Agricultural Training Centres’ Contribution in Promoting Food Security among Smallholder Potato Farmers in Nyandarua County, Kenya

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 1,Issue 4, July 2014

Year:

2014

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Agricultural Training Centre, Curriculum, Adoption, Effectiveness

Authors:

Nyamwamu, Ronald O.; Mwangi, John G.; Ombati, Justus M.

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

1

Number:

4

Pages:

240-248

Month:

July

Note:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Abstract:

The agriculture sector contributes significantly towards world economic growth and is a source of livelihood for most people living in rural areas. Food security can be achieved through increased agricultural production and productivity. Small-scale farmers are trained at the Agricultural Training Centres (ATCs) on crop production techniques aimed at increasing crop production and productivity, using a formal curriculum. However, the effectiveness of ATCs’ curriculum in promoting adoption of crop production technologies is not well documented. Consequently, the contribution of ATCs in achieving food security in Nyandarua County is not known. This study was therefore done to document the effectiveness of ATCs’ curriculum in promoting farmers’ adoption of selected potato technologies in Nyandarua County. A survey was done to collect primary data from 136 farmers trained at ATCs on potato production, using interview schedules and sampled through a five stage technique. The data was analyzed using ANOVA and summarized using percentages. Results showed that adoption of recommended potato production technologies produced higher yields. It was therefore concluded that ATCs contributed significantly to the achievement of food security in Nyandarua County. This was based on the higher yields obtained by the potato farmers who had adopted potato selection, planting, and crop protection and harvesting technologies after being trained at the ATCs on potato production. The findings of this study can be used by the ministry of agriculture in formulating policies for guiding farmer training at ATCs. The ATC administrators can also use the results in identifying gaps in the curriculum with an aim of improving it.

Full text: IJRAS_90_Final.pdf