ENHANCING SOYBEAN PRODUCTION, ECONOMICS AND ADOPTION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF KENYA
Date
2019-08
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Abstract
Current demand for soybean in Kenya is higher than production. The deficit which is over
95% is filled through importation from neighboring countries. Despite the high demand,
adoption and production is low (0.56 to 1.1 t ha-1
) against potential yield of 3.0 – 3.6 t ha-1
.
The low production is associated with low use of fertilizers. Farmers are using mineral
fertilizers below recommended rates and they are not using organic fertilizers despite them
being readily available. The objectives of the study was therefore to determine the effect of
applying organic and inorganic fertilizers singly or in combination on grain yield of
soybean, compare economics of soybean under organic and inorganic fertilizers and to
determine factors influencing adoption of soybean by smallholder farmers in the central
Highlands of Kenya. To achieve these objectives, on-farm experiments were set in Embu
County and a survey was carried out in Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties. The
experiments had six treatments; (tithonia, tithonia plus fertilizer, fertilizer plus manure,
fertilizer, manure and a control) arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD).
The plot sizes measured 6 m × 4.5 m and the main data collected was yield and labour. In
the survey, the sample size was 210 farmers. Net benefits, benefit cost ratio and return to
labor were used as the economic tools in data analysis. All biophysical data was subjected
to analysis of variance (ANOVA). To determine factors influencing adoption of soybean,
data was subjected to Cross-tabulation for categorical variables to test for association using
Pearson chi-square statistic, the data was also subjected to a binary logistic regression
model to predict the factors affecting adoption of soybean in the central highlands of
Kenya. Results showed that there was a significant difference in soybean yield among
treatments in LR 2016 and SR 2016, (P= <0.0001) and (P= <0.0033) respectively. A
combination of manure plus fertilizer and tithonia plus fertilizer recorded a significant
higher soybean yield than the control in both seasons. Manure plus fertilizer recorded a
significantly higher net benefit and return to labour than the control in both seasons and it
is the only treatment that recorded a return to labour of greater than 2.0, which is the
minimum acceptable for smallholder farming activities. Out of 210 households
interviewed, 41% were adopters while 59% were non-adopters. Total farm size,
membership of a farmer group and attendance of training on soybean positively influenced
adoption of soybean while age of household head negatively influenced adoption of
soybean. The implication of these results is that farmers should be integrating organic and
inorganic fertilizer in soybean farming in Embu County. Integration of manure and
fertilizer should be advocated for in order to realize maximum economic benefits from
soybean farming. Further, the adoption of soybean in the central Highlands of Kenya can
be enhanced by targeting young household heads, household heads with bigger farm sizes,
encouraging farmers to join farmer groups and increasing trainings on soybean. These
findings provide a guide to the extension agents in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock
and Fisheries (MoALF) in Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties. This will help them in
designing training manuals for farmers in regard to soybean production and increasing
adoption of the crop in these Counties.