EVALUATION OF WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT AND ADOPT CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM PROJECTS AMONG SMALLSCALE FARMERS IN NJORO DISTRICT, KENYA

Abstract

Carbon markets are developing world wide with the major aim of environmental protection and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Some carbon sequestration projects have been started in Kenya though it is still not yet a vibrant investment in spite of the available suitable biophysical land. Njoro district has no such project regardless of being affected by deforestation. One inevitable result has been the unpredictable rainfall pattern constituting overall climate change, increased surface run off, the low water levels in river Njoro, loss of biodiversity and the increased poverty in the region. It is still not clear if such projects are to be initiated, the smallscale farmers would be willing to accept and adopt them. There was need therefore, to assess the willingness of small scale farmers to accept and adopt carbon trade tree project in order to understand farmer’s decision making process. The study used multi-stage sampling procedure to select 150 small-scale farmers in Njoro district. Both primary and secondary data sources collected using observations and interviews with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, ordinal logit model and the double hurdle model using STATA computer programs. The results indicated that 29% of the farmers practiced tree planting/agro-forestry as the voluntary CDM practice in the study area. On the level of awareness the result indicates that 58% of the farmers were not aware of the project, 23% were aware and correct and 19% of the farmers were aware but wrong signifying low levels of awareness of the CDM project among farmers. Gender, household size, farm debt, attitude towards risk, farm size, land tenure, availability of voluntary CDM and perception of the technology were found to influence the willingness to accept the project. Further, age, extension contacts, attitude towards risk, land tenure and perception towards the technology influenced on the extent the farmer is willing to adopt. The study therefore, recommends policy interventions in increasing awareness, improved training through extension services on agro-environmental programmes, formation of agro-environmental self help groups by farmers and creation of strategies that would improve socio-economic conditions of smallholder farmers in Kenya. Through this, adoption of carbon tree trade would be successful consequently increasing carbon sinks and increased smallholder farm income hence poverty reduction and sustainable development.