Factors Influencing Diversification to Banana Farming in Kenya: A Case of Imenti South Sub-County

Abstract

Banana farming has been practiced extensively over the world for a long time with the origin being Malaysia. India is the leading producer in the world and Uganda the leading producer of banana in sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya is one of the nations practicing banana farming, and the country has embraced this activity, with several regions in the country practicing banana farming for subsistence and commercial purposes. Meru County, specifically Imenti South sub-County, has embraced the activity with households in Imenti South sub-County engaging in banana farming at a high rate. This is an area that has formerly been associated with coffee farming as the major cash crop. Therefore, this study sought to investigate drivers of diversification to banana farming among selected households in Imenti South sub-County. The objective of the study was to determine factors influencing diversification to banana farming among households in the study area. The study used a cross-sectional study design employing mixed methods of data collection. Systematic random sampling was used to select a study sample of 388 farmers to participate in the study. Descriptive and multinomial logistical regression was used to analyze quantitative data using SPSS version 20. Findings indicated that 67% of the respondents were males. About a third (32%) of the respondents was aged 41-50 years while only 13% were aged 18-30 years.  Close to half of the respondents (48%) had attained primary level of education as the highest education attainment and 39% of the respondents earned an average monthly income level of 5,000 and below. Regression analysis model revealed that Age, monthly income level, land size, access to reliable markets, access to sufficient farm inputs, access to hybrid planting materials, better payment/returns, high crop productivity, availability of sufficient water influence diversification to banana farming (P<0.05).  In conclusion, there is high rate of diversification to banana farming which is driven by high returns and productivity of the crop. However, the study established the need for the government and its allied stakeholders to develop and implement policy guidelines which create an enabling environment for diversification to banana farming such as proper market price regulation, supply of water to farms, easy access to production inputs and provision of high quality, hybrid planting materials to farmers.