Factors influencing the effectiveness of farmers as disseminators of fodder shrubs in the central Kenya highlands

Delivery of extension services in Kenya by the main extension service providers in the government and NGOs has been declining over the years. New dissemination methods and approaches that address the needs of the poor and women therefore need to be identified and promoted. One of the proposed ways of complementing conventional extension services is farmer-to-farmer extension, but little information is available on how farmers disseminate information and skills among themselves. The success of farmer-to-farmer extension could be influenced by whether the farmer-disseminators are also innovators, with the experience and credibility to influence other farmers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence dissemination of fodder shrubs among smallholder farmers in four districts of the central highlands of Kenya. Specifically, the study focused on identifying and assessing the farmers’ personal characteristics and extension institutional factors that influence farmer-to-farmer extension. The study also investigated whether knowledgeable, skilled, innovative and experienced farmers (‘experts’) were also good at disseminating the fodder shrubs. The study used ex-post facto design and targeted smallholder farmers who had adopted the fodder shrubs in the central highlands of Kenya. A questionnaire was administered to 113 adopters, selected by simple random sampling procedures, from 12 villages in four districts of the central region of Kenya. The Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) was used to analyse the data, using both descriptive and inferential statistics tools. Descriptive statistics included measures of central tendencies and measures of variability while inferential statistics included Pearson correlation coefficients (r), t-tests, regression analysis, log-linear analysis and the analysis of variances (ANOVA). The correlation coefficient (r) measured the magnitude and direction of the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Binary tests of association were used to determine the factors associated with farmer-to-farmer dissemination. The degree of association between farmers’ expertise, innovation and success in dissemination was also assessed.Information derived from this study is expected to provide some insights into how farmer-to-farmer extension can be improved, and how it can be used to increase the diffusion and adoption of agricultural innovations.

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