Influence Of Selected Socio-Economic And Institutional Factors On Adoption of Improved Cassava Processing Technologies Among Small Scale Farmers In Migori County, Kenya Elizabeth Muthoni Nderitu

Abstract

Cassava is an important food crop, an economical raw material for animal feed and has various industrial uses but still remains underutilized. The underutilization arises from its limitations such as; short life upon harvesting if not processed, bulkiness which makes transportation difficult and also has high cyanide concentration .Cassava processing has the potential to increase its utilization. In Kenya, improved cassava processing technologies have been developed but their adoption continues to be low, especially among small scale farmers and this could be attributed to several factors including socio-economic and institutional factors. This study was carried out to establish the influence of selected socio-economic and institutional factors on adoption of improved cassava processing technologies. The study employed a crosssectional survey design with a purposive sampling procedure; Migori County was purposively selected on the basis of high cassava production. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. A coefficient Cronbach’s alpha was used to test reliability and the results gave a coefficient of 0.79. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 120 small scale cassava farmers to be interviewed. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse data. Descriptive statistics was used to present the findings while logistic binary regression model was used to test the hypotheses at the set level of significance, p ≤ 0.05. The results indicate that the socio-economic and institutional factors have a statistically significant (P=.000) influence on adoption of improved cassava technologies. Limited access to government extension services, credit facilities and education have contributed to low adoption of technologies. The recommendation is to strengthen by employing more extension providers at the Ward level in the devolved system, increase farmer awareness of the existence of improved cassava technologies through trainings