| dc.description.abstract | Agriculture in Kisumu County has remained in the coveted status of being the main source of household incomes yet its performance has been faced by many challenges. The future sustainability of most households is linked to their ability to generate alternative sources of income from the resources that they already have. Agritourism is a viable opportunity that presents an avenue for diversification of the farm activities, improve household livelihoods, and alleviate poverty. Agritourisrn has not been the subject of extensive study in Kisumu county which is faced with many challenges in agriculture such as inefficient and weak marketing channels and systems for farm produce, food insecurity at 61 %, declining crop yields, high cost of inputs, flooding, unpredictable and occasionally low rainfall, crop pests and diseases, arid overfishing leading to low income and thereby increased poverty. The county's inexhaustible historical, cultural and human riches including traditional villages and fanning activities have not been revealed adequately to the visitors. The main objective of this study was to analyze Agritourism as a viable opportunity for livelihood improvement and poverty alleviation. Specifically it sought; to analyze the extent of Agritourism practice as an economic activity; to establish household poverty status and the determinant variables for sustainable Agritourism; to determine household perception on Agritourism; to identify promotional programs and analyze policies for mainstreaming Agritourism development, and to analyze challenges and opportunities in the development of Agritourism in Kisumu County. Theoretical framework was informed by Systems Theory, Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), and planning theory. Cross sectional study design was employed with concurrent mixed method for data collection. Study sites were sampled through multi-stage cluster sampling and purposive sampling. Through a household survey, 388 households were sampled systematically from Nyando, Kisumu East and Seme sub¬counties. Key informants were sampled purposively. The tools used to collect data included; a questionnaire, Key informant interview schedule, Focus group discussion checklist, directs observation and review of secondary data. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and content analysis were used. Inferential statistics included: chi-square test, Cochran's conditional test of independence, and regression analysis. The results highlight the proportion of households in Kisumu County likely to be practicing agritourism as 55% which is statistically a false truth as it is not evident in their socio-economic status as majority (80%) of the households are in the middle and poor categories. Key determinant variables for sustainable Agritourism development were ranked in the order; Financial, human, Physical and natural capitals. 95.6 percent of HH perceived that Agritourism would work in Kisumu County. 96.9% of HH felt national that the national government should promote Agritourism. The national government has legislations and policies to support the tourism sector but most of them have not yet been cascaded to the county as indicated by 74% of respondents and most government departments are working in Silos. Policy makers should continually review, monitor and evaluate implementation of tourism programs to gauge performance of the strategies and policies already formulated. Challenges for agritourism development were given in the order; Inadequate marketing skills and financial support, poor infrastructure, negative attitude towards fanning, climate change and inadequate government policy support. The greatest opportunity in Agritourism development in Kisumu County would be to increase revenue by creation of job opportunities and food security. Major recommendations of this study were: need for partnership with the relevant stakeholders to develop Agritourism, awareness creation on legislations and policies concerning tourism development, development of an Agritourism model that will intervene directly on the identified key determinant variables for sustainable Agritourism and strengthening of linkages between national and county governments in terms of planning and policy issues. Advocacy planning should be done so that Agritourism is at the centre of the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). Suggested areas for further research include: Agritourism and Social capital formation, linking Agritourism to Ecotourism, comparative economic analysis of households practising Agritourism and those not practising, and gender and Agritourism development in Kisumu County. | en_US |