Economic Barriers to the Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture in Tharaka-Nithi County of Kenya

Abstract

The ballooning world human population, coupled with challenges of climate change, have extensively compromised global food security and sufficiency. This has led to unsustainable intensification of agricultural activities in an effort to meet this growing demand for food. This has in turn resulted to the degradation of natural ecosystems that support agriculture and to social economic challenges such as a rise in unemployment and poverty levels. The adoption of sustainable agriculture however has the potential to mitigate this situation. However, dopting sustainable agriculture faces numerous handles among them some economic factors facing the farmers. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the economic factors that affect the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by the small scale farmers in Tharaka - Nithi county of Kenya. It was a descriptive survey where data was collected from the residents using semi structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Secondary data was collected from journal articles, dissertations, thesis, books and conference papers. It was organized and analysed using SPSS version 24. The study revealed that economic factors such as lack of access to credit, high cost of farm inputs, low returns on the farm produce, inefficient markets for the produce and land rights dynamics affected the adoption of sustainable agriculture by the farmers in this area.