Adoption Of Agricultural Innovations By Smallholder Farmers in the Context of Hiv/Aids: The case of tissue culture banana in Kenya

Abstract

The use of improved technologies has remained the major strategy used by governments to increase agricultural productivity and promote food and livelihood security. The Kenya government is no exception in view of the fact that 70-80 per cent of the population earns a living from agriculture. The agricultural sector contributes about 30 per cent of the GDP and accounts for 80 percent of national employment, mainly in the rural areas. In addition,the sector contributes more than 60 per cent of the total export earnings and about 45 percent of government revenue, while providing for most of the country 's food requirements. The sector is estimated to have a further indirect contribution of nearly 27 per cent of GDP through linkages with manufacturing, distribution, and other service-related sectors. In the first decade after independence agricu ltural production grew by 4.7 per cent annually (Karanja 2002). However, this impressive growth rate did not continue in the subsequent decades and today agricultural production has shrunk to an annual growth rate of 1.8 percent (Republic of Kenya 2003a).