THE ADOPTION STATUS OF DAIRY FARMING TECHNOLOGIES BY RURAL WOMEN IN KHWISERO, KAKAMEGA COUNTY

Abstract

The study from which this paper is drawn was carried out in 2017 at Khwisero sub county, Kakamega County in Kenya. The study aimed to establish the status of adoption of dairy technologies by the rural female farmers in the location of study. It employed a descriptive survey research design to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The target population for the study comprised all women who were dairy farmers in the cooperative group in Kwisero. Random sampling was used to sample location and sub-location and to select 72 respondents from the target of 720. The findings indicated that the adoption of dairy farming technologies by women farmers was low. The technologies in question included exotic dairy cows, high production fodder crops such as nappier grass, mullato and sweet potatoes vines; coupled with the preservation of these fodders. It could also be ascertained that low status of adoption was due to family preferences and unavailable disposable resources to meet immediate family needs as well as the complexity of managing dairy farming technologies. This was resultant to most women being left out in decision making concerning land and activity allocated to it. The household gender differences have an influence on women’s capability of dairy technology’s choices and capacity to adopt. The study therefore recommended that implementers should note the different roles played by women and men as well as involvement of both genders in the dairy farming technologies calendar. This would go a long way in aiding technological awareness processes and improve the status of adoption.