Abstract: Bungoma County is one of the areas in Kenya where maize is produced on small-scale basis; however,
the County isfacing soil nutrient depletion due to continuous and unsustainable cultivation of land. Various
interventions have sensitized farmers into adopting organic soil management techniques of enhancing soil fertility
and upholding environmental sustainability. The study was aimedatestablishing the most preferred organic soil
managementtechniques among farmers and the factors influencing the choice of these techniques. This wasbased on
an exploratory study of small-scale organic maize farmers in Bungoma County.Asimple random sampling approach
was used to select a sample of 150 smallholder maize farmers and primary data was collected using a semistructured
questionnaire. In the analyses, descriptive statistics and a multinomial Logit model were employed using
STATA computer program. The results indicated that extension, farm size household size, gender, age, education,
credit, group membership, land tenure, farm distance and slope of land significantly influenced the choice of
different techniques. Therefore the study recommends that policies in support of organic soil management should
disaggregate farmers according to their socioeconomic, farmer and farm characteristics in order to achieve their
intended objectives. Further there is need to increase extension visits to improve farmer awareness on the advantages
of the various techniques.
Abstract: Bungoma County is one of the areas in Kenya where maize is produced on small-scale basis; however,the County isfacing soil nutrient depletion due to continuous and unsustainable cultivation of land. Variousinterventions have sensitized farmers into adopting organic soil management techniques of enhancing soil fertilityand upholding environmental sustainability. The study was aimedatestablishing the most preferred organic soilmanagementtechniques among farmers and the factors influencing the choice of these techniques. This wasbased onan exploratory study of small-scale organic maize farmers in Bungoma County.Asimple random sampling approachwas used to select a sample of 150 smallholder maize farmers and primary data was collected using a semistructuredquestionnaire. In the analyses, descriptive statistics and a multinomial Logit model were employed usingSTATA computer program. The results indicated that extension, farm size household size, gender, age, education,credit, group membership, land tenure, farm distance and slope of land significantly influenced the choice ofdifferent techniques. Therefore the study recommends that policies in support of organic soil management shoulddisaggregate farmers according to their socioeconomic, farmer and farm characteristics in order to achieve theirintended objectives. Further there is need to increase extension visits to improve farmer awareness on the advantagesof the various techniques.
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