Adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Western Kenya: do socioeconomic, institutional, and biophysical factors matter?

Abstract

Rigorous efforts should be channeled to the current low adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) in sub-Saharan African countries to improve food production. What determines the adoption level and intensity of CSAPs among smallholder farmers in Kenya? While considering their joint adoption, smallholder farmers' CSAPs adoption determinants were assessed based on a sample size of 300 smallholder farmers in Western Kenya. The CSAPs considered were animal manure, soil water conservation, agroforestry, crop diversification, and crop-livestock integration. A multivariate and ordered probit models were used to assess the determinants of joint adoption of CSAPs in Western Kenya. Both complements and substitutes between CSAPs were established. The multivariate probit analysis revealed that household head's gender, education, age, family size, contact with extension agents, access to weather information, arable land, livestock owned, perceived climate change, infertile soil, and persistent soil erosion influenced CSAPs adoption. The ordered probit model revealed that gender, arable land, livestock owned, soil fertility, and constant soil erosion were crucial determinants of CSAPs adoption. The findings implied that policymakers and relevant stakeholders should consider farmer, institutional, and biophysical factors in upscaling or promoting the adoption of CSAPs.

Keywords

• Soil fertility decline
• Climate-smart agriculture
• Climate change
• Multivariate probit model
• Ordered probit model