mnene 2006). However, generation and diffusion of these natural pasture improvement technologies are continued by an unflinching endeavor over the last few years, although in a dawdling motion.

Defer grazing implies fencing the denuded area and allow the area to re-vegetation for two to three season before grazing. Over-sowing implies the introduction of improved pasture species of grasses or legumes to a natural pasture. Over-sowing is the simplest and cost efficient pasture development strategy. It increases forage quality and productivity of natural pastures. Reseeding technologies are recommended where pasture is heavily invaded by weeds, bushes and shrubs—and is lacking in or has few desirable grass species. In this case the farmer has no alternative but to prepare a good seed bed. This particular strategy is important where high monetary returns are expected. It requires high management and is costly. Over-sowing and reseeding technology requires grass seed. To enhance seed supply, seed bulking technologies were recommended. The seed bulking techniques disseminated were seed harvesting and storing technologies. The disseminated seed harvesting techniques were stalk cutting and stripping. The recommended harvested storage technology was the indigenous store although need to be well ventilated. Seed has to be store for at least three month in order to break its dormancy.

Several approaches used in disseminating NaPI technologies were establishment of demonstration plots, organizing farmers’ workshops or field days, farmer’s exposure tours and training of trainers. The training of trainer comprises of three groups; farmers’ group representative, extension staff and secondary biology/agricultural teachers. The trainees were extensively trained on how to prepare land, seed planting, harvesting and storing. In order to ensure feed availability during dry season, the participants were also trained on how to harvest and store hay. The extension staffs were supposed to establish pasture demonstration plot for seed multiplication and backstopping the trained farmer’s group representative. The farmers’ group representatives were supposed to train other group members and facilitate the establishment of pasture plot on their farms. The secondary teachers were supposed to establish demo plot for seed multiplication and assist the community in testing the quality of the grass seed.

Since the development and promotion of natural pasture improvement technologies, no comprehensive studies has been undertaken to establish the status and factors influencing or hindering adoption or discontinuity of NaPI. Previous study reported a greater increase in awareness than adoption of the disseminated NaPI technologies (Gitunu et al 2003) and hence generated high demands for natural pasture improving materials. Low adoption of pasture improvement technologies was believed to be the main factor that resulted to low livestock productivity (RoK 2002; Gitunu et al 2003). The adoption decision is a dynamic process involving changes in the famer’s perceptions and attitudes as the acquisition of better information progresses and farmers’ ability and skill improve in applying new methods (Ghadim et al 1999). This is a critical issue for small and medium-scale farmers, such as those predominating in rangeland of Kenya who have limited capital and restricted access to credit. The understanding of the factors that causes these farmers to partially or fully adopt or discontinue the use of pasture improvement technologies is crucial for improved design and transfer of recommended practices. The decision of whether or not to adopt a new technology is mostly based on careful evaluation of a large number of technical, economical and social factors associated with the technology. Numerous endogenous and exogenous factors affect individual decision making within natural resource management context. The main objective of this was to assess the social and economic factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of NaPI technologies.

Methodology

Sample selection and data collection

Study site for this analysis were purposively selected based on the disseminated pasture improvement technologies during ARSP II and KASAL by KARI in southern rangelands of Kenya. Two sites where natural pasture improvement technologies were disseminated were selected for sampling, that is, Makindu Sub-County and Mashuru Sub-County, an agro-pastoral predominately Kamba community and pastoral predominately Maasai community areas respectively. In Makindu and Mashuru Sub-Countys, Twaandu and Kinyawa locations were respectively selected applying multistage random sampling procedure. Household survey using semi structured schedules were randomly conducted to collect primary data consisting of 99 households. The livestock farmers were categorized into NaPI technologies users and non-users. The data included characteristics, of the household and household head, farm and farm management and attributes of the NaPI technologies. Data on various approaches used in disseminating NaPI technologies were also collected.

