Youth Involvement In Soil Fertility Management In Embu And Vihiga Counties, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Kenya and generally Sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing a severe decline in soil fertility which has resulted in low crop productivity, thereby threatening country’s and the region’s efforts to overcome some of the challenges including food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, and general unemployment. While efforts have been put in place to improve the declining fertility of soils including development and importation of new soil fertility management (SFM) techniques and technologies, they have suffered limited adoption. This is because major focus has been on the biophysical aspects of soil fertility with limited attention paid to the societal aspects. This study sought to explore the societal factors that influence SFM, with focus on youth who comprise a significantly large proportion of the population in the country and the region, and also have invaluable characteristics critical for the adoption of sustainable SFM practices and adaptive technologies. The objectives of the study were to establish the SFM practices of youth farmers, and to examine the influence of the socio-cultural, economic and political factors on their involvement in SFM guided by Luhmann’s social systems theory. The study adopted a cross-sectional analytical survey design employing a mixed methods approach. The study was conducted in Mbeere South and Sabatia sub-counties. The primary respondents in the study were youth farmers; 200 youth farmers were sampled. The study also targeted key informants including agricultural extension officers, representatives of agricultural NGOs, CBOs, and financial institutions offering credit to farmers. FGDs were also held with youth farmers in farmer groups. To collect data, semi-structured interview schedules, KII guides, and FGD guides were used. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 to produce both descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages, and inferential statistics such as chi-square tests and Cramer’s V. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study established that most (56%) of the youth farmers in Mbeere South practiced either organic or inorganic SFM method, while the remaining practiced mixed organic and inorganic SFM method. In Sabatia on the other hand, most (59%) practiced mixed organic and inorganic SFM method, while the remaining practiced either organic or inorganic SFM method. Among the socio-cultural factors examined, education level, gender, membership to farmer groups, and perception of farm fertility were found to influence youth involvement in SFM in both study areas. Among the economic factors, satisfaction with farm income influenced youth involvement in SFM in both study areas, while distance to markets was of influence in Sabatia only. Among the political factors, land ownership, access to extension services, and access to government subsidized fertilizers influenced youth involvement in SFM in both study areas. The study concludes that youth involvement in SFM is influenced, variably across different areas, by the societal factors including the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects. It is therefore important that efforts at soil fertility improvement take into account these societal factors. The study recommends that deliberate efforts should be made to encourage youth involvement in sustainable SFM measures, through improved access to the influential societal factors.