An Investigation of Coping Strategies Adopted by Small-Scale Sugarcane Growers in Bungoma County, Kenya

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%