Abstract
The focus on smallholder farmers as a drive to fighting hunger in the Sub-Saharan Africa is certainly becoming the focus of agricultural investments as governments race to meet the second sustainable development goal of eradicating hunger. The Farm Input Support Programs (FISPs) are emerging as the sure approach in doing this. This paper has emerged from a wider study that sought to examine challenges experienced in the Bungoma County FISP. This program is pro-poor and targets vulnerable households by supporting them with free fertilizers and certified maize seed for one season. The study adopted an ex-poste study design where qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from 450 beneficiaries, 8 key informant and six focus group members arranged in two groups. Purposive sampling, systematic random sampling and simple random sampling methods were employed in identifying study participants, hence both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were preferred. Beneficiaries were assisted to fill questionnaires in obtaining quantitative data, while interview schedules was preferred for Key Informants and Focus Group Discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and presented as both descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data by content analysis and presented as narratives. The findings indicate that major challenges experienced in the program include political interference, governance challenges and poor attitude by stakeholders and beneficiaries. It is also observed that the program can leverage on the goodwill it enjoys among the farmers and policy makers. The study recommends for a more elaborate legal and policy framework, and also a beneficiary assessment tool that will stipulate the process and therefore guide the implementation of the program with an aim of streamlining the process.
Published Version
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