The impacts of agricultural sector devolution on delivery of agricultural extension services and agricultural productivity in Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

Agriculture supports the livelihoods of rural people in developing countries, including Kenya. Agriculture is the mainstay and driver of the Kenyan rural economy. Despite the critical role of agriculture in Kenya, poor access to extension support services persists. The study was carried out to evaluate the impact of devolution of the agricultural sector on the provision of agricultural extension services and agricultural productivity in Kitui County. To achieve this objective, the following specific objectives were addressed, namely to: assess the influence of selected socio-economic factors on farmers’ awareness of the devolution of agricultural extension services; determine the factors influencing the delivery of extension services by the county governments; establish the interactions between agricultural extension functions run by county and national governments; and assess the impact of agricultural extension services on the farmers’ household income with respect to agricultural productivity and income as proxies for the years 2012 (before devolution) and 2016/2017 (after devolution). A total of 70 extension officers and 99 farmers were sampled from Kitui County using a stratified random sampling approach. Secondary information sources such as national and county ministries’ reports and existing literature were reviewed to supplement the primary data. A questionnaire was the main tool used for data collection in this study. Data obtained were analyzed through: descriptive and inferential statistics; binary logistic regression; linear regression; and stochastic frontier analysis. The logit binary model showed that age of household, gender, education, income, and size of the land were important factors that influenced farmers’ awareness of the devolution of agricultural extension services. Further, this study established that most of the sampled respondents reported insufficient performance in extension service provision by the county government due to challenges such as inadequate transport, salaries not paid on time, lack of proper staff promotion, lack of clear terms of service without duplication, unconducive work environment, and low facilitation for extension activities. There is minimal interaction between agricultural extension functions run by county and national governments due to the minimal involvement of county extension staff in the development and implementation of the work plans as well as monitoring and supervision at the national level. For example, the sampled smallholder maize farmers who had access to agricultural extension services had their yield productivity increase by 16.4%. The devolution of agricultural extension services resulted in a significant improvement in agricultural productivity and farmer’s income by 27.2% and 13.8%, respectively. This study recommends that more campaigns with focus on women's groups and elderly farmers should be held in the vast Kitui County to create awareness about the devolution of agricultural extension services. Greater involvement of extension staff in development and implementation of work plan at the national level as well as monitoring/supervision should be enhanced in order to contribute to better interactions between national government and county governments. Also, there is a need to provide incentives to extension officers through adequate facilitation, remuneration, and promotion. Therefore, adequate funds should be allocated to the devolved agricultural extension services, for example, a specified percentage of the agriculture sector budget as a way of enhancing overall agricultural productivity and households’ incomes.