Abstract:
The purpose of this paper was to bring understanding on the dynamics of cultural heritage
that could bring forth a paradigm shift in farmers’ activities in Nandi County to utilizing the
heritage aspects in exploiting potential agro-tourism development. The study tested a null
hypothesis that cultural heritage donot influence potential agro-tourism development in
Nandi County. This study used descriptive survey research design. The target population for
the study was 357,461 farmers from three selected sub-counties, specifically Nandi Hills,
Tinderet and Aldai in Nandi County, Kenya. 384 farmers formed the sample size. Purposive,
proportionate, cluster and simple random sampling methods were used to select the
respondents while self administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Validity was
tested using 52 farmers from Emgwen sub-county while reliability was tested using
Cronbach’s alpha at 0.7. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor
analysis and simple linear regression. Findings from the factor analysis revealed that six
components that are unique heritage adequately explain cultural heritage in Nandi County
and have great potential to attract and fascinate tourists to catalyze agro-tourism
development. Simple linear regression analysis established that cultural heritage explained
36.8 % (R2 =0.368) of the variance on perceived potential of agro-tourism development.
The study rejected the null hypothesis that cultural heritage (β=0.535, p<0.05) does not
influence the potential of agro-tourism development in Nandi. Based on these results, the
study concluded that cultural heritage dimension components such as milk associated
features, ceremonies, traditional architecture, narrations, dwellings and festivals have the
ability to influence potential agro-tourism development positively.
