Gender Influence on Soil Fertility and Water Management Technologies Uptake among Smallholder Farmers in Tharaka Nithi County

Abstract

Degraded landscapes and soil water stress are long-standing problems to smallholder agriculture in the drylands. Despite the important roles of soil and water conservation in restoring degraded landscapes and improving agricultural productivity, the technologies are yet to be adopted to their fullest extent. This can be attributed to gender-linked disparities in agricultural technology utilization. This study, therefore, sought to evaluate gender-specific choice and use-intensity determinants of soil and water management technologies and preference for technology attributes by women and men farmers. Mixedmethods approach was employed to collect two sets of data; quantitative and qualitative

data.

Quantitative data were collected in a cross-sectional survey using an intervieweradministered questionnaire in Tharaka South sub-county. A multistage sampling technique

was employed in randomly selecting 133 female-headed households and 267 male-headed

households.

Purposively, across the study sites, three Focus Group Discussions were engaged to gather qualitative data on most preferred technology attributes. Using sexdisaggregated

data, Chi-square and t-test statistic were employed to test the statistical significance of dummy and mean value of continuous variables, respectively. Gender influence in preference for soil and water conservation technologies specific-attributes was measured in a ten-point scoring scale. T-test was used to determine if there were significant differences between the average scores of each attribute among male-headed households and female-headed households. One-way analysis of variance was run to determine presence of statistical evidence that associated attributes average scores were significantly different with respect to household headship. Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference test was used to compare all possible pairs of means. Gender specific determinants of zai technology choice and use-intensity were determined using the Heckman-two-step econometric model. The results revealed that, significant gender differences existed in preference, choice and use-intensity of zai technology and mineral fertiliser. In regard to preference, women farmers are more sensitive to soil fertility and information availability characteristics when considering soil and water conservation measures whereas male farmers are more inclined towards technologies that increase yields and improve soil fertility. Among women farmers, total cultivated land, access to animal-drawn farm implements, and group membership had an influence on zai technology and mineral fertiliser choice. For men, total cultivated land, group membership and access to extension services positively influenced choice of zai technology and mineral fertiliser. With regard to zai technology and mineral fertiliser use-intensity, total land cultivated, livestock densities, group membership and frequency of trainings on soil and water management were important determinants among women farmers. For men, total cultivated land and farmers’ perceptions on soil erosion were significant drivers for zai and mineral fertiliser use intensity. The study recommends that, gender-sensitive farm-level policies oriented towards farmer socioeconomic profiles are important deliberations towards choice and intense application of preferred soil and water conservation strategies such as the zai technology and mineral fertiliser.