COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND VETERINARY SCIENCES (CAVS)

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI.

MARCH, 2014.

DETERMINING ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIC MATTER ON WHEAT

PRODUCTION IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY

BY

RONALD RUTO KIPRONO

REG. NO: A87/3533/2010

SPECIAL PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN

AGRIBUSINESS MANAGEMENT.

SUBMITTED TO MR. PAMBO

KENNEDY

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all individuals who contributed to the successful

completion of this project. I thank my supervisor, Mr. Pambo Otieno for providing guidance,

encouragement, advice and constructive criticism in a very timely and organized manner. I also

appreciate support and encouragement received from my fellow students pertaining to exchange

of ideas in the pursuit of my study.

Above all, thanks are to God Almighty for keeping me health and focused during the entire

period of project writing.

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LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Expected output.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics for frequencies and continuous variables.

Table 3: Estimates of relationship between wheat yield and organic matter

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ACRONYMS MoA-Ministry of Agriculture.

PH-Potential Hydrogen.

KARI-Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

GDP-Gross Domestic product.

FAO-Food and Agricultural organization of The United Nations.

KIPPRA-Kenya Institute of Public Policy and Analysis.

UNESCO-United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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Contents LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ii ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................................... iii 1.0. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................1

1.1. Problem Statement............................................................................................................3

1.2. Purpose of the study .........................................................................................................4

1.3. The hypothesis .................................................................................................................4

1.4. Justification of the study ...................................................................................................4

1.5. Study area. ........................................................................................................................5

1.6. Organization of the special project. ...................................................................................6

2.0 AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITRATURE ..............................................................................7

2.1 Empirical studies ...............................................................................................................7

3.0 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................9

3.1 Data collection procedure and sampling design..................................................................9

3.2 Model used ...................................................................................................................... 10

3.3 variables included in the model ........................................................................................ 11

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................................................................ 13

4.1 Comparison of the importance of using organic matter and using lime in wheat production. .............................................................................................................................................. 13

4.2 The relationship between organic matter and wheat yield in wheat production. ................ 16

5.0. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................................................................... 19

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1.0. INTRODUCTION Major cereals cultivated in Kenya includes: wheat, maize and rice. Wheat production in Kenya

has been low compared to maize production, for example in the year 2011 the percentage of

wheat production was 7%, maize was 89% and rice was 3%.Rice is the lowest in terms of

production which is at 3%, but there is a significant increase of the three cereals compared to the

year 2012, wheat increased by 64%, maize increased by 7% and rice increased by 10% (MoA

2013).

Wheat is the second most important cereal grown in Kenya after maize (Hezron et al. 2002).

Although there have been increase in wheat productivity in other developing countries, it is not

so in Kenya, productivity per person (per capita production) is low while consumption is on the

rise (osundwa et al .2013; Hezronet al.2002).

The decline in wheat production in UasinGishu County is said to be caused by factors such as

rapid population growth, decrease in soil fertility, weather changes, uncertain prices, rapid

increase in crop diseases, high cost of inputs and weed (Osundwa et al . 2013).

Rapid population growth leads subdivision of land which is a factor of production, subdivision of

land into such smaller fields leads to low production of agricultural produce especially wheat

which requires large tracks of land for meaningful production (Ester, 2013).

The uncertain prices is said to be caused by low demand in international markets and poor

marketing strategies in international markets, domestic policies and other local circumstances are

interacting to maintain strong domestic prices and therefore limiting the amount to be exported

hence leading to uncertain prices in the domestic markets(World bank ,2013).Farm input prices

have been rising overtime due economic imbalance ,most of the inputs are imported and

therefore the additional price is because of import duty(World bank ,2013),increase in input

prices is also attributed to rise in food and fuel prices(MoA ,2012).This ever increasing cost of

inputs and uncertain prices demoralize farmers and it could be the reason for the decline in wheat

production in UasinGishu county.

