socio-economic factors influencing smallholder maize production in tobacco growing zones of migori county, kenya

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.