The study was carried out with the specific objective of analyzing the socio-economic factors affecting adoption of dairy cattle milk production technologies by smallholder dairy farmers in Mosop Sub County, Nandi County, Kenya. The study was guided by Innovation Diffusion Theory and descriptive research design was used. Cluster sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to collect data from a sample of 198 smallholder dairy farmers, 70 large scale dairy farmers and 30 extension staff. To estimate the survey data, multivariate probit regression model was used. Descriptive statistics results revealed that 90% of smallholder dairy farmers were male-headed with 16.8 years of farming experience. Multivariate probit regression results showed that an increase in education level of the household head increased the marginal effect of adopting milking equipment by 7.5 percentage points. Results further revealed that a unit increase in the years of experience in dairy farming by the dairy farmers' household head resulted in a decrease in the marginal effect of adopting the vaccination regime by 24 percentage points, whereas gender of the household head increased the marginal probability of adopting milk equipment technologies by 56 percentage points. Male gender of the household head also increased the marginal effect probability of adopting dairy cattle vaccination regime technologies by 103 percentage points. Therefore, farmer to farmer exchange visits needs to be strengthened, introduction of farmers' mentorship programmes and revamping of extension service are paramount for technology adoption. Consequently, the county and national governments and their agencies should come up with strategies that would enhance the capacities of the dairy farmers so that they can continue appreciating new dairy cattle milk production technologies.
The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of instructional resources in learning agriculture in secondary school on employment creation in Vihiga County, Kenya. The study was conducted in Emuhaya Constituency, and it adopted qualitative research design using descriptive survey method. The target population was the youth who learnt agriculture in secondary schools. The study purposively sampled 150 youth out of total population of 2,736 youth who sat for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Emuhaya Constituency between 2010 to 2012. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by Academic experts from the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension. The instrument had Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.814. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20, based on the objectives and research questions. The relationship between the secondary school Instructional resources and employment creation was tested using Pearson Correlation. Frequency tables and percentages summarized the results. The study established that teaching agriculture in secondary school using agricultural instructional resources was positively related to employment creation for out of school youth in Emuhaya Constituency of Vihiga County. The study recommended formulation of policies that promote harmonization between teaching agriculture and employment creation. It recommended youth to take up agricultural activities for employment, and recommended replication of similar studies in other levels of education such as primary and university.
The quest for International Standard Organization (ISO) 9001 certification as an international quality tool has been embraced for process improvement and positive perception by customers. With ISO 9001 certification, an institution is anticipated to offer exemplary goods or services that meet client prerequisites, needs and expectations thus enhance organizational performance. As evident in previous studies, despite ISO 9001 certification, cases on wastages, missing student marks and time wastage were indicators of non-conformance. There was no clear evidence of past studies on the relationship between ISO 9001 certification and organizational performance with special interest on number of non-conformities identified during systems audit being a component of organizational performance. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the relationship between ISO 9001 certification and the number of non-conformities identified during system audits in selected public Universities in Kenya. Explanatory research design was used in the study. The research targeted a population of 433 respondents from which a sample size of 205 respondents was selected using purposive and simple random sampling designs. A questionnaire was used to collect data. To answer the objectives of the study, simple linear regression analysis was performed. From the model, (R 2 = .600) shows that ISO 9001 certification account for 60% variation in number of nonconformities identified during system audits. There was a positive significant relationship between ISO 9001 certification and number of non-conformities identified during system audits (β=0.611 and p <0.05). Therefore, a unit increase in ISO 9001 certification led to reduced number of non-conformities identified during system audits. The ISO 9001 certification had a significant influence on the number of non-conformities identified during system audits. For every adoption of the ISO 9001 certification in public universities the number of nonconformities identified during system audits reduced. The study concludes that ISO 9001 certification had a significant positive influence on the number of non-conformities identified during system audits. Thus, for every adoption of the ISO 9001 certification in public universities the number of non-conformities identified reduced. The study recommends that there is need for management of public universities through the department of quality management to address the non-conformities raised during system audits, need for university management to raise awareness on the importance of standardization and conformity assessment and to entrench the culture of quality in the Kenyan society by promoting practical usage of standards and development of quality related curricula in public universities.
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