Effect of Ease of Access to Information on Technology Usability on Household Food Security among Smallholder Farmers in Bungoma North Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Smallholder farming is the livelihood of a large proportion of the population in developing countries, and agricultural innovations have the potential of enhancing productivity. In Sub-Saharan Africa, maize is a major staple; however, farmers experience heavy losses in post-harvest operations, especially storage. Hermetic storage technologies can preserve grain in quality and quantity, thus ensuring food availability while maintaining their exchange value. Extracting benefits from technology is premised on their adoption and use by farmers. Technology adoption is a process that starts with the diffusion of information about the existence of innovation. The study examined the effect of ease of access to information on technology usability on household food security in Bungoma North Sub-County, in Kenya. This study employed a cross-sectional design, where 394 households were sampled from across all the six locations of Bungoma North Sub County and questionnaires administered. From the factor analysis, household food security was loaded onto two components: food availability and food consumption, while ease of access to information on technology usability was loaded onto one component. Simple linear regression was used to estimate the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variables. Ease of access to information on technology usability had a positive and significant effect on both food availability and food consumption. This study is important in strategizing for productivity enhancement among smallholder farmers and recommends increased awareness on the availability of agricultural technologies.