System of rice intensification (SRI) is a novel technological approach aimed at improving rice productivity using environmental-friendly and cost-effective agronomic practices. Although its utility has been demonstrated in several settings in sub-Saharan Africa, its implementation is still considerably low. This study explored the challenges faced and coping strategies used by Kenyan smallholder farmers who contribute substantially to domestic rice production, in the uptake of SRI practices in rural setting in the western part of the country where it was previously been introduced. The study involved a survey of 101 smallholder rice farmers in Oluch Irrigation Scheme in Homabay County, to understand the challenges and coping strategies to the uptake of the system of rice intensification practices. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done to guide in summarising the results using the SPSS package. The findings revealed that a host of challenges impede the acceptance of SRI in Oluch irrigation scheme, mainly insufficient knowledge, shortage and high costs of labour, weak stakeholder networks in the rice value chain; pests and diseases; and high cost of agricultural inputs to facilitate SRI. Notably, none of these challenges were overwhelmingly prevalent across majority of farmers, but that they were accosted by multiple complex and competing challenges limiting their opportunities for uptake of different SRI practices. It was observed that the nature and manifestation of these challenges necessitated the involvement of multiple actors in the rice value chain to address them. This formed the basis for a multi-stakeholder approach to address challenges that limited the implementation of new agricultural technologies, especially the utility of innovative approaches such as innovation platform to promote the uptake of SRI.

Smallholder farmers in Kenya are faced with low agricultural productivity which has been attributed toa number of factors among them being lack of access to agricultural information. This has been further exacerbated by shrinking number of public extension staff and underfunding of the extension system in the country. ICTs can play a crucial role in bridging this gap. This study determined ICTs accessed, and the extent of use of the ICTs to access e-Extension services among smallholder farmers in Nakuru county, Kenya. Data was collected from randomly selected sample of 130 smallholder farmers in a descriptive survey, using structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Over 70 percent of the respondents had access to mobile phones, radio and TV while only 27.7 percent had access to the internet. The respondents that had access to YouTube, twitter and computers however, were less than 20 percent. The findings of the study revealed that mobile phones, radio and TV were the most accessed and utilized ICT tools in accessing e-Extension services among smallholder farmers.Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook were on average used by the farmers to access e-Extension services while computers and twitter were the least used.The findings further revealed that e-Extension services that were most sought for by the farmers included production, market, pest and disease information.The major constraints in the use of ICTs tools in accessing e-Extension services were reported to include lack of ICTs such as computers and the internet, lack of awareness of availability of e-Extension services, lack of relevant information and lack of infrastructure such as electricity. The study concludes that accessible ICTs could be used to supplement other extension methods. There is need for improving access to ICTs particularly the internet and computers and creating awareness on use of platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Farmer Call Centres in accessing agricultultural information among farmers.

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One of the roles of higher education is to produce competent professionals with high employability skills. Learning by doing commonly known as Experiential Learning (EL), is an approach to learning that helps students acquire competences needed in the job markets. Field attachment including Farm Attachment Programme (FAP) of Egerton University (EU) is known to provide opportunities for EL. However, the effectiveness of this approach to learning is dependent on possession of prior knowledge and EL abilities including ability to; willingly get actively involved in the learning experiences, reflect, analyze, solve problems, make decisions in addition making continuity arrangements for innovations/projects initiated. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a designed Digital Knowledge Pack (DKP) to improve the levels of ELAs among the students of EU. The DKP design attributes under evaluation were the DKP; weekly structure, implementation enablement, students’ portfolio and resources. The specific objectives of the study were to(i) characterize EU students on FAP (ii) determine the levels obtained on ELAs with each DKP innovation design attribute (iii) determine the effects obtained on ELAs with each DKP innovation design attribute iv) evaluate the extent to which the use of a DKP improved ELA levels among the students. The study employed Participatory Action Research Design (PAR) by first allowing a sample of 30 students to proceed on FAP for three weeks and then introducing a designed DKP toolkit in the fourth week of attachment. The levels of ELAs among students were determined before and after the introduction of the DKP using a rating continuum scale of 1-5. The results showed that the DKP weekly structure had a significant (F (10,29) =8.49, P=.001) effect on the students’ ELAs and accounted for 72% of the variation in ELAs. The effect of the DKP student’s portfolio on ELAs was also significant (F (9,29) = 6.95, P =.001) at 95% confidence level and accounted for 74% of the variation in ELA levels. DKP implementation enablement and DKP resource attribute had significant [(F (3,26) 87.410, P<.0001) and (F (16,29) =2.86, P =.03) respectively], effects. The size effects of the two variables were 64.9% and 50.6% on ELAs respectively. Further analysis revealed that multicollinearity existed in the DKP design attribute variables. This was resolved by conducting Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the DKP design variables. A scree plot showed a one component solution that explained 91.18% of variance in the ELA index regression model. The component Eigenvalue was 3.647 and therefore the four DKP attributes could be explained by one component variable referred to in this study as DKP innovation Design (DID) attribute. The results showed that using a DKP significantly improved the ELA levels from M=2.63, SD=0.52 to M=4.07, SD=0.13. The 95% confidence interval of the mean was 1.356 [1.005, 1.706]. In conclusion the study showed that the use of a DKP innovation toolkit improved experiential learning abilities among Egerton University students. The higher levels of learning abilities allowed students to gain more competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes) from their farm experiences thus improving the students’ employability skills.

The Farm attachment programme (FAP) of Egerton University was established six years ago to promote learning by “reflection on doing” commonly known as Experiential Learning (EL), among students. However, effectiveness of experiential learning is dependent on possession of certain abilities known as experiential learning abilities (ELAs) including willingness to get actively involved in learning experiences and ability to reflect, analyze, solve problems and make decisions on learnt experiences. Egerton University students’ ELAs and FAP design attributes have never been assessed for the purpose of enhancing experiential learning. This study aimed at determining levels ELAs among the students and assessing the effects of FAP design attributes on these abilities. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design targeting a population of 600 students and their host farmers. Systematic random sampling procedure was employed to select 102 students to participate in the survey. A 5-point continuum scale was used to rate gathered indicators to measure ELAs. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Students ELA Levels were found to be low (M= 2.79, SD = 0.51). The following FAP design attributes were found to have a significant effect on ELAs: Students’ prior agricultural knowledge levels (F (2.94) = 3.816), P =0.02) with an effect size of 8%, gender (F (1,96) = 4.312, P = .037), with an effect size of 4.4% Students study programme departments, (F (6,91) =2.652, =.011), with an effect size of 16.4%, Year of attachment (F (3,94) =4.206, P= .008), with an effect size of 11.8%. Among the host farmer attributes, income level of the farmer was found to have a significant effect on students’ ELAs (F (2, 94) =3.920, p=.026).  FAP structure and implementation had significant effects on experiential learning ability (F (2,94) =4.309) P= .016; F (2,94) =8.51, P <.001) and effect sizes of 8.4% and 13.9% respectively. The results showed that the ELA levels were low among students and certain FAP design attributes had a significant (at 5% level of significance) effect on the learning abilities.