RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADVISORY SERVICES AND ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURAL INDIGENOUS PRACTICES IN CHUKA SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Adoption of agricultural indigenous practices (AIPs) holds the promise for agricultural and environmental sustainability. However, the adoption rate has been low among smallholder farmers for decades. Level of advisory services (ASs) accessibility has been documented as one of the key drivers of adoption. However, little information exists to show the relationship between access to ASs and adoption of AIPs in Chuka sub-County. Therefore, the objective of the studyintended to generate factual information regarding the relationship between access to ASs and AIPs adoption among smallholder farmers in the said sub-County. Data was collected from 100 farmers through stratified sampling. Percentages, mean, frequencies, standard deviation, and simple Pearsoncorrelationwere used to analyze data at p<0.05. Results of Pearson correlation indicated a significant positive relationship between access to ASs and adoption of AIPs (r = 0.51, p = 0.01). Conversely, ASs were rated as inaccessible. Further, the study revealed that radio was the most widely used source of information. It was concluded that access to ASs influenced adoption of AIPs among farmers since the relationship was significant. It was therefore, recommended that County government should formulate policies and incentives to enhance access to agricultural ASs towards the adoption of AIPsforagriculturalandenvironmentalsustainability.Countygovernmentshouldalsostepupsupportforextension education and trainings for effective adoption of AIPs among farmers.