| dc.description.abstract | The study was on socioeconomic factors influencing the uptake of coffee
production recommended practices in the Kichwamba and Kirugu Sub-counties
of the Rubirizi district and was conducted in February 2021. Objectives were to
identify the coffee production systems and practices used, identify the
socioeconomic challenges associated with the uptake of recommended practices
for coffee production, and identify the policy interventions to address the
challenges associated with the use of recommended coffee practices. Farmers
continue to register low coffee yields hence affecting their livelihoods and
incomes and achieving maximum coffee production requires that farmers apply
recommended practices since the quantity and quality of the crop rely on the
practices used. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using simple random
sampling and a total of 376 coffee farmers were sampled. Results indicated that
Arabica coffee commonly grown has two major systems intercropping and
mono-cropping. The coffee-recommended practices used were weeds control
(23.7%), shading (21.5%), pruning (15.5%), fertiliser application (14.1%), pest
and disease management (12.2%), water drainage management (6.6%),
transplanting (4.0%), and seedbed preparation (2.7%). Statistically significant
socioeconomic factors affecting the uptake of recommended practices for coffee
were age [p=0.014], education level [p=0.002], labour [p=0.005], Farm size
[p=0.001], farming experience [p=0.031], gender [p=0.031], land slope
[p=0.048], un-accessibility to credit services [p=0.032], and plot ownership
[p=0.049]. Policy interventions were farmer capacity building (35.1%),
strengthening agricultural extension (23.7%), credit extension to the farmers
(15.7%), re-visiting land reform policies (13.6%), and group formation (11.9%).
The study concluded that coffee in the study area was grown under two
production systems; intercropping and mono-cropping; the major coffee
recommended practices used were; seedbed management, transplanting,
pruning, shading, fertiliser application, weeds control, pest and disease | en_US |