Measurement of factors influencing adoption of natural pasture technologies

Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the personal, economic and institutional factors influencing the adoption of NaPI technologies. This multiple regression was implicitly specified as follows:

Y= (SHH, AHH, EHH, LO, MFA, TECTRHH, YSSCHH, TFS, TFRMS, TNL, NEXV, OG) (2)

Where Y is the index of adoption of NaPI (defer grazing, over-sowing or reseeding) technologies, SHH is sex of household head (coded as a dichotomous variable with 1= male and 0 = female), AHH is age of household head (in years), EHH is education level of household head (1= Formal (primary, secondary to university education), 0 = informal), LO is land ownership (coded as a dichotomous variable with 1 = individual and 0 = otherwise), MFA is main farm activity (1= if livestock is main livelihood source; 0 = otherwise), TECTRHH is technical training on NaPI technologies of the household head (1 = received technical training; 0 = No training), YSSCHH is the number of year spent in school, TFS is total family size (number of household members), TFRMS is total farm size (in hectares), TNL is total number of livestock owned by the household, NEXV is the number of extension visit (contact) and OG is organization membership (1 if membership of a farmers’ group; 0 = otherwise)

Results and discussion

The rate of adoption is the relative speed with which members of a social system utilize an innovation. It can be measured as the number of individual who utilize a new technology within a specified period. In this study, about 49% in site of Makindu Sub-county had adopted at least one of the natural pasture improvement technologies, while in the site of Mashuru Sub-county; only 29% of the respondents had adopted (Table 1).

The possible explanation to this difference in adoption rate of NaPI technologies in the two study sites was because the Natural pasture improvement initiative started much earlier in Makindu site. Most of those adopted NaPI technology in Makindu sites were applying reseeding techniques while at Mashuru area defer grazing was the preferred technique (Table 2).

 A summary of the social and economics characteristics of the sampled respondents in the two study sites indicated that actual mean estimates obtained for variables did not show much variation. The result shows that 85% and 97 % in the site of Makindu and Mashuru Sub-county respectively were male headed household with a greater proportion of about 56% and 61% in Makindu and Mashuru site respectively being young and energetic male farmers ranging between 30 to 50 years of age (Table 3 and 4).

The average level of literacy was higher in Makindu with average years of schooling of 7 while that of Mashuru was lower with average years of schooling of 3. This explains why a high adoption level was recorded at Makindu sites as education has been shown to be a factor in the adoption of high yielding modern technologies (Obinne, 1991)

Natural pasture improvement initiative requires land and therefore form of land ownership is critical in influencing adoption of NaPI technologies. In the site of Mashuru Sub-County, individual land ownership was higher with an average acreage of 67.58 hectares compared to that of the site of Makindu Sub-county with an average acreage of about 6.39 hectares (Table 3). Relatively large farm size in Mashuru site constitute the slow speed of uptake of NaPI technologies as the farmers in this area have enough forage for there livestock. The main objective of designing pasture improvement techniques was to increase forage for increase livestock productivity. There was therefore need to assess whether the sample surveyed had an inclination towards livestock production hence high probability of adopting NaPI technologies. In the two study sites livestock production was the main farm activity with an average herd size of 18.6 and 128 animals in Makindu and Mashuru Sub-County respectively. Those who received technical training had a high chance of adopting and utilizing NaPI technologies. From the forgoing analysis, it can be concluded that the respondents in Mashuru site did not receive adequate technical training on NaPI technologies as necessary. Affiliation to farmer group necessitates wider uptake and diffusion of NaPI technologies. A greater proportion of the respondents in Mashuru site did not belong to any association. The average family size per household was the same in the two study sites. Major sources of information on the NaPI technologies available to the respondents in the research institution and trained CIG representatives in Mashuru and Mashuru sites respectively.

Empirical estimate on the social and economic factors that influence adoption of NaPI technologies

A summary of the estimates of the social and economic factors that influence the adoption of natural pasture improvement technologies are presented in this section. The sex of the household head, education level, technical training, land ownership, affiliation to farmers’ groups, numbers of extension visits and livestock as the main sources of livelihood had a significant influence on adoption of NaPI technologies in Makindu site (Table 5).

In Mashuru site only age of the household head, education level, land ownership and affiliation to farmers’ groups were the main factors that influence the adoption of natural pasture improvement technologies. Majority of the respondents in Makindu site were male headed household being between the 30 to 50 years of age and high level of illiteracy. This is an advantage for increased adoption of NaPI technologies as they may be due to their ability to access information from service delivery agents, interpret and use technical messages. Year spent in school negatively influence adoption of NaPI in the site of Makindu Sub-County perhaps owing to the fact that people in this area once educated would look for formal employment elsewhere. However, a positive effect was reported in the site of Mashuru Sub-County with a lower marginal effect. This is because Mashuru County is predominately occupied by pastoral communities with very low level of education implying that a slight increase in the numbers of years spent in school would result to a positive influence in adoption of improved practices in this area. NaPI technologies are labour intensive and therefore the larger the family sizes the bigger the pool of labour available to supply in natural pasture improvement. The positive coefficient of this variable implies its’ positive influence in adoption of NaPI technologies for the two communities in the study area.

