Adoption of climate-resilient potato varieties under partial population exposure and its determinants: Case of smallholder farmers in Meru County, Kenya
Kimathi, Sally Mukami | Ayuya, Oscar Ingasia | Mutai, Benjamin | Yildiz, Fatih
Production of Potato (Solanum tuberosum. L) has been declining over the years in Sub-Saharan Africa due to climate change resulting into low food supply and low income among smallholder farmers. Despite Climate-Resilient Potato Varieties (CRPVs) having the potential of increasing farmers’ resilience to climate change, previous studies show that uptake of these varieties is still significantly low. More so, standard techniques such as Tobit and Probit models yield biased adoption rate estimates despite existence of vast literature on technology adoption. This study sought to determine true population adoption rates under partial exposure and their determinants using the modern Average Treatment Effect (ATE) framework. Multistage sampling technique was used to sample 384 farmers from Meru County. Focus group discussions and structured questionnaires through household survey were used to collect primary data. Results revealed that the main factors affecting adoption were access to information, quality seeds, training, group membership and variations in agro-ecological zones. The actual population adoption rate was 6.3% whereas the potential adoption rate was 30.7% revealing an adoption gap of 24.4% due to partial exposure. To improve adoption rates, this study recommends increased efforts in exposing farmers to CRPVs through training and increased extensions services.
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