Challenges of One Acre Fund and Strategies for Enhanced Adoption of Agriculture Innovation Programs

Abstract

Purpose: The adoption of One Acre Fund (OAF) agricultural practices has helped small-scale land holders to address food insecurity in Kenya. Efforts have been made by both the central and county governments to address food insecurity through low levels of technological acquisition to small-farm holdings. This study is prompted by declining production especially in stable foods in Bungoma South Sub-County. The paper examines challenges and strategies of adoption of One Acre Fund (OAF) agriculture innovation program adoption among smallholder maize farmers, Bungoma County. Specifically, the paper examines challenges and strategies of improving One Acre Fund agricultural innovation program in Bungoma South Sub-County.
 Methodology: The paper employed descriptive survey design to accommodate qualitative and qualitative data-. Data collection was done using questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussions, and direct observation of 204 OAF households. The secondary data was collected from published materials. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics while quantitative data was filtered, coded, and analyzed using the Social Sciences Statistical Package (SPSS). The regression analysis was used to determine the correlation between dependent and independent variables. Quantitative data was analyzed using chi-square and pairwise ranking.
 Findings: Various challenges affecting the adoption of OAF program were identified such as small farm size, infertile and leached soil, climate variability, high cost of inputs and high interest on repaying of loans. Pairwise ranking was run to determine strategies for enhanced adoption. Reduced loan repayment interest, crop insurance, reduced cost of farm inputs, awareness on existing OAF innovations and increased use of fertilizers were identified as strategies for enhancing adoption. Pearson moments correlation results showed a positive relationship between OAF income generation and income improvement with correlation coefficient of rs = 0.5.
 Conclusion: The study concludes that adoption of OAF innovation is low among smallholder farmers. This is because of the high cost of repayment of loans on inputs. The main strategy to enhance increased adoption was reduction of loan repayment interest.
 Recommendation: The study recommends the need to increase the participation of youths in the OAF Programs through mentorship and education. OAF management should scale up its program to accommodate even farmers with large farms. It should also introduce a program that tailors towards crop diversification to offer a variety to farmers to make choices on which crops to adopt.