CROP MANAGEMENT AND HOUSEHOLD WELFARE AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN TANA RIVER COUNTY, KENYA
Keywords:
Crop management, Household welfare, Smallholder farmers, Food securityAbstract
Purpose of the Study: This study examined the effect of crop management practices on household welfare among smallholder farmers in Tana River County, Kenya. Specifically, it assessed whether adoption of improved crop management practices enhances household food security and welfare among households registered under the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP).
Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional analytical research design using a quantitative approach. A multistage sampling technique selected 356 households from a target population of 4,850 KCSAP-registered households. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and simple linear regression in SPSS Version 29.
Findings: Out of the 356 questionnaires administered, 338 were returned, yielding a 94.9% response rate. Descriptive findings indicated a high adoption of crop management practices, including improved seed varieties, crop rotation, intercropping, and pest and disease control, alongside moderate household food security. Crop management practices exhibited a strong positive and statistically significant relationship with household welfare (r = 0.684, p < 0.01). Regression analysis revealed that crop management accounted for 46.8% of the variation in household welfare (R² = 0.468, F (1,336) = 295.60, p < 0.001), demonstrating that improved crop management significantly enhances household welfare among smallholder farmers.
Conclusion: The study concludes that crop management practices significantly improve household welfare among smallholder farmers in Tana River County. Strengthening agricultural extension services, promoting certified climate-resilient seed varieties, and enhancing farmer training on integrated crop management can improve household food security and support sustainable rural livelihoods in the county.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21816862
References
Aheibam, M., Singh, R., Feroze, S. M., & Chiphang, S. (2023). Food security through crop diversification in Manipur: Application of Heckman sample selection model. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 93(1). https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v93i1.102783
European Commission. (2023). Key reforms in the new CAP. https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/cap-overview/cap-2023-27/key-reforms-new-cap_en
Field, A. (2024). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Frempong, R. B., Gross, E., & Owusu, V. (2023). Crop diversity, sustainable food and nutritional security among smallholder farmers in Ghana. British Food Journal, 125(12), 4372–4395. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2022-1060
Jalli, M., Huusela, E., Jalli, H., Kauppi, K., Niemi, M., Himanen, S., & Jauhiainen, L. (2021). Effects of crop rotation on spring wheat yield and pest occurrence in different tillage systems: A multi-year experiment in Finnish growing conditions. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5, Article 647335. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.647335
Kananu, M. P., Kingori, G. G., & Muriithi, D. K. (2023). Effects of crop diversification on households’ food security among smallholder coffee farmers in Kirinyaga Central and East Sub-Counties, Kirinyaga County, Kenya. International Journal of Applied Agricultural Sciences, 9(4), 106–119. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijaas.20230904.13
Mugenda, A. G., & Mugenda, O. M. (2019). Research methods: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches (Rev. ed.). Centre for Innovative Leadership and Governance.
Oduniyi, O. S., Chagwiza, C., & Wade, T. (2022). Welfare impacts of conservation agriculture adoption on smallholder maize farmers in South Africa. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 37(6), 672–682. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170522000308
Radeny, M., Rao, E. J. O., Ogada, M. J., Recha, J. W., & Solomon, D. (2022). Impacts of climate-smart crop varieties and livestock breeds on the food security of smallholder farmers in Kenya. Food Security, 14(6), 1511–1535. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01307-7
Scoones, I. (1998). Sustainable rural livelihoods: A framework for analysis (IDS Working Paper No. 72). Institute of Development Studies.
Serrat, O. (2017). The sustainable livelihoods approach. In Knowledge solutions: Tools, methods, and approaches to drive organizational performance (pp. 21–26). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9_5
West, R., Cordery, J., Simmons, C., & Sudhagot, M. (2020). Conceptual frameworks in social science research: An introduction. Routledge.
.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Martin Mwenda Murithi, Rose Mugiira, Thomas Githui
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
