Agricultural Water Technologies Adopted by Smallholder Farmers in Lare Division, Nakuru County Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating agricultural water use technologies adoption by smallholder farmers in Lare Division Nakuru County Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design and was carried out between February and March 2014. It involved smallholder farmers who had adopted agricultural water technologies namely; water harvesting, water storage and irrigation to mitigate effect of climate change induced agricultural water scarcity. Data was collected by use of face-to-face administered interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means. Out of 115 household heads interviewed, 53.9% were male, 46.1% were female and 75.6% had primary level education and below. The main source of income was farming (70.4%). Water harvesting, storage and irrigation technologies were adopted by 98.3%, 93.9% and 37.4% of the farmers respectively. Common water harvesting structures were gutters and runoff drains (59.1%) and tanks (plastic and concrete) for storage (98.30%). Out of those that have adopted irrigating technology, 86.1% and 9.3% used buckets and drip respectively. However, the farmers face challenges in technologies adoption in terms of inadequacy of water harvesting (74%) and storage (81%) structures’ capacities and use of efficient irrigation facilities (78%). Farmers’ adult education, improvement of technologies structures’ capacities and usage of efficient irrigation facilities are recommended. Formulation and implementation of policies that would facilitate Lare farmers’ accessibility and usage of efficient irrigation technologies are advised.