| dc.description.abstract | Small-scale farmers worldwide are struggling to produce enough food to feed a growing
population. Farmers are increasingly being asked to produce in huge quantities while
still being ecologically friendly, economically profitable, and socially equitable.
Although agroecological practices are increasingly being recognized as sustainable
solutions to food insecurity and climate solutions, their adoption in Makueni County
remains underexplored in relation to socio-economic development of farmers.
Furthermore, financial constraints, weak policy support and inaccessibility to
information limits adoption, making it difficult to understand how specific
agroecological interventions influence resilience, livelihoods and productivity. Thus,
the purpose of this study was to investigate agro-ecological practices as determinants
of socio- economic development of farmers in Makueni County, Kenya. Specifically,
the study determined the prevalence of agro-ecological practices adopted by farmers,
assessed the factors influencing adoption of specific agro-ecological practices and
determined the relationship between agro-ecological practices and socio-economic
development of farmers. Anchored on Mellor’s Theory of Agricultural Development
and the Resource Exploitation Theory, a quantitative research approach and a
descriptive cross-sectional design were adopted to explore the study’s objectives. The
target population consisted of crop-growing farmers affiliated with 30 self-help groups.
To ensure representative sampling, stratification and proportionate sampling techniques
were applied to draw participants from a total of 280 farmers. The sample size was
determined using a formula provided by Select Statistical Services, resulting in a final
selection of 163 respondents. These participants were chosen through proportionate
sampling to accurately reflect the broader population under study. To identify the types
of agro-ecological practices adopted by farmers, the frequency per item of observed
variables was computed while a simple binary logistic regression and simple linear
regression was used to examine the factors influencing adoption of specific agro ecological practices and the influence of agro-ecological practices on socio-economic
development of farmers, respectively. A total of 87.2% of farmers reported adopting at
least one agro-ecological practice, with crop rotation (70.7%) commonly adopted,
followed by zero/minimum tillage (51.2%) and agroforestry (43.9%). Whereas, agro ecological practices such as crop residue incorporation (17.7%), legume intercropping
(21.3%), compost/manure use (36.6%), cover cropping (23.2%), seed saving (14.6%),
planting pest repellant plants (11%), and applying natural pesticides (11.6%) were less
widely embraced. Enablers (motivation, accelerator, access to information) and barrier
(financial constraints, inadequate extension support, market limitations, cultural and
social norms, policy and institutional gaps) factors had a significant effect on the
adoption of agro-ecological practices, with motivation showing the strongest positive
effect and barriers exerting a strong negative impact. The overall model indicated good
fit and moderate to strong predictive power. After regressing the determined agro ecological practices against socio-economic development variable, the study found that
agro-ecological practices influence farmers' socio-economic development by around
15.5%. Therefore, agro-ecological practices contribute to socio-economic development
of famers by enhancing their livelihoods, improving sustainability and productivity.
Motivation, access to information and barriers influence adoption of agro-ecological
practices, indicating the need to capacity-build and offer targeted support to encourage
sustainable agriculture and foster resilient among farmers. | en_US |
