Abstract:
Entrepreneurship is not only found in all fields including the field of smallholder farming but it is also instrumental in stimulation of economic growth through generation of employment and reduction of poverty in a country. While smallholder farming is the dominant economic activity in Kenya, globally it supports one third of humanity. All this notwithstanding, the smallholder farming entrepreneurship phenomena in Kenya is still relatively unexplored and most of the studies todate have been conducted in other countries. Little is, therefore, known about the factors that influence smallholder farming entrepreneurship in Kenya and there is no empirical study that has been conducted on the same in Taita Taveta County. This study, therefore, sought to determine the factors that influence smallholder farming entrepreneurship in Taita Taveta County with specific objectives being to explore the influence of access to finance, formal education, culture and social network on smallholder farming entrepreneurship in the county. Descriptive research design was used to facilitate data collection and analysis in this study. The target population of this study was all the 51587 smallholder farmers in Taita Taveta County. From this population 397 respondents were sampled for study. Purposive and stratified random sampling designs was used to select smallholder farmers to be included in the sample of 397 smallholder farms. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative data analysis was facilitated through a multivariate regression analysis that was undertaken using the SPSS tool. Through the regression analysis, the sample model was determined. The multivariate regression analysis was used to test the influence of each of the independent variables (access to finance, formal education entrepreneurial culture and social network) on smallholder farming entrepreneurship in Taita Taveta county. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyze qualitative data obtained in this study. Data was presented using bar graphs, pie charts and frequency tables. The study results indicated that majority of the respondents had attained formal education at least up to secondary school level and most of the respondents were over 40 years of age. The results from the hypotheses testing showed that the independent variables: formal education, entrepreneurial culture and social network had significant influence on smallholder farming entrepreneurship in Taita Taveta county while access to finance had no significantly influence to smallholder farming entrepreneurship. In conclusion, other factors other than the ones identified in this study also influence smallholder farming entrepreneurship in Taita Taveta county. It is recommended that, the county government should come up with policies that promote farming entrepreneurship. On the other hand, the financial service providers in the county and in Kenya in general need to come up with financial products that will ensure increased access to finance among smallholder farmers.