The uncertain weather changes could also be the reason for such decline in wheat production

,for example due to climate change, it can rain at time when wheat is ready to be harvested this

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hinders harvesting and leads to a lot of expenses in drying hence making it costly, According to

Maltais et al . (2012), weather changes have a significant effect in wheat production, wheat needs

low rainfall, when they are mature they do not require any rain. Therefore weather changes could

be a reason for wheat decline.

Wheat diseases could be a factor for decrease of wheat yield in UasinGishu county, major

diseases which affects wheat production involves the rust family, it includes: leaf rust, stem rust

and head rust(MoA ,2013).Wheat diseases are caused by a lot of rains which forms good

conditions for the survival of fungi causing this wheat rust( Osundwa et al.2013).To control such

diseases a farmer has to use a lot of chemicals which are expensive and therefore small scale

poor farmers can not be in a position to buy such chemicals and not able to control the diseases

leading to low production in wheat farming .Poor soil PH could be the main cause also for

wheat crop diseases ,the pH could be forming a good habitat for disease causing organisms ,poor

soil pH in UasinGishu county can make the crops unhealthy and therefore vulnerable to such

diseases ,thus soil pH has to be checked.

Soil fertility is a major factor contributing to decline and it is the factor that is not easily

controlled ,although some agencies have tried to control but it leads to increase in production

cost and hence leading to low profit margin ,this decrease in soil fertility is caused by poor soil

PH. Improving the soil pH can lead to improved soil fertility and therefore wheat yield can

increase, soil pH can be amended using organic matter ,and apart from amending soil pH,

organic matter has vast other importance. According to FAO ( 2005) this importance are;

contains plant essential nutrients ,improves soil structure, increases water holding capacity of the

soil ,increases microbial activities which are important for soil aeration ,and improves soil

temperature which is important for plant growth

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1.1. Problem Statement. Soil fertility is important for cereal production, infertile soils lead to low yields in cereal

production, therefore control of soil fertility is paramount, however soil fertility can reduce

significantly due to poor soil management practices, soil pH is the main factor that affects soil

fertility, high or very low pH are detrimental to soil fertility, Poor soil pH lead to low fertile soils

and consequently affect cereal production (Kamau et al. 2 013).

Generally ,there is enough literature on amendment of soil pH for example(Osundwa et al.

2013;Kanyaywa et al . 2002),have tried to amend soil pH by using lime ,they found out that lime

really works but it does not stay permanently in the soil and that lime is not readily available.

According to Kanyaywa et al. (2002) even though they used lime they recognized the importance

of using organic matter.

KARI (1998), tried to introduce varieties tolerant to acidic soils by breeding wheat for acidic

soils and sold the seeds to farmers in Njoro after which sampling Method was employed and

sampled farmers who gave out their views about the new variety, KARI found out that there was

no change in production, the conclusion was acidic tolerant varieties are important.

Kassie et al.(2013) used multivariate probit model to assess the use of sustainable agricultural

practices involving the use of organic matter in farming in Tanzania and found out that

sustainable agricultural practices leads to high output ,the conclusion was that farmers who used

organic matter had high profit margin because organic materials are cheap, in this case the

authors base their conclusion from financial view not on other nonmonetary importance.

The observation is that, most of the literature are trying to use lime which is functioning, but not

readily available and expensive .The proposed study seeks to use organic matter to correct soil

pH in UasinGishu county, because I want to find out if amending soil pH using organic matter

can lead to increase in wheat production and therefore leading to increased income to

UasinGishu wheat farmers, and if this will make wheat farming a viable agribusiness.

There is no research which has been done in UasinGishu County of using organic matter in

amending soil pH in order to curb the declining yield, this form a gap which is very important for

investigation.

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1.2. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is to determine the economic importance of organic matter on wheat

production.

Specific objectives are;

a) To compare the importance of using lime and using organic matter in wheat production in

UasinGishu county.

b) To determine the relationship between use of organic matter and wheat yield.

1.3. The hypothesis a) Organic matter is not significantly important compared to lime in amending soil pH for wheat

production

b) There is no significant relationship between organic matter and wheat yield.

