Challenges Encountered by County Agricultural Mechanization Service Operations in Kenya

The fact that a well-managed tractor hire service contributes to food self-sufficiency and nutrition necessitated this study. The main objective was to establish the factors limiting the success of the County-operated Agricultural Mechanization Service (AMS) in Kenya to serve small-scale farmers efficiently. A conditional technique using SurveyNut with mixed question types was adopted to generate data from 37 out of 47 counties in Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics where results indicated that the major limiting factors of having a functional Tractor Hire Service were the; labour force structure was skewed to plant operators at 55%, lack of service shop, 59%, 40% of the AMSs park their equipment during off-season periods, breakdowns cost 25% of the time, county administration interference 20%, supplies procedure delays 18% and late fuel deliveries take 16% of the time. Major services provided were ploughing, harrowing and transportation yet post-harvest handling is responsible for over 30% of the food losses. There was stiff competition from private tractor higher service schemes at 6%, promising to increase. Based on the findings, the paper recommended employing relevant qualified staff and conducting routine on-the-job training be made a priority, the AMSs should keep up with technology like having GPSs for estimating acreage, tractor tracker for real time location, mileage travelled while on the road, area ploughed and fuel consumption to be installed, Acquire models of tractors that have back-up/after-sales service within the locality of operation, should have an operational service shop, run the service professionally as a business and match the machine units to the projected workload for labour efficiency. Some county AMSs visited have their fleet photos listed, Plate 1 to Plate 28, Table 1.