Abstract

Households are institutions that nurture, develop and sustain capabilities, material and social resources and activities necessary for their members to sustain livelihoods. This is possible through socialisation, communication, diffusion and adoption of improved technologies. In developing countries like Kenya, adoption of improved agricultural technologies is critical in facilitating households’ productive and consumptive capabilities and functions for better livelihoods. Yet, the adoption of such technologies remains low. Households are made up of male and female members whose roles, responsibilities, rights and entitlements often differ. Therefore, there is need to understand how the conditions supporting the adoption process vary across male and female farmers and within households. This paper adopts the livelihood systems framework in analysing the influence of socio-economic characteristics that influence men and women to adopt improved agricultural technologies. The field survey involved individual interviews with 190 randomly selected rural households from Nakuru District, Kenya. Data analysis procedures included descriptive statistics, factor analysis and a binary logistic regression model. Results indicate that men are more likely than women to adopt improved technologies while the propensity to adopt increases with increasing distance to market. Adoption is supported by social inclusion and peace and is more likely to occur among poorer, younger farmers, without skills for off-farm employment. Given that a wide range of male and female farmers’ socio-economic characteristics influence adoption, careful analysis should always precede all efforts aimed at encouraging adoption of new and improved agricultural technologies.

Key words: Nakuru, Kenya, sustainable livelihoods framework, agricultural technology, adoption, gender, sustainable livelihoods.