| dc.description.abstract | Sedimentation of Lake Baringo and other water bodies in Baringo County has been
occurring at an alarming rate. The increased sedimentation of the water bodies can be
attributed to steep topography and reduced vegetation cover, which enhances soil loss
during torrential rains, resulting in an increase in sedimentation of the Lakes and other
water bodies. Many interventions to reduce soil loss and increase vegetation cover by
the government and non-governmental organization over the years have failed to bear
fruits due to low adoption rate of the environmental conservation measures by the land
owners. This study therefore, aimed at assessing some of the factors that cause the low
adoption rate of the environmental conservation practices using households located
within the Kimao catchment area in Kimalel location. The objectives of the study were
to: (i) determine the effects of social and demographic factors (age, gender, household
number) on the adoption of environmental conservation practices, (ii) establish the
effects of land size owned by households on the adoption of environmental
conservation practices, (iii) determine the effect of household heads’ knowledge on
environmental conservation practices on their adoption, (iv) determine the effect of
affordability of environmental conservation practices on their adoption, (v) determine
the effects of participation in collective action on the adoption of environmental
conservation practices by households within the catchment area of Kimao dam in
Baringo County. The ex-post-facto research design was used. A stratified proportional
random sample of 225 households were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The
data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics in a Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 26). The results showed that the level of
adoption of environmental conservation practices waslow (M=9.47, SD=4.7) on a scale
of 1 to 22. The level of adoption of environmental conservation practices within the
Kimao dam catchment area was found to be affected by age of the household head
(β=.294, t=4.59, p=.001) and household number (β= .147, t=2.22, p=.027) but not
gender (t=-.648, df=223, p=.518). The Land size (β=.162, t-2.45, p=.015), knowledge
(β=.872, t=26.59, p<.001), affordability (β=.650, t=12.77, p<.001), and participation in
collective action (β=.906, t=31.91, p< .001) also affected the level of adoption of
environmental conservation practices. The study concluded that a multiplicity of factors
affected the level of land owner’s adoption of environmental conservation practices in
the Kimao dam catchment area. Based on this conclusion, the following
recommendations were suggested to the County government and other stakeholders:
there is need to provide the much needed inputs for conservation practices by providing
seeds and seedlings for planting, implement a payment for environmental services
(PES) scheme to encourage the households to implement the practices and enhance land
owners’ knowledge on practices through farmer to farmer training initiatives. The
findings of the study will influence policy development in implementing environmental
conservation practices in Baringo County | en_US |
