Determinants of the Speed of Adoption of Soil Fertility-Enhancing Technologies in Western Kenya

Most adoption studies have employed cross-sectional data in a static discrete choice modellingframework to analyze why some farmers adopt at a certain point in time. The static approachdoes not consider the dynamic environment in which the adoption decision is made and thusdoes not incorporate the speed of adoption and the effect of time-dependent elements inexplaining adoption. The adoption speed of an innovation is important in various aspects.Based on data from a survey of a random sample of 331 smallholder households in westernKenya, this study investigated determinants of time to adoption of mineral fertilizer, animalmanure and compost using Duration analysis. Results revealed that factors that influencedtiming of the adoption varied by the practices. Whilst education level of the household head,cattle ownership, location of the farm, access to extension services, and participation in landmanagement programmes accelerated the adoption of different practices, age of householdhead, relative farming experience and market liberalization retarded the adoption. Gender ofhousehold head gave mixed results. To speed up adoption of the practices requires policiesthat promote farmers’ participation in land management programs, access to extensionservices and markets in addition to stratified targeting of different practices to specificlocations and farmers.