Access Agriculture; The 21st Century Innovation Strategy in Enhancing Food Production in Kenya

Abstract

Video sharing is an innovation that small scale farmers adopt to learn farming technology which they implement through watching agricultural videos. The innovation is simple, less costly, quick and accessible to any farmer and uses mobile technology which every farmer has. Kenya is currently experiencing food deficit and as a result nearly 45% of her population is living in poverty of which small scale farmers form the highest percentage.  Farmer extension services and agricultural training colleges have dwindled over the years.Majority of small scale farmers in rural environments face critical challenges in new farming techniques which otherwise would enhance food production.  The purpose of this paper was to critically examine new innovations by Access agriculture in enhancing food production in the 21^st Century. The target population were mainly the small scale farmers in Kenya. The methodology of obtaining information was through Access agriculture data base, field observations from the small-scale farmers practice, desk top review and discussions with key informants in Kenya. The study found that Access Agriculture technology is promising to farmers toward achieving household food requirements. The excess food can be turned into cash from the overall production for farmers using Video sharing innovations. Over 50% of farmers in Kenya have expressed positive outcomes from sharing training videos. Most of the agricultural videos are communicating attractive and sexy information on agricultural demonstration techniques changing the perception and attitude of farmers particularly the young people who are now becoming more interested in farming hence increasing food production. The findings would be used to develop strategies of improving food production targeting young farmers who have the energy and sound technology to produce enough food for the Nation and beyond export.