1.4. Justification of the study The study will depict useful information on importance of using organic matter to wheat

farmers. This study could be important to agricultural sector of our economy and wheat farmers,

it can be beneficial to all those who are participants in wheat industry, this participants includes;

Ministry of agriculture who can use the information to decide adapting this method and through

extension officers can disseminate the use of organic matter to farmers so that these farmers can

apply the technique for maximum yield in wheat production and hence contributing to countries

GDP.

Wheat farmers will benefit from this study and make decisions in using organic matter, other

than using lime in amending soil pH. This will enable farmers gain a lot by maximizing their

output while minimizing their inputs if they decide to use organic matter which is readily

available and cheap.

Institutions such as Universities, Agricultural Research centers can use the information for

further research and also comparing with other research which is related to this study, so that

they can find more appropriate solution to soil fertility in the future.

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1.5. Study area. Study area is UasinGishu County, it lies in the mid west of rift valley province with and area of

33345 km2.90% of the total area in this county is an arable land and it is classified as high

potential area.

Temperature range in this county is between 8.4oc and 27oc.The County has two rainy seasons

with an average rainfall of 900mm to 1200mm per annum. Soils in this county belong to a group

of soils found in plateau areas and high level structural plains, according to (UNESCO/FAO)

these soils are of igneous origin, acidic and less fertile and are classified as Rhodicferrasols. Soil

types in this county are; red clay, brown clay and brown loam. Brown loam is important for

wheat production.

The county is made up of two divisions namely ;Soy division and Turbo division ,wheat farming

is done in both divisions but it is done in large scale in soy division as compared to Turbo

division ,in turbo division production is high in villages such as; Tabsakoi and jua kali. The

county has three local Authorities; county council of wareng, Municipal council of Eldoret and

town council of burnt forest, Eldoret town is the administrative headquarters.

The county is a cosmopolitan with a population size of 894,179 where 55.7% comprising youth

population, therefore this county have high dependency ratio. Poverty levels is at 47% which is

caused by high unemployment rate, in connection with this issue of unemployment most people

venture into agribusinesses of which wheat farming is involved but is not easy to venture into

such businesses in this county because the cost of inputs are high.

The economy of this county is dominated by agriculture and it is one of the largest contributors

of food security in Kenya. Wheat, maize and dairy are the leading farming activities.

The county has relatively established infrastructure, for example the Eldoret international airport

which handles large amounts of cargo from the Middle East, this airport gives the county an

opportunity to grow and expand its production because of increased export market.

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Due to presence of an enabling environment such as; good infrastructure, high population which

makes a good market for wheat production makes the county an ideal place for wheat production

and this therefore makes a basis for research on wheat production to ensure high supply for the

domestic market and overseas market.

The county has favorable weather conditions with rainfall average of 900 to 1200mm per year

and temperature of 27oc maximum and this is required for wheat production. The county is made

up of acidic soils which keep on increasing and thus soil pH is becoming a threat to wheat

farmers in the county, therefore the county makes an important place for this study.

1.6. Organization of the special project. The remaining part of the project is arrange as follows; Chapter 2 gives an insight of the

overview of literature and empirical studies related to wheat production by focusing on factors

affecting maximum wheat production . Chapter 3 shows the methodology, it focuses on

empirical models which are used in order to attain the purpose of the study. Chapter 4 shows

results and discussions chapter 5 shows conclusions and policy implications and chapter 6

outlines the list of references.

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2.0 AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITRATURE

2.1 Empirical studies Empirical studies have shown clearly that low agricultural productivity is mainly due to

declining soil fertility which is attributed poor soil management practices, if soil fertility is not

managed well it can lead to forever decreasing agricultural productivity ,the impacts of soil

fertility are so much in crop production, poor soil fertility are caused by many factors among

which soil pH is the main factor .

KARI(1998) ,through their soil fertility and plant nutrition program ,tried to assess the impacts

of organic matter on soil fertility and found out that soil fertility is caused mainly by poor soil

pH after which it leads to low agricultural productivity. The conclusion from their study was that

improved soil organic matter management is important and it has a role in enhancing nutrient

availability in the soil.

