Land degradation, which has significant impacts on environment and socioeconomic life of people, continues to impede sustainable development. This is accompanied by increasing soil erosion, poverty, land use and land cover change (LULCC), climate change, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity and loss of agricultural land. Permaculture is increasingly being promoted as an agro-ecological practice aimed at achieving the triple bottom-line benefits of protecting the environment, enhancing food security and income through increased land productivity. However, development and up scaling of permaculture practices require empirical evidence to inform their promotion. This study was therefore conducted to determine the factors that influence adoption of permaculture by households in Rusinga Island on Lake Victoria, Kenya. Data was collected from 196 systematically selected households and 10 purposively selected key informants from Kaswanga, Wanyama, Waware North, Waware South, Kamasengre East and Kamasengre West sub-locations. The results of regression analysis show that age of the household head, permaculture training, neighboring effect, household size, farm size and source of income were the most important factors influencing adoption of permaculture by households. Whereas age of the household head, source of income and training on permaculture and neighboring effect positively influences household participation in permaculture, farm size and household size was found to negatively affect households’ engagement in permaculture practices. Interventions aimed at promoting permaculture should therefore consider age of the household, training on permaculture, farm size and neighboring effect given their significant influence on the adoption of the practice.

Keywords: Adoption, permaculture, Rusinga Island, age, training