Abstract:
Maize is the main staple food crop in Kenya and is of vital concern to agricultural policy
decisions, food security and overall development of the sector and the economy. It is also
the dominant staple food crop in Migori County. However, there has been a declining
trend in maize production among farmers in Migori County, a tobacco growing zone,
threatening household and national food security. This study examined socio economic
constraints to smallholder maize production in Tobacco growing regions of Migori
County. Specific objectives were; first, to examine how economic factors such as area
under tobacco production, total cropped area, labour, fertilizers, capital, cattle and poultry
influence maize production. Secondly, to determine the effect of social factors such as
gender of household head, household size, education level, age and occupation of
household head on maize production and lastly, to investigate the effect of geographical
location of farmers on maize production. A survey was conducted and data gathered
through questionnaires where the target population included all smallholder maize
farmers in tobacco growing zones of Migori County. A multistage sampling technique
was used and a sample of 165 maize farmers was selected using systematic random
sampling. Descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency, cross tabulation,
tables, and bar graphs as well as regression were used to analyze data. Results show that
farmer’s age, resource base, total cropped area and competition from tobacco production
influence maize production. Efforts to improve maize production in Migori County
should improve resource base of farmers, pay attention to their experience and consider
competition for scarce production resources. However, gender, geographical location,
education and occupation were not critical determinants of maize production in the
county hence little attention should be paid to aforementioned variables. Similarly, an
increasing number of maize farmers use either local maize varieties or retained hybrid
maize despite the increase in the number of hybrid maize varieties released by the seed
companies. This explained their low productivity and therefore calls for awareness
campaigns on the merits and demerits of using certified seeds backed with incentives to
encourage its use.
