Abstract:
Inland-based fish farming in Kenya continues to draw enormous financial support by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development under the Economic Stimulus Programme. The Fish Farming Enterprise Productivity Programme (FFEPP) entails the production of fish in a managed environment in marine and freshwater systems for food and commercial purposes. In-land based pond fish farming has been hampered by low level of fish farming, abandonment of ponds, and inadequate training and extension services. Fish farmers in Meru South Sub-County have been slow in adopting inland- based pond fish farming despite the Kenya Government‟s efforts to promote fish farming through training. This study investigated the relationship between Fish Farming Enterprise Productivity Training Programme (FFEPTP) and adoption of inland-based pond fish farming in Meru South Sub-County, Kenya. The study employed survey design that targeted 400 pond fish farmers who had undergone FFEP training programme excluding those that abandoned their ponds, 22 extension officers and three ward fisheries officers. Purposive and stratified sampling was used to select the respondents. The total sample was 237 respondents comprising 212 farmers, 22 extension officers and three ward officers. The instruments for data collection were; a researcher administered questionnaire for farmers, and a self-administered questionnaire for fisheries and extension officers. Instruments were piloted in Maara Sub County with a sample of 24 respondents comprising of 21 farmers, two extension officers and one sub county fisheries officer. Face, construct and content validity of the research instruments were ascertained by a panel of experts in Agricultural Education. Cronbach‟s Alpha Coefficient was used to estimate the reliability of the questionnaires. A reliability coefficient of 0.72 and 0.70 for farmers and extension agents and fisheries officers‟ questionnaires were obtained. Data obtained was cleaned, coded and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Both descriptive statistics involving frequencies and means, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The relationship between training and adoption of pond fish farming was assessed using relationship DID. The findings show that there was an increase in adoption rate of pond construction of 63.66 percent after training. This implies that FFEPTP had a positive impact on pond fish farming as evidenced by the significant number of ponds constructed after training. The study recommends that extension agents and ward fisheries officers should be proactive in providing farmers with technical support needed for pond establishment, fish production, marketing and harvesting
