GENDER ANALYSIS ON ADOPTION OF CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE PRACTICES AND TECHNOLOGIES ON IRISH POTATO VALUE CHAIN IN KURESOI NORTH SUB-COUNTY, NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA.

Abstract

Agriculture contributes over 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya and Irish Potatoes is one of the important crops in terms of food security and income generation. Climate change is a factor that increasingly affects agricultural productivity and leads to even greater socioeconomic inequalities between men and women, yet the adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CSA) is currently low. Employing the Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the Liberal Feminist Theory, this research examined the role of gender roles in adopting CSA by Irish potato farmers in Nakuru County, Kuresoi North Sub-County. The research was focused on Irish potato farmers and 197 people were sampled using simple random sampling with five key informant interviews with leading farmers, government extension officers and private sector specialists. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests and qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis, and the integration of both was used to facilitate the triangulation of findings. There was no significant relationship between gender and the overall CSA adoption ( mixer: 2 = 1.73, p = 0.630). However, gender specific differences were seen in the adoption of specific practices. Male farmers were found to be more likely to adopt capital intensive innovation such as improved potato varieties (i.e. more male farmers were likely to grow improved potato varieties; (5) Chi-squared test, df = 0, P = 0.001). However, female farmers were more active into practices requiring more labor, especially water management (χ² = 5.51, p = 0.019). Although the unequal distribution of labour was confirmed (chi-square = 8.08, p = 0.018), it did not have an important influence on CSA adoption patterns (chi-square = 8.16, p = 0.226).Qualitative results highlighted the importance of the peer group: women's low involvement in decision making and lack of access to financial resources as opposed to time management were considered the key reasons why compromising with CSA is not envisaged. Property ownership surfaced as a major such constraint in terms of ownership of property, with unequal titling of land restricting women access to institutional credit evident from key informants noting that collateral-based lending is strongly dependent on land ownership. Nonetheless, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), women's farmer groups, and the holistic household extension services were identified as effective mechanisms to improve female's participation. The study concludes that to lower gender disparities in CSA adoption, it is important to implement structural reforms in decision-making and asset ownership, and not simply redistribute workloads. Recommendations include joint land - each title programmes so as to increase women's access to credit, and gender-neutral extension services focusing on the whole household, and the establishment of mixed gender farmer groups. These evidence based interventions are on the verge of promoting a more equitable and sustainable adoption of CSA by smallholder farmers in Kenya.