KARI (1998), through their annual report came out with new wheat varieties, a trial at University

of Eldoret, the findings was that the trial perform poorly with an average of 0.6 tonnes per hector

compared to 1.97 tonnes per hector in 1997, the conclusion they made was that development of

new varieties that fits poor soil pH will greatly boost wheat production.

Kanyanywa et al. (2002) used sampling method and sample groups of farmers to find out the

materials they have been using when amending soil pH, the authors did their studies at Chehe

Nairobi area .The authors found out that large number of farmers using farmyard manure in

solving soil pH problems have high output than farmers who use inorganic materials such as

lime, the conclusion was that organic matter and lime are the best options for amending soil pH,

and that government should intervene so that lime is made accessible to farmers. The authors did

not bring clearly the advantages and disadvantages of either lime or organic matter; they seem to

believe that both lime and organic matter are both the same in terms of importance, which is not

actually the truth.

Kassie et al. (2012) used multivariate probit model to assess the use of sustainable agricultural

practices involving the use of organic matter in farming in Tanzania and found out that

sustainable agricultural practices leads to high output in crop production than use of inorganic

materials in farming, the conclusion according to their study was that farmers who use organic

matter had high price margin because organic materials are cheap.

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Although this authors are considering organic matter, they drew their conclusion from financial

view, the authors did not base their study on other economic importance such as; organic matter

improves soil structure, has high water retention capacity, improves soil temperature and

enhances microbial activities among others.

Kamau et al. (2013) use multivariate probit model in a study to point out elements that determine

use of inorganic fertilizer and other soil amendment practices to control soil fertility in Nyanza

province. The authors found out that, inorganic input prices which are ever increasing affects

negatively on demand for such inputs involving lime, for this reason therefore farmers use

organic matter in crop production. The authors concluded that farmers in Nyanza province use

organic matter not because of its vast importance but because they are cheap and that prices of

inorganic inputs are ever increasing. For this case farmers are price responsive to inorganic

inputs, seemingly they just use organic matter because of high prices of inorganic inputs such as

lime, as much as they are using organic matter they have to know its importance.

Osundwa et al. (2013) carried out a study at university of Eldoret and Kipsangui areas of

UasinGishu county by sampling farmers in Kipsangui area to investigate the influence of

agricultural lime on wheat yield in this areas, the authors later did a study at university of

Eldoret, the findings for their study was that use of lime in amending soil pH lead to low

production than using organic matter. The conclusion was that high costs of inorganic materials

such as; fertilizers and lime, makes the use of lime economically unavailable for farmers to adapt

.Again in this study the focus is on the prices of inorganic inputs which are high and thus people

do not amend soil pH, should they use organic matter which are cheap and available with other

non-monetary importance they will realize a lot of output and therefore enough returns.

The observations from the above studies is that most farmers prefer using organic matter in

amending soil pH not because they know its vast importance but because the inorganic inputs are

expensive, some farmers in fact do not amend soil PH Just because they do not understand that

organic matter do amends soil pH, this therefore makes a huge gap which requires investigation.

Some studies have proposed the use of lime when amending soil pH, but lime is expensive to

farmers, some have tried to introduce new wheat varieties tolerant to acidic soils but up to now

they are not successful, therefore the use of organic matter in soil pH amendment for high yield

in wheat production forms an area of study.

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3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Data collection procedure and sampling design Data that was used in the study was collected using semi structured questionnaires from samples

of farmers in UasinGishu County, to know whether farmers use organic matter when amending

soil pH or they use lime and also to capture the level of wheat yield when organic matter is used.

Semi structured questionnaires was administered by face to face interview of farmers within the

sample size.

Multistage sampling procedure was used .Two divisions which make up the all county that is

;Soy division and Turbo divisions was chosen, two locations from each division was purposively

selected basing on their productive levels of wheat. In soy Division; Koisagat and Ziwa locations

were chosen. In Turbo Division; Tabsakoi and Jua kali locations were chosen for the study.

