Open AccessFactors influencing adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia (Macadamia spp.) among small-scale farmers in Embu County, Kenya
Author(s) -
Moses Muchangi Njiru,
Hezron Ruzungu Mogaka,
S. Ndirangu,
Bernard M. Gichimu
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of agricultural extension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.169
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2408-6851
pISSN - 1119-944X
DOI - 10.4314/jae.v25i4.13
Subject(s) - macadamia nut , cultivar , scale (ratio) , wald test , business , agricultural economics , agricultural science , geography , mathematics , horticulture , economics , statistics , biology , statistical hypothesis testing , cartography
The study investigated the factors influencing adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia (Macadamia spp.) among small-scale farmers in Embu County, Kenya. Data was collected from a sample of 384 small-scale farmers obtained through multistage sampling procedure in ten sub-locations. Binary Logit model was used to determine the effect of selected institutional and socio-economic factors on adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia. The results revealed that education level (wald=26.160), access to extension services (wald=6.246) and farm size (wald=4.271) had significant positive influence on adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia while age of the farmer (wald=5.235) and market distance (wald=5.519) had a negative influence on the same. There is need to encourage the youth to embrace macadamia farming and to develop smart marketing strategies to promote adoption of improved cultivars.