Understanding Low Rates of Technology Adoption by Women Farmers: A Case Study of the Determinants of Adoption of Improved Sorghum Varieties by Women Farmers in Mbeere District, Kenya

Abstract

The paper acknowledges the increasing recognition of women's contribution in agricultural and food production, both in terms of provision of labour and in the day-to-day management of farm households and farm activities. However, despite women's increased contribution in farming, not much is understood about their decisions on whether or not to adopt available agricultural technologies. Instead, majority of women farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to be involved in subsistence farming with little use of improved technologies, which in turn translates into sub-optimal yields and low productivity. This paper identifies and analyses the factors that influence smallholder women farmers' decisions to adopt improved sorghum varieties in a marginal agricultural ecological zone in Kenya. A total of 81 farm households, of whom 41 were female-managed, in Mbeere District were interviewed with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The data on various institutional, infrastructural, farm/farmer characteristics as well as technology attributes was analysed using a logit regression model. The analysis revealed that non-yield attributes of improved varieties do affect the probability of adoption. Such attributes in the case of sorghum include taste, ease or difficulty of processing the grain and proneness to attack by birds. Since women play a major role in agricultural and food production in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the implications of these results are that more and more women should be encouraged to participate in later stages of technology development and evaluation. This would ensure that their views with regard to other important attributes besides yield were incorporated, which in turn would make improved technologies more appealing to farmers.