Access and use of information by small holder tea farmers in Bureti District, Kenya

Abstract

Tea sub-sector is Kenya's second largest foreign exchange earner after horticulture. The small holder farmers own about 80% of the land under tea but produce about 60% of made tea. These farmers realize lower yield per unit area as compared to their large scale counterparts which own about 20% of land under tea and contribute about 40% of made tea. Tea Research Foundation of Kenya in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture have developed several technologies aimed at improving yield and quality of tea. The technologies include high yielding clones, selective application of herbicides, insect, pest and weed control, fertilizer recommendation rates and harvesting practices. Small holder farmers however continue to realize low declining crop yields inspite of the technologies. Access to information is a potential avenue for increasing yield, but little work has been done to quantify the sources of information and how they affect yield. A study was carried out to determine access and use of information by small holder tea farmer in Bureti District, Kenya. A combination of purposive, multistage and proportionate random sampling was used to get 170 respondents for the interview. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15 and Heckman Selection Model. Results showed that a majority (79%) of small holder tea farmers get information from extension agents, while 12% and 9% get fellow farmers and the radio respectively Off-farm income, education level, household size, marital status and time spent to tea buying center significantly influenced access to information by small holder tea farmers. Farmers who had access to information realized a significantly higher mean tea yield (623 kg per hectare per month) compared to the non-participants who realized a mean of 414 kg. The study emphasized the need for appropriate information to reach small holder tea farmers so as to facilitate increased yield.