https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0120-1440
![Sample our Food Science & Technology journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5936/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Food-Science-Technology.jpg"})
Abstract
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption rates have remained low in Kenya despite being promoted by the Kenyan government and its development partners. Analyzing institutional factors could help inform efforts to mitigate potential climate adaptation mal-actions in Kenya and other contexts. This study examined the relationship between institutional factors and CSA adoption among smallholder potato farmers in Gilgil Sub County of Nakuru County, Kenya. The institutional factors selected for this study included access to credit, training on CSA, non-governmental organization (NGO) support, and farmers' group membership. A binary logistic regression analysis unveiled that smallholder potato farmers' adoption of CSA was positively related to institutional factors, which was statistically significant at a 5% significance level (χ2 = 10.219, df = 4, p < 0.05). However, only access to credit was positive and statistically significant at a 5% significance level (Wald χ2 = 4.524, df = 1, p < 0.05) among the four explanatory variables included in the binary logistic regression model. Therefore, warranting access to credit is deemed to produce favorable requisites for adopting farming methods befitted to adapting agriculture to the effects of climate change. One way of warranting access to credit could be mobilizing farmers to join groups that serve as Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs) because farmers that join SACCOs or VSLAs have access to loans that may otherwise be challenging to obtain from conventional financial institutions.
Reviewing Editor:
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledged the support provided by the MasterCard Foundation through the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). The authors also acknowledged the family of Mr. Bernard Mwenja Ngigi of Gilgil, Kenya, for hosting the researchers and ensuring that the sampled smallholder potato farmers were successfully reached to participate in the study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, AW, upon reasonable request.
Notes
1 Climate change refers to any change in climatic factors (rainfall, wind, sunshine, solar radiation, temperature) over time, which may be due to natural variability or as a consequence of human activities (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Citation2012). This definition was adopted for this study.
2 Determinants: These are factors or causal elements that lead a given phenomenon to happen or directly influence a given decision (Merriam-Webster, Citation2020). In this study, determinants meant selected institutional factors that affect the adoption of CSA.
3 Institutional factors are related to the control measures developed by communities to moderate/govern the people. Some of these control measures are formal e.g. legal standards while the rest are informal (Warsaw, Citation2013). In this study, institutional factors constituted access to credit, access to training on CSA and NGO support.
4 Smallholder farmers: These are farmers who farm on less than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land (FAO, Citation2015). This definition was adopted for this study.
5 Practice/adoption is when one decides to fully use a technology that is perceived as the best option available. It entails the farmer learning the new knowledge and putting it into use. It includes purchasing of the tools and equipment necessary to execute the technology (Rogers, Citation2003). This definition was adopted for this study. Therefore, Practice/adoption of CSA is the use of a given CSA technology. In this study, it was measured by the percentage of farmers implementing CSA on their farms.
6 Farmers' access to credit is the ability of agricultural producers to get financial resources (credit) to support their farming operations and other activities (Chen, Citation2021). They can use this credit to pay for various farming-related expenses, including hiring personnel, managing day-to-day operating costs, and buying seeds, fertilizer, equipment, and machinery. This definition was adopted for this study and the sources of credit referred to included Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs), banks, borrowing from money lenders, neighbors and relatives.