Factors That Attribute To Decrease in Agricultural Production in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya over 75% of its population earns it’s living from agriculture, which in turn depends on rainfall (UNEP and GOK 2000). Due to the rest areas being prone to drought, Kenya’s vulnerability to food insecurity is highest among pastoralists and small-scale agriculturalists most of whom are residents in Uasin Gishu County. Uasin Gishu County is the leading County in Kenya in the production of maize and wheat therefore; it is referred to as the “bread basket” of the country. But over the years, the increasing population growth in the county, has continued to exert pressure on natural resources especially land. Such pressure and continued subdivision of land through inheritance, has resulted in very small piece of land whose commercial viability is low. (DDP, 2008).  The specific objective of the study was to identify the factors that have attributed to decrease in agricultural production in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Longitudinal survey Research design was used to identify the factors that have attributed to decrease in agricultural production and purposive random sampling was used to sample the study units. The target population was 400 rural households. Multi-stage random sampling was utilized to select a sample of 100 respondents. To analysis the collected data, descriptive statistics and chi-square test was used. The study found out that decrease in land size, increase in cost of farm inputs, declining soil fertility, poor infrastructure, climate change, and among other factors have adversely affected agricultural production in the county. It is for this reason that the researcher explored on the factors that attribute to the decrease in agricultural production in Uasin Gishu County.  It was concluded that over time noticeable changes have occurred in the county among them were the escalating prices of the farm inputs which has limited the farmers’ ability to use fertilizer and other soil nutrients thus causing declining soil fertility. It was therefore recommended that the government through the Ministry of agriculture subsidizes the cost of farm inputs to make farming more cost effective hence motivating farmers to increase agricultural production. The extension officers to be more effective in reaching farmers so as to provide farmers with the right information on the best agricultural practices including the right seed varieties as well as the right fertilizers to use. The Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with research institutes such as KARI should develop and help farmers incorporate new technologies in production, develop and support serious mitigation and adaptation policies on climate change. This will help shield farmers on the consequences of climate change.

Key words: Factors; Attribute; Decrease; Agricultural Production.