Factors affecting Adoption of Modern Technologies and Production in Tomato Farming: A Study of Tomato Farming in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Charity Kiambuthi, Alfred Wandera Sanday

Tomato productivity, Yield increase, Adoption, Modern technologies

Tomato production in Kenya significantly contributes to the Country’s economy, recorded at 8% total input of the GDP. Tomato farming has, over the years, proved to be easily practiced by most homesteads, most of whom develop small or large kitchen gardens to generate income. In Kirinyaga County, which is in Kenya, tomato production accounts for 14% of the agricultural production in the County. This paper identified the underlying productivity and adoption of modern technologies as; I) to determine the technologies adaptable by farmers, ii) methods used to adopt to increased productivity, and iii) to investigate whether modern technologies influenced productivity increase. Primary data was obtained from tomato farmers in the five sub-counties of Kirinyaga County. Questionnaires were administered to tomato farmers by enumerators using CS Entry software. SPSS was used to analyse the data from the 397 respondents.

This study found that the primary source of income for tomato farmers who were respondents to the study showed that 100% of households depended on tomato farming as the only income-generating product. 98% of respondents had financial challenges, resulting in 98% of tomato farmers indicating that they could not adapt to new technologies due to these limitations. Further, they were challenged by the fact that the new technologies were expensive to practice, and there needed to be more technology training and personnel to consult. Of significance was that new technologies were not affordable, nor were they available to tomato farmers, with the majority totalling 141 indicating that greenhouses were the top technology they could adopt, 114 adopting drip irrigation and plastic mulching adopted by 63 respondents, respectively. Furthermore, 246 respondents were still determining whether the new technologies are sustainable, with only 74 indicating they were sustainable. Similarly, it was revealed that lending loans to farmers (154 respondents) and free training (138 respondents) were the solutions to adopting new and modern technologies. In conclusion, for tomato farmers in Kirinyaga County to remain the top producers of tomatoes in Kenya, they need financial input from the County and national government to boost their farming practices.

Of the tomato farmers who participated in this study, 144 posed low yield due to pest and disease infections, with 102 confirming that lack of agricultural information on pests and diseases significantly contributed to low yield. This study sought to find if introducing modern tomato farming technologies could increase production, and 83% of respondents indicated that they were not introduced to modern technologies. Therefore, factors that influence tomato production are of great essence to tomato farmers. In this study, it was evident that agricultural information on pests and diseases, tomato seed varieties, pre-and post-harvest, monitoring and evaluation, storage facilities, and marketing were vital in production.

https://doi.org/10.31871/WJRR.17.5.8