Evaluating Factors Influencing Wheat Production Among Small Scale Farmers, A Case of Buuri Sub County in Meru County

Abstract

The purpose for this study was to investigate factors influencing wheat production among small scale farmers of Buuri Sub County, Meru County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to investigate how costs of production influence wheat production of small scale farmers, to establish how extension services influence wheat production of small scale farmers and to examine how accessibility to credit influence wheat production of small scale farmers of Buuri Sub County. The study adopted descriptive survey design which was used to obtain information to describe the existing phenomena. The target population was 80 households consisting of small scale farmers. According to the records from the Ministry of Agriculture Buuri Sub County has four Wards. The Sub County has a population of 34,394 small scale farmers by the year 2014 (Ministry of Agriculture Buuri Sub County Office, 2014). The target population for this study is 18,580 small scale wheat farmers. The estimated sample size was 30 from the target population using Cochran 1963 formula at 7% level significance. The study employed stratified random sampling in order to include all the wards; proportionate allocation was used to determine the number of farmers from each ward that would be the respondents in the study. Systemic random sampling was used to select the actual respondents from the wards. Content validity was used where the researcher shared the research instrument with his supervisors to assess its appropriateness in content. A questionnaire with closed ended questions was prepared and distributed to the respondents in all the wards. The questionnaires were then collected after one week. All the questionnaires were filled and were used for analysis. Data was analyzed using descriptive method and by use of SPSS. Frequency tables and percentages were used for data presentation after analysis. The findings revealed that fertilizer remains the costliest input in wheat production, followed by land preparation. Also most farmers do not attend field days and only a negligible percentage has access to credit. The national and county governments should avail subsidized fertilizer in good time and make it easily accessible. Proper sensitization should be done by agricultural extension officers to all farmers about the available extension services and county government should provide sufficient facilitation to agricultural extension officers to promote extension services. Farmers should be encouraged to form groups in order to access credit services, market their produce and acquire farm inputs collectively. Both national, county governments and financial institutions should make credit easily accessible and affordable to small scale farmers. The researcher recommends further research on causes of low attendance of field days and low level of accessing extension services in general to ascertain the underlying causes of low dissemination of extension information.