INFLUENCE OF M& E CAPACITY BUILDING ON SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL FOOD CROP PROJECTS IN KENYA: THE CASE OF NYERI COUNTY, KENYA

Many Kenyans live in poverty with most of these living in rural areas and deriving their livelihood directly from agriculture. Agriculture plays a dual role in the abolition of hunger as it enhances production of food and also serves as a source of employment that can provide families with a source of livelihood as well as providing raw materials for industries in the this sector and stimulating the formation of new industries. Being the world's single largest employer agriculture, if improved can improve the income of the marginalized. The performance of agriculture impacts on the whole economy, underlining the need for urgent revitalization of this sector. Capacity Building is an integral tool in managing and accessing efficiency and effectiveness of investments in agriculture sector and sustainability. This study aimed at assessing the influence of M & E capacity building on sustainability of food crop projects.. The study adopted descriptive survey design and correlation design and was undertaken in Nyeri South Sub-county, The target population were one Sub County agricultural officer, and four other Sub County officers, four extension officers and 503 farmers in the agriculture food crops projects. Stratified random sampling was used to select the strata's that provided 211 respondents among farmers using Yamane's formula out whom 206 completed the questionnaire. Simple random sampling was used to identify respondents from the various agriculture food crop projects using the Neyman's formula. A census/saturated sampling was used in the case of the Sub County agricultural officer in charge, four other Sub County and four extension officers. Questionnaires, observation were used to collect data from farmers and extension officers and interviews guide in collecting information from the Sub County agricultural officer in charge and four other Sub County officers. The data was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Multiple Linear regression was used for hypotheses testing. Inferential statistics mainly made use of Pearson correlation tests, indicating the relationship