Influence of cultural heritage dimension on potential Agro-Tourism Development in Nandi County, Kenya

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.