Electricity services are crucial for human well-being and to a country's socio-economic development. Despite its importance, low levels of electricity adoption continue to prevail in most rural areas in SSA. Low socioeconomic development has been attributed among others factors to lack of modern energy sources especially electricity among rural households, which has been identified as a major setback in propelling empowerment and development at household and community level. There is minimal or no research conducted to understand the socio-economic dynamics of electricity adoption among households in Meru-South Sub-County. Household interviews were conducted from 150 randomly selected households using closed and opened ended questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression. Result revealed that the largest proportion of the respondents were non-adopters. Possible predictor factors that significantly influenced adoption were distance from the transformer, education level, gender, household size, and income. Results further indicated that accessibility (proximity of the transformer) and cost of connection were perceived as the utmost prior challenges to electricity adoption by households. It was recommended that rural electrification project should be in considerate of household level characteristics in process of planning for electricity dissemination in rural areas to ensure heterogeneity in electricity adoption.

This paper reports on one of the findings of a study undertaken to investigate the coping strategies used by small-scale sugarcane growers in Bungoma County, Kenya. A descriptive survey design was used. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in the selection of the divisions, villages, key respondents, and sugarcane farmers to be interviewed. Primary data were collected using questionnaires from 100 small-scale sugarcane growers’ household heads from Bumula Sub-County. Data were collected during the month of December 2016.  Qualitative data collected were analysed thematically. Quantitative data was analysed using regression in SPSS version 23 and Microsoft Excel. Results from small-scale sugarcane farmers in Bumula Sub-County revealed a declining farmers’ participation in sugarcane farming activities in the area. Coping strategies identified included off-farm income-generating activities, sale of sugarcane by-products and non-contracted cane farming. Significance test qualification was based on a percentage of adjusted R2 and within 0.3 to 0.7 ranges for Beta weight value.  The correlation coefficient (R-value) for the model was 0.362, indicating a moderately positive relationship between variables. The coefficient of determination (R2) was found to be 0.284 (28.4%). Adopted coping strategies accounted for 28.4% variability in the declining farmers’ participation in sugarcane farming. This result suggests the existence of other factors that explain the remaining 71.6% of the variation in the declining farmers’ participation. Farmers should enhance both on-farm and off-farm income-generating activities, sugarcane by-products value addition, and non-contracted cane farming in order to reverse the outcome and result in an enhanced farmers’ participation in sugarcane farming activities by 36.2%

The sugar industry is an important agricultural sector in Kenya. In 1995, the industry had employed over 35,000 workers and supported over 2 million people in the region.  The sector contributes about 16% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Despite of its immense contribution, its output is on decline, standing at 65 tonnes from 100 tonnes per hectare. This paper investigated socio-economic factors affecting sugarcane production in Bungoma County. The study is based on the Production Theory and Correlation Design. The targeted population was 5,838 small scale sugarcane farmers in Bumula Sub-County. The coefficient of determination indicated 67.5% variance in sugarcane output relating to the socio-economic factors of the study variables. The F value was 161.406 indicating that the regression model was fitting well. The mean variance of inflation factor (VIF) was 2.349. The study revealed that education level, farm size, land ownership, farming experience, incentives, record keeping systems, extension education, cane by-products and non-contracted cane farming had significant positive effect on cane output. Input cost was found to be a major contributor of declining cane output. The study recommends that poor cane pricing, lack   of   extension   education and inadequate financing in the sugar sector be addressed.

Electricity services are crucial for human well-being and to a country's socioeconomic development. Lagging development has been attributed among others factors to lack of modern energy sources among rural households. At present, the Kenyan Government is committed to extending the grid to the rural areas. This article reviews emerging trends of grid-based rural electrification and empirically examines the short-term effects of electricity at household level. The result revealed minimal electricity take up by the rural households. Conversely, it is established that electricity coverage improved over years. There is a distinctive disparity in spatial distribution in adoption, non-adoption and access. Electricity take up has substantial benefits to households especially in improving the quality of life. However, electricity is minimally used for income generating services. The government should be committed to periodically and exclusively review the progress of rural electrification in each region to identify the setbacks which assist in policy review and reformulation.

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