DISSEMINATION OF AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS: SOCIO - ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS USED IN IMPROVED CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L) VARIETIES IN EMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Chickpea is the world‟s second most widely grown leguminous food crop after soybean. In Kenya however, chickpea is a new crop and not known by many. This could be due to insufficient agricultural information on the crop. Hence, it affects its adoption by farmers. It is therefore of great importance that chickpea information and knowledge be disseminated effectively to the end users. This study sought to evaluate the existing communication and dissemination methods of chickpea information and factors affecting them, determine gender involvement in chickpea information dissemination, and to evaluate the role of social network in disseminating and communicating chickpea knowledge among farmers. Household, socio-economic and institutional data was collected from farmers using household survey. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 120 farmers from Karaba, Gategi, Riakanau and Wachoro sublocations in Mwea ward. Of Embu County Farmers were sampled in a purposive random manner from the available growers and non-growers of chickpea. The study found that fellow farmer and ICRISAT staff was the most used communication channels. Gender and farmers social networks played a major role in chickpea information dissemination. Results from the binary logistic regression indicated that socio- economic factors such as means of transport and training before farming significantly influenced the farmer‟s choice of communication method (s) it was therefore recommended that improved chickpea awareness be increased by increasing field days, demonstrations and farmer group meetings. It was also recommended that, apart from the interpersonal communication methods, multiple communication methods such as ICTs be used also to disseminate chickpea information. This will increase the level of education in the study area