Simple random sampling method was used to determine two locations from each of the two

Divisions.

Systematic random sampling of and interval of one respondent was used to select a sample from

each cluster, every second wheat farmer was selected. Respondents were sampled using the

Central Limit Theorem, it says that when the number of occurrences increases the expected

result moves closer to the actual result.A total of 30 respondents were selected and interviewed

on wheat production and use of organic matter and lime when amending soil pH for better yield.

Data analysis was done using stastical package for social sciences (SPSS).

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3.2 Model used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model was used in the study to analyze the relationship

between use of organic matter when amending soil pH and to show other importance of organic

matter apart from soil amendment. The model is mostly used to show linear relationship between

dependent variables and independent variables and is stated as follows;

Where;

Y=wheat yield

α=Constant (Factors not included in the model but affect the dependent variable)

β= coefficients to be determined by variables

Xi=Independent variable

Ui=error term

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3.3 variables included in the model So that the objectives can be answered some variables were included in the model and these are

shown in table (1) below.

Table 1, Expected output

VariableDescription of the variable Expected Sign

Challenges Challenges wheat farmer faces in wheat production

Easilyavailable Easily available soil amendment material

Benefitsorganic Benefits of organic matter

Typeorganic Type of organic matter use +

AmendmentmaterialSoil amendment material ±

Challenges was included in regression model to capture various challenges that farmers faces in

wheat production challenges was expected to have a negative relationship with wheat yield, that

when the challenges are increased the yield level decreases, challenges for example in our case;

decreasing yield, decreasing soil fertility, unfavorable weather conditions pests and diseases was

captured because this are the main challenges that wheat farmers faces in production.

Easily available was used to capture the soil amendment material that is easily available to wheat

farmers and it was expected that easily available material will lead to and increase in yield in that

farmers will be in a position to do soil amendments easily and eventually increase the yield, The

less available soil amendment material can lead to no soil amendment and therefore leading to

decreased yield, this therefore forms a basis why such variable have to included in the regression

model.

Benefits organic variable was used to depict the economic importance of organic matter in wheat

production because it was expected those who are aware of the benefits of organic matter will

use it when amending soil pH and in that case improve wheat yield.

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Type organic variable was used in the model to depict various types of organic matter if the

farmer happens to use organic matter it was expected expected to increase wheat yield, if it

happens that the type used is manure then this will increase the wheat yield as opposed to other

types which are from the plant remains that can acidify the soil the most.

Amendment material variable was included to capture the type of amendment material that a

farmer uses when amending soil pH, this is expected to have a negative or positive relationship

depending on which type of the amendment material a farmer uses, if a farmer uses organic

matter it is expected that an increase in use of organic matter increases the yield and an increase

in use of lime when ameliorating soil pH can lead to decreased wheat yield.

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4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Comparison of the importance of using organic matter and using lime in wheat production. According to Table 2 below most of the people interviewed were dedicated wheat farmers with a

frequency of 66.7 percent, the remaining percentage practice wheat farming and also do other

farming activities such as dairy farming. Dedicated wheat farmers forming the largest percentage

shows clearly that they understand how wheat farming production is, in terms of the

requirements and also the challenges they face in farming.

Most of the farmers interviewed use organic matter when amending soil pH in wheat production

as shown in the table below with a frequency of 53.3 percent, this depicts that organic matter is

widely used as compared to lime in wheat production, the reason as to why most of them use

organic matter is that organic matter is easily available with a percentage of 70 percent

compared to lime, this means that the availability of soil amendment material also affects in that

if the soil amendment is not available the farmers will not amend soil pH in connection with this

yield will eventually go down. The table depicts that lime being one of the amendment materials

is not readily available and therefore affecting wheat production.

