| dc.description.abstract | The dynamics of weather variation have overstretched animal protein from already
overburdened environment; food and feed demand are expected to rise to 3 billion tonnes, with undernourishment projected to 637 million people by 2030. This is likely to increase malnutrition against population, which is projected at 9.7 billion people by 2050. In Lake Victoria Basin, malnutrition has affected children and elderly; cricket is environmentally friendly and has potential of solving the malnutrition problem being faced. Despite the health and economic benefits of cricket farming introduced five years ago, adoption of cricket farming as alternative source of protein is still low among smallholder farmers. The main objective of the study was to assess determinants of adoption to cricket farming for improved food security among smallholder farmers in Lake Victoria Basin. The specific objectives of the study was: to identify determinants of adoption to cricket farming as an agricultural enterprise, assess the adoption rate among smallholder farmers; analyze selected determinants of cricket consumption acceptance level; investigate contributions of cricket farming to household’s food security. Mixed methods design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 120 trained cricket farmers from Siaya, Kisumu and Homa Bay. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models was used to summarize quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data by thematic arrangements and similarities across different investigation areas. Based on data analyzed, the results indicated that socio-economic factors such as gender, age, education, household head, marital status, religious affiliation, family size and farm enterprise income had no association with adoption of cricket farming at p value (p>0.05). Further finding showed that awareness to cricket consumption as food and feed had no association with adoption of cricket farming at (p>0.05). Other determinants such as cricket being source of nutrition, food and employment did not
show any significant association with adoption of cricket farming at (0.249, 0.848 and
0.247) which were greater than p-value (p>0.05). Part of income from cricket, cultural
values, perception and attitude were found to be statistically significant to adoption of
cricket farming at p-value (0.000, 0.020 and 0.041 <0.05). The study concluded that part of income from cricket, cultural values, perception and attitude influence adoption of cricket farming and should be given a major focus if adoption of cricket farming is to be enhanced for improve food security. For the cricket farming to be fully adopted by farmers as alternative source of protein, the study recommends that the government to formulate a policy on farming of edible insects with clear package on extension service to cricket farmers | en_US |
