Socioeconomic constraints to the adoption and diffusion of chemical fertilizers among small-scale farmers: a Kenyan case-study

Many developing countries are today actively searching for ways and means of raising the level of agricultural output (particularly of food), productivity, farm employment and incomes especially within their rural small-scale farming sectors in which the majority of their populations is located. This search process has identified chemical fertilizer use, among other things, as one of the most potent modern agricultural production technology which, together with other complimentary inputs such as high-yielding varieties, pesticides, herbicides etc, is capable of meeting the above objectives. Yet even though fertilizers have been on the market in these countries for many years, their adoption by small scale farmers remains very limited. This limited use of such a high potential technology raises the questions what factors constrain the widespread adoption of fertilizer use among small-scale farmers in developing countries? The study proposed in this paper is aimed at identifying and quantifying, where possible, the socioeconomic and other factors that constrain the adoption of fertilizer use by small-scale farmers in Kenya. The study is based on a random sample of between 200 and 250 farmers located in Kirinyaga District in Central Province.