According to table 2 below organic matter having many economic importance is very vital

specifically in wheat production industry, organic matter improves wheat yield, this is shown by

the largest percentage of the farmers with a percentage of 63.3 percent arguing that organic

matter increases wheat yield. This illustrates that organic matter is important in wheat production

compared to lime with the least percentage of around 41 percent of farmers who says that lime is

important, in line with this the largest percentage of use organic matter in wheat production with

a percentage of 70 percent this therefore justifies the argument that organic matter increases

wheat yield.

Most of the farmers in this county uses manure compared to other forms of organic matter like

plant remains, the percentage of the farmers who uses manure is 60 percent, the remaining 40

percent uses plant remains. This can be because of the argument that manure is highly nutritious

compared to plant remains and that plant remains for example remains from the dicots such as

beans produces a lot of acids which can later require the use of lime to neutralize the acidity and

that lime are expensive with mean cost of Kenya shillings 5650 per tone, this therefore adds

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extra cost to the farmer, therefore it is clear that using manure as a form of organic matter is

important than using plant remains that will necessitate the use of lime that are expensive and not

readily found.

There are many challenges wheat farmers faces, such as pests and diseases, unfavorable weather

among others but the problem of decreasing yield is the main problem with 60 percent of the

farmers saying that decreasing yield is the main problem, decreasing yield must have been cause

by decrease in soil fertility, decreasing soil fertility is caused by overuse of inorganic fertilizers

which acidifies the soil and also use of inorganic substances such as lime can also affect soil

fertility and therefore leading to decreased yield.

According to table 2, the research shows clearly that less of organic matter with a mean of 1.67

tones per hectare is used compared to a mean of 2.83 tones of lime used per hectare. This shows

clearly that it is economical using organic matter than using lime in wheat production, due to the

virtue that organic matter is easily available with 70 percent of farmers saying so and the amount

used per hectare is less then organic matter is important in wheat production.

Comparing the cost of the two inputs it is clear that those farmers who don’t have enough

organic matter in their farms can buy them cheaply at a price of 2300 per tone compared to lime

which costs Kenyan shillings 5650 per tone and that lime have to be bought not like organic

matter, therefore organic matter is important than lime in wheat production.

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Table 2 Descriptive statistics for frequencies and continuous variables

VARIABLE DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICS

Occupation (% Farmer) 66.7

Amendment material (% organic) 53.3

Easily available amendment material (% organic) 70

Benefits of organic material (% increased yields) 63.3

Type of organic matter (% manure) 60

Challenges faced (% decreasing yields) 60

Amount of organic matter used per hectare in tones(Mean) 1.67(1.322)

Amount of lime used per hectare in tones (Mean) 2.83(1.642)

Cost of organic matter per tone in shillings (Mean) 2300(466.092)

Cost of lime per tone in shillings (Mean) 5650(574.606)

Note: Standard deviations for continuous variables are in parenthesis

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4.2 The relationship between organic matter and wheat yield in wheat production. The results from the regression table 3 below shows that some variables have a direct

relationship and others have inverse relationship with the dependent variable. Constant term

refers to other variables that were not included but affect the dependent variable, the last column

of the table shows the level of significance of each variable.

There is an inverse relationship between challenges that wheat farmers’ faces and wheat yield

where by when challenges increases, wheat yield decreases by 22.1 percent, and this is in line

with prediction that challenges will have a negative relationship with wheat yield. The challenge

in this situation involves; Decreasing yield, unfavorable weather, pests and diseases. Decreasing

yield which is the main in wheat farming is caused by unfavorable soil PH which keeps on

increasing year after year as wheat farmers uses more and more of inorganic fertilizers which

acidify the soil the most.

The relationship between soil amendment material availability and wheat yield is inverse, in this

case an increase in availability decreases the wheat yield by 26.5 percent, this is not in line with a

prediction that it has a positive relationship, this can be illustrated by the virtue that organic

matter being the easily available with 70 percent of the farmers saying so and the virtue that it

increases wheat yield, also have negative implications on wheat production ,for example it

carries weeds with it which decreases wheat yield by competing for nutrients, some organic

matter especially the dicots at some point produces acids which reduces soil fertility and thus

decreasing wheat yield. Therefore if the material is easily available farmers tend to overuse

leading decrease in wheat yield.

