Effects of Adoption of CSA Interventions on Maize Productivity Among Small Scale Farmer Households In Moiben Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an agricultural activity that seeks to improve production sustainably to enhance food security and agricultural development. The use of climate-smart agricultural interventions is crucial in ensuring increased agricultural productivity, income, food security, and livelihood for the majority of small scale farmers in Kenya. To achieve this, various agricultural and economic interventions are often used to increase agricultural production. However, despite these interventions, maize production in Uasin Gishu County has declined from 4.4 million bags in 2017 to 3.7 million bags in 2018. Maize farmers have been making negative gross margins of about Kshs 2,000 per acre per year. The focus of the study was to assess the effects of adoption of CSA interventions on maize productivity. The study was guided by the diffusion innovation theory. Descriptive and cross-sectional survey designs were employed in this study. The study drew a sample of 109 small scale maize farmers’ households from a target population of 10,109 through stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Primary data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive and multiple linear regression. Multiple linear regression estimates on the effects of the adoption of CSA interventions revealed that a unit increase in adoption of early maturing maize varieties, increased herbicide use and crop rotation increased maize production by 431.7%, 644.3% and 611.5% respectively while adoption of early dry planting and tree planting reduce maize yield by 407.3% and 242.4% respectively. Therefore, in conclusion, the estimated results of this study rejected the null hypothesis that adoption of CSA interventions have no significant effect on maize productivity among small scale maize farmers’ households in Moiben Sub-County, Kenya. Based on our findings, the study recommends that more farmers need to be trained on the use of CSA interventions as this intervention will help to cut the cost of production and help farmers to realize high-profit margins from their maize output.