Socio-economic Determinants of Sugarcane-Soybean Intercropping among Smallholder Farmers in Awendo Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Global climate change and decreases in available land are significant challenges humans currently face. Alternative management approaches for sugarcane fields have great potential to help mitigate these problems in Kenya. Intercropping as a crop diversification strategy is a crucial coping mechanism for agriculture's income, production, and marketing risks. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the determinants of sugarcane-soybean intercropping among sugarcane farmers to inform policymakers about policy adjustment. The study used primary data collected from 246 households using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a logistic regression model. Results showed that 63% of the respondents had adopted sugarcane monocropping compared to only 37 % who had adopted sugarcane-soybean intercropping. Specifically, the study found that sugarcane farming experience (p =<0.10), production acreage (p =<0.10), land ownership (p =<0.10), and divorced as marital status ((p =<0.05) had negative and significant effects on sugarcane – soybean intercropping, while farmers' age (p =<0.10) and widowed as a marital status (p =<0.01) depicted a positive and significant association with sugarcane – soybean intercropping.  From the findings, lack of credit for farm operations and the high cost of farm inputs also emerged as barriers to the adoption of sugarcane intercropping systems. Based on the results, the study suggests the need for government to promote the development of agricultural policy that supports the shift from non-diversification to crop diversification through developing guaranteed access to inputs and subsidies on farming input resources with priority given to smallholder farmers.