Influence Of Socio-Economic Factors On Sustainable Fish Farming In Moiben Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite the importance of fish farming, its adoption in Moiben has been low for a long time though the government has been supporting the industry through the Economic Stimulus Programme. This study sought to assess the fish farmers‘ educational level on sustainability of fish farming. The objectives of the study were to establish; to assess the farmers‘ educational level on the sustainability of fish farming; to examine the fish farmers‘ level of awareness on technical support on sustainability of fish farming; to establish the effect of culture on sustainability of fish farming; assess how financial resources affect the sustainability of fish farming in Moiben sub-county, Uasin-Gishu County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (Rodger, 2003). The study used descriptive survey design. The target population was 120 fish farmers in the sub-county. A sample of 72 fish farmers and were proportionately sampled from the five wards in Moiben Sub-County; five extension officers were selected purposively. The stratified purposive and simple random sampling was used. Questionnaires focus group discussion and interview schedule was used to obtain information from fish farmers and the extension officers from fisheries department. The research instruments were validated through expert judgement and piloting was used to determine reliability through Cronbach Alpha coefficient. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Regression analysis was conducted to establish the determinants. The results indicated that there is no significant relationship between education of the farmers and sustainability of fish farming (β1= 0.02, p = 0.865). The technical support was found to significantly affect sustainability of fish farming (β2 = 0. 318, p = 0.014). The study also established that cultural factors significantly affect sustainability of fish farming (β3 = 0.482, p = 0.000). Finally, financial resources had a significant effect on sustainability of fish farming (β4 = 0.295, p = 0.043). The study established that most fish farmers do not access loans to expand their fish farming business. The researcher made the following recommendations; the County government should intensify imparting technical skills on fish farmers through training, and visiting other fish farms that have shown best practices in fish farming, the relevant authorities should devise ways to publicize information on fish farming practices in order to arise the interest of other farmers, the department of fisheries should conduct awareness campaigns to educate people on the advantages of fish as source of animal protein, the County government should source for development partners that can extent financial assistance to fish farmers to expand their business.