Project Management Practices and Performance of Agricultural Sector Development Support Projects in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, there is wide cognition that governments especially in emerging economies have been suffering mega losses in terms of money due to failure of development projects. In Kenya, most government projects being implemented in the counties have failed to attain their set objectives and or do not produce the desired results to the public. This question the project management practices being adopted in execution of the projects especially in the agricultural sector which is among the very critical sectors in the country's economy. Unfortunately, few studies in project management have focused on Agricultural Sector Development Support Projects (ASDSP). This study therefore sought to investigate the influence of project management practices on performance of ASDSP in Kiambu County. Descriptive research design was used. The target population entailed three major ASDSPs in the County including: indigenous chicken project, dairy cows project and bananas project whereby, officers in the County Coordinating Unit (CCU) in charge of ASDSP and members of the three projects' Value Chain Platforms (VCPs) were targeted. Content analysis, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyzed the data collected for the study. Findings indicated that in ASDSP in Kiambu County, there is high stakeholders' involvement, resources allocation is not well done, project planning is well done and there is good monitoring and evaluation. Findings also revealed that stakeholders' involvement, resources allocation, project planning and monitoring and evaluation were all positively correlated with performance of ASDSP. The study concluded that, each of the project management practice assessed (stakeholders' involvement, resources allocation, planning, and monitoring and evaluation) has a significant positive influence on performance of ASDSP.