Influence Of Information Access On Adoption Of Improved Sweetpotato Varieties In Migori County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas) (L) Lam is a root crop and the seventh most important

food crop after wheat, rice, maize, potato, barley and cassava in Sub- Saharan Africa and

in Kenya. It is rich in carbohydrate offering a cheap source of energy and vitamins for

health and nutritional benefits especially orange fleshed varieties. Improved sweetpotato

varieties were disseminated by different institutions and organization in Migori County

from 2014 to avail clean planting vines for farming communities, but studies revealed

that their adoption is still low. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the

influence of information access on adoption of improved sweetpotato varieties in Migori

County. Specific objectives were, to establish information access on production and

marketing pathways, to determine socioeconomic factors influencing information access

on improved sweetpotato varieties, and to evaluate drivers which influence adoption of

improved sweetpotato varieties. The study was carried out in Migori County. The design

of the study adopted was household survey on a sample size of 146 farmers and 12 key

informants. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 8subcounties in Migori

County. Purposive sampling procedure was used to identify 4 sub counties selected for

the study, which were Suna East, Suna West, Kuria East and Kuria West which mainly

produced sweetpotato. Farmers from the four sub counties were subjected to simple

random sampling. Semi -structured questionnaires and interview schedule were used as

instruments for data collection to sampled farmers and key informants. Data collected

was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences version 20 to generate

descriptive and inferential statistics. Logit model was used to establish the relationship

between the study variables. The results showed that in demographic characteristic, males

61.5%, female 38.5%, males were more than females, with education levels at primary

being 59.4%. Sweetpotato was produced at 20% on average land of 2acres. Information

disseminated to farmers on production, preferred were high yields scored 87.0%,vitamin

A content 82.0% and early maturity 78%. The significant variables which had influence

on households to adopt improved sweetpotato varieties were large farm size above two

acres (P≤ 0.02) practice of sweetpotato production (P ≤ 0.05), sources of information

from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Ministry of Agriculture,

farmers field days, (P≤ 0.05). In conclusion, sources information was associated with

adoption of improved sweetpotato varieties. The study recommends that linkages be

strengthened between Research institutions and Agricultural Extension in developing and

disseminating integrated sweetpotato technologies to farmers to scale out adoption.

Key words: Improved sweetpotato varieties, information access and adoption.