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Collective farming was implemented in order to solve problems of small farmers after the 2nd world war in many underdeveloped countries (Sherief, 1991). It is characterized by jointly using agricultural scarce resources which might be land, labours and capital more efficiently. Cotton production was introduced in Kenya in the 1900s by the colonial administration. It is therefore the focus of this research to evaluate the effect of collective farming on cotton production in Kitui as The Market-Led Integration developmental hypothesis states that “improved profitability and access to market motivates farmers to invest in new technology. The Overall objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of collective farming on cotton production in Kitui-Kenya.
Descriptive research was used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in a situation. The population of the study was Kitui (North) District homesteads however, the target groups was Kakeani sub location in Mutonguni location with an estimate of 900 homesteads. The researcher used simple stratified sampling procedure to select a sample that represents the entire population. The Primary data was collected using Questionnaires and interviews. Pre-testing of the data collection instruments was done. This study employed descriptive statistics to analyse the data obtained. Quantitative data was analysed using excel for descriptive statistics.
From the findings it was found that collective farming has effects on the pooling of Resources especially funding of cotton production in Kitui-Kenya, pooling of resources to invest in farmers’ operations which helps farmers’ groups become more active market participants, allows ease of acceding credit facilities, from funding institutions (the funds for Small Medium Enterprises (SME) The study further found that diversity of individuals working together allows sharing of ideas resulting in higher levels output and of learning from each other, collective farming option in agriculture and even in the other sectors offers learning opportunities and innovation helps to avoid undue influence from the government, members also enjoy associated social benefits through sharing with peers the emotional highs and lows associated with successes and failures. |
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