Smallholder Farmers’ Use and Profitability of BIOFIX rhizobia inoculant on Soybean (Glycine Max) Production in Western Kenya.

Research on the use of inoculants to enhance Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) has been conducted in Africa since 1950s. It has demonstrated the benefits of the use of rhizobia inoculants on legumes. However, the technology has not been widely applied by the smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa despite the challenges of acquisition of nitrogenous fertilizers and the environmental concerns related to the use of fertilizers. The aim of this study was to examine factors that drive the use of BIOFIX rhizobia inoculant and its profitability in smallholder farms. The study uses data collected from 210 soybean farmers in Western Kenya and regression techniques to assess drivers of the inoculants use and partial budget analysis techniques to examine the profitability. The study finds that contact with organizations promoting BNF technologies (p-value 0.01) and region (p-value 0.05) are the main factors influencing the current use of BIOFIX. The intensity of use is mainly influenced by the number of contacts with organizations promoting BNF technologies and distance to soybean collection centers. There is a high significant difference in yields between farmers who inoculate their soybean (863.89 kg ha-1) and farmers who do not inoculate (686.04kg ha-1) (p0.01) with inoculants increasing soybean yield by 26%. The difference in gross margins achieved by users of inoculants (Ksh. 21,651.65 Ha-1) and non-users (Ksh. 13,641.21 Ha-1) is highly significant (p0.01). The findings of this study imply that there is need to strengthen local institutions and for greater involvement of commercial sector (agro-dealers) and public extension to enhance promotion of inoculants use. Establishment of revolving funds by larger groups to purchase inoculants in bulk will reduce cost. The findings also highlight the importance of markets as drivers of technologies adoption. This suggests that for soil fertility improvement technologies, such as inoculants to be adopted, there is need to strengthen the output market.