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Table 3; Estimates of relationship between wheat yield and organic matter

Variable coefficient standard error significance (p value)

Constant 0.293 0.204 0.163

Challenges -0.221 0.189 0.032

Easilyavailable-0.265 0.186 0.168

Benefitsorganic 0.380 0.183 0.025

Typeorganic-0.078 0.214 0.717

Amendmentmaterial0.247 0.22 0.092

Source; Field survey data, 2014

There is a direct relationship between the benefits of organic matter and wheat yield in that

benefits of organic matter such as; improvement of soil pH, improvement of soil aeration,

improvement of soil fertility, and conservation of soil water increases wheat yield. This is in line

with early prediction that increase in benefits have a positive relationship with wheat yield. This

can be illustrated by the issues on the ground that poor soil pH is the main factor leading to

decreasing yield in UasinGishu county but due to the use of organic matter soil pH is improved

consequently soil fertility increases leading to increase in wheat yield. Other benefits for

example; improving soil aeration and conservation of soil water automatically increases the yield

of each and every crop and therefore so to wheat.

There is an inverse relationship between wheat yield and the type of organic matter used, that an

increase in use of a specific organic matter decreases the wheat yield by 7.8 percent, this is in

line with the earlier prediction that type of organic matter can have a positive relationship or a

negative relationship depending on the type of organic matter. The illustration of this situation is

that farmers may have over used manure owing to the fact that it is easily available and as stated

earlier that it carries a lot of weeds can reduce the wheat yield. Farmers might have indulged in

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use of plant remains especially the dicot which produces a lot of acids and therefore reducing

wheat yield.

The type of amendment material use have a positive relationship with wheat yield, where by an

increase in use of the right soil amendment material increases wheat yield by 24.7 percent, this is

in line with the earlier prediction that it has a positive relationship. In UasinGishu county most of

the farmers use organic matter this is depicted by table 2 above where by farmers using organic

matter forms 53.3 percent of the total wheat farmers, organic matter with plenty of benefits such

as; conservation of soil water, soil aeration and improvement of soil fertility leads to high yield.

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5.0. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION It is evident from the results presented in the preceding chapter that organic matter plays a major

role in wheat production. The results indicate that organic matter is an input that should be used

when amending soil pH for higher wheat yield. Compared to other inputs organic matter has

various advantages such as; easily available, cheap, and amount used is also less per hectare.

It is also evident from the results that organic matter has a lot of benefits in wheat production,

farmers who use inorganic inputs for example using lime should appreciate the benefits of

organic matter and therefore abandon lime, in the results above the advantages of lime is being

out weight by the benefits of using organic matter. From the results it is evident that the reason

for decreasing yield is mainly caused by decreasing soil fertility which is as a result of poor soil

pH, in connection with this, poor soil pH is caused by overuse of inorganic fertilizers therefore

farmers should reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers and switch off to using organic matter not

only in amending soil pH but also using manure as the main fertilizer.

The results also depicts a very important issue on the type of organic matter to be used in wheat

production, it is evident that use of manure is the best option instead of plant remains such as

maize stovers and bean remains, in that the plant remains such as dicots at some point in time

adds extra acid in the soil which will add extra cost in production. Therefore the right choice in

the use of organic matter is vital for wheat production.

The evidence from the results in the preceding chapter shows clearly that there is a difference in

prices of inputs which are substitutes, from the evidence organic matter can be used in state of

lime in wheat production and it works better than lime, therefore farmers have to be sensitive in

terms pertaining to cost of production so that they can minimize cost of production and therefore

have a large price margin. In the results organic matter is readily available, it is also cheaper and

therefore there is no solid reason as to why farmers who still use lime do not adopt the use of

organic matter.

It is recommended also that the government should come up with policies for reducing costs of

inputs so that farmers can realize positive profit margins leading to increased savings which can

translate to increase in percapita income and thus generalized increase in Gross Domestic

Product.

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