Smallholder farmers' attitudes toward locally made commercial organic fertilizer

Abstract

Organic fertilizer has been identified as an agricultural technology that has the potential to lower direct production costs, enhance environmental benefits, and boost crop yields. Several Organic fertilizers such as bokashi and safi sarvi are being produced locally and commercialized to promote the use of the product. Yet the utilization is low among smallholder farmers in Kenya. Therefore, this study sought to assess the attitudes of smallholder farmers toward organic fertilizer utilization. Understanding farmers' attitudes is crucial as it influences the use of organic fertilizers. The study was conducted in Kirinyaga and Kiambu Counties in Kenya where some of these organic fertilizers such as bokashi and safi sarvi are being produced. A purposive and sample random sampling design was used to select a sample size of 109 smallholder farmers in the study areas. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to identify the attitudes of farmers toward organic fertilizer utilization and their underlying factors respectively. Results of a two-tailed t-test showed that farmers in Kiambu and Kiriyanga counties differ statistically in age and years of farming. Overall, the Chi- square test revealed that women (58.7%) were more involved in organic farming than men. Descriptive statistics revealed that the attitudes of the farmers toward organic fertilizers were positive and relatively homogeneous. Out of the 14 statements, 11 scored positively on the Likert scale (agree and strongly agree). The study established that majority of the farmers agreed and strongly agreed that organic fertilizers increased their yield (96.3%) and improved their livelihood (96.6%). EFA generated four factors that explained 62.578% of the total variance. “Preference of organic fertilizer” and “beneficial factor” had the highest factor loading respectively. The study therefore recommends that there is a need to improve sensitization of organic fertilizers among farmers to increase their utilization. Keywords: Attitudes; Exploratory factor analysis; organic fertilizer