Determinants of adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies among potato farmers in Kenya: Does entrepreneurial orientation play a role?

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an important strategy for supporting farmers against climate change challenges. However, CSA adoption among smallholder farmers particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains low. This article investigates the factors that influence CSA adoption among smallholder potato farmers in Nyandarua County, Kenya. We specifically focus on the role of the farmers’ entrepreneurial orientation (reflected in the farmers’ innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking), a contribution that has received limited research attention. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 350 potato farming households and analyzed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA) and a multivariate probit regression model. Based on PCA analysis, the study considered six categories of CSA practices; soil nutrient management, crop management, crop protection, seed management, water harvesting, and crop quality improvement. The multivariate probit results show that farmers' entrepreneurial orientation had mixed influence on CSA adoption. While farmers’ innovativeness had a positive influence on crop management and improvement practices uptake, its influence on water harvesting technologies was negative. Similarly, proactive farmers were more likely to adopt seed management practices, whereas risk-takers were more likely to adopt protection and water harvesting technologies. Potato producers' willingness to engage in seed multiplication was linked to use of crop protection, seed management, and water harvesting technologies, indicating a path that could help potato farmers’ access clean seed. Other important factors influencing CSA adoption included access to financing through mobile-based applications, gender, land size, trust in extension officers, household income, and farm characteristics. The study discusses the implications of these findings.