Determinants of farm level soil conservation technology adoption: Lessons from the high rainfall, high populated, steep sloped Mt. Kenya Highlands, Embu, Kenya

A survey of 197 farmers in Embu District, Kenya is used to investigate the role of organized soil conservation programs, economic, personal and physical factors, in the adoption of several soil conservation dement technologies. First, the factors that influence the farmer's perception of the soil degradation problem are investigated using a Probit estimation. Perception, together with economic, institutional, personal and physical factors are then used in Tobit and OLS estimations to investigate the role of these factors in the adoption of eight soil conservation management technologies. These technologies include: physical practices (Bench terraces and Fanya Juu terraces), agroforestry (grass strips and trees), biological practices (manure and fertilizer), and cultural practices (contour operations and intercropping).; Several results emerge from this study. Farmers who participate in organized soil conservation programs, such as the Catchment program, increase their likelihood of adopting bench terraces. Economic factors including on-farm income and ownership of livestock, access to credit and land tenure encourage the adoption of fanya juu terraces, trees, manure and fertilizer. Experienced farmers adopt higher levels of manure while more educated farmers increase the likelihood of adopting fanya juu terraces, grass strips, fertilizer and contour operations. Physical characteristics such as land use, farm size, slope and the agroecological zone in which the farm is located affect the use of soil conservation practices.; Results from the empirical analysis provide interesting implications for policy, the Catchment approach to conservation, the extension program and other agents involved in soil conservation issues. First, there is need to improve the participation of farmers in the Catchment activities in order to increase adoption of soil conservation technology. Second, in spite of the high cost of on-farm technical assistance, group conservation training should not be used to substitute for the on-farm training. There is need to increase funds for the extension program in order to assist the agricultural extension to visit farmers. Proper training of the agricultural extension personnel and updating them on current information from agricultural research is crucial to ensuring that farmers receive information that is useful in the adoption of soil management technologies. Effort should be made to provide assistance to resource poor farmers. Economic polices that favor farm income, especially through livestock production would increase the adoption of conservation technologies, in addition to improving the diet for the farm households.