Factors Affecting Adoption and Effect of Irrigation Technologies on Productivity and Profitability among Small-scale Farmers in Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

Agricultural productivity has been significantly impacted by climate change and variability. Because of their reliance on rain-fed agriculture Kenya's small-scale farmers have been severely impacted by the climate change negative effects. The productivity and profitability of crop and livestock production, as well as rural livelihoods in general, have been impacted by erratic rainfall and temperature increases. Irrigated agriculture must therefore be used as a strategy for adaptation to lessen these effects. The goal of the study was to identify the factors affecting use and effect of irrigation technology among small-scale farmers in Machakos County. A multi-stage sample strategy was used to interview 300 farming households selected randomly in order to achieve these objectives. To examine the households’ socioeconomic attributes, descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages) were employed. Additionally, inferential statistics comprising of probit model, and Heckman two stage regression model were used to examine factors that were related with adoption and intensity of adoption. According to the findings, 31.7% of the respondents used irrigation. In the research area, furrow, drip, and basin approaches were the most widely used technologies. Furthermore, the findings revealed that (91.78%) and (75.61%) of both adopters and non-adopters were men respectively with a mean age of (48) years. The findings revealed that gender, level of education, primary occupation, farm size, off-farm income, labor, access to extension services, and credit access were significant factors affecting irrigation technology adoption and intensity of adoption. Results from PSM revealed that, the average contribution of irrigation to crop yield improvement ranged from 225kg to 258kg per acre as compared to non-irrigation adopters. Results from the endogenous treatment model demonstrated that farmers who used irrigation technologies received on average KES 40,696.70 more compared to non-irrigation adopters. The research recommends that, the government and relevant key parties promote the adoption of small-scale irrigation technologies in rural areas, improve access to extension services, increase access to agricultural loans, and provide other essential services such as subsidization of certified seed and fertilizer costs in order to realize improved agricultural productivity while mitigating the impacts of seasonal variations and changes in climate.