An Evaluation of the Influence of Information Sources on Adoption of Agroforestry Practices in Kajiado Central Sub-County, Kenya

摘要

Access to information on agroforestry is a key transformer to agricultural productivity. This study was undertaken to find out Information Communication and Technologies (ICTs) sources and factors influencing access and use of these information sources by smallholder agroforestry farmers in Kajiado Central, sub-County in Kenya. A survey of 67 respondents was analyzed using Chi-square at 0.05 levels of significance to determine relationship between socio-economic characteristics of households and access to agroforestry information sources. The results showed 53.7 % of the farming households used face to face communication namely; neighbours and friends, extension agents and group meeting, while 34.1 % actively used ICTs information sources namely; radio, television, telephone and internet; and 28.8 % used demonstrations and publicity events to disseminate (one way) or share (receive and send feedback) information on agroforestry practices. Land size, secured land tenure, education level, monthly income and distance to the shopping centre were socio-economic factors found statistically significantly difference (p<0.05) and positively influencing farmers' access to sources of agroforestry information. The study recommends policy makers, planners and implementers to empower farming households through capacity building, incorporating ICT devices, supporting farmers to farmers meetings to promote agroforestry practices in Kenya.