Technical training on NaPI technologies positively influence adoption in the site of Makindu Sub-County. Farmers who received adequate technical training on NaPI technologies had a higher probability of applying the innovation. It was presumed that they were privileged with material and managerial support, followed by timely availability of knowledge and skills, which apparently helped them, apply new technology as innovators and early adopters. Forms of land ownership positively influence the adoption of natural pasture improvement in the site of Makindu Sub-county while it had a negative effect in the site of Mashuru Sub-county. The possible explanation to this was that among the agro-pastoral community of Makindu Sub-County, land subdivision started a bit longer compared to pastoral counterpart in Mashuru Sub-County. Farm size is a proxy to wealth. It was anticipated that it could positively influence adoption of NaPI technologies. However, in some cases, the bigger the farm sizes, the more the flexibility for specific pasture integration in farm management plan. In such cases, this variable is expected to positively or negatively influence the adoption of NaPI technologies. In this study, farm size negatively influences NaPI technologies adoption. Any addition unit of farm size had a higher impact in the reduction of the likelihood for the household adopting NaPI technologies in the site of Mashuru County as compared to Makindu Sub-County. This is because, increase in land size would increase the available grazing and therefore reduces the need for improving land as there would be enough pasture for livestock at any given time among the pastoral communities. Affiliation to farmers’ group and number of extension visits necessitates the rate at which information flow within the community. The positive coefficient of extension visit and affiliation to farmer group in Makindu site indicates it’s significant in influence the adoption of NaPI technologies. In Mashuru site, high adoption of NaPI technologies was reported for a household head affiliated to any association. This could perhaps be attributed to the fact that constant interaction among members helps farmers become aware of improved farming technologies. Amongst the agro-pastoral of Makindu Sub-County, herd size had a negative influence to adoption of NaPI technologies while a positive influence was reported among the pastoral of Mashuru Sub-County. This explains why pastoral communities have high inclination toward livestock production compared to agro-pastoral counterpart hence higher chances of adopting any natural pasture improvement endeavor in order to enhance basal diet for their livestock.

The main approaches used in disseminating NaPI technologies considered in this study were through researcher and/or extension officer, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) officer and trained common interest group (CIG) representative. The study revealed that, research/extensions officer, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and trained CIG representatives were the best approaches to employ for a wider uptake and diffusion of NaPI technologies among agro-pastoral community of Makindu Sub-County, while NGOs would be appropriate for pastoral community of Mashuru Sub-County.

Conclusion

• The adoption rate for natural pasture improvement technologies among livestock farmer was fairly well advanced for the sampled site of Makindu Sub-county compared to Mashuru Sub-county. This was because the natural pasture improvement initiative began much earlier among agro-pastoral community of Makindu Sub-County. In addition, the result indicate that adoption and use of the natural pasture improvement technologies is influenced by farmer characteristics, farm related attributes, and attributes related to the technology itself. These attributes play a role in enhancing demand, adoption and use of the technology. These results have implication for the technology providers. This is because the quality of the service of the technology provider(s) has an influence on adoption and use. Non-governmental organizations can enhance acquisition of information on natural pasture improvement technologies by farmers. Research-extension linkage needs to be enhanced to facilitate information flow. There is a need of training more common interest group representative and monitor their performance. Additional research work needs to be conducted to establish the factors that may lead to discontinue use of NaPI technologies. To enhance adoption, farmers need more information on the benefits associate with of NaPI technologies.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge all government institutions and farmers who either directly or indirectly contributed to the successful completion of this activity. The World Bank through Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Programme (KAPAP) and the Government for the financial support. Thanks go to KAPAP secretariat, the Director KARI and the Centre Director, KARI Kiboko for the logistic support facilitation. Finally we acknowledge Ecology section staff at KARI Kiboko for the tireless support both technically and morally.

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Received 7 June 2013; Accepted 5 October 2013; Published 1 November 2013

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