INFLUENCE OF FARM SIZE AND ACCESS TO FUNDS ON UPTAKE OF IMPROVED PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES IN AVOCADO (PERSEA AMERICANA).

The study was carried out to evaluate influence of economic factors on uptake of avocado improved production technologies by small scale farmers to increase yields. The study was carried out in Kisii and Nyamira counties region, Kenya. The general objective of the study is to improve avocado production in the study region. The specific objective is to evaluated influence of farmer's economic factors; farm size and access to finance on uptake of the production technologies, respectively. Reduced avocado yields in the region could be due to low uptake of improved production technologies by small scale farmers. The study hypothesized that the low uptake could be due to chance and there is no significant influence of the farmer's economic factors; farm size and access to funds on the uptake. Descriptive survey research design was used. Stratified and purposive sampling procedures and Morgan's table of sample size determination were applied in choosing of respondents. There was one sub-county purposively sampled from each of the 4 agroecological zones in the region for study area. Thus from 4 sub counties with 1,211 households, a sample of 291 respondents was accessed using Morgan's table. Reliable structured questionnaires with Cronbach Alpha, a=0.724 were used to collect field data from 291 small scale avocado farmers. The data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SSP) computer software. Descriptive analysis of variance, least significant difference and regression outputs were obtained. Results show that influence of farmer's farm size of more than 3 acres and access of funds from formal employment make significant difference and have positive correlation with uptake of avocado improved production technologies, respectively. Farmer's access of funds from banks or SACCOs does not have a significant influence on uptake of the avocado production technologies. Land subdivision among small scale farmers should be discouraged and affordable credit sources for them considered, respectively for increased uptake of avocado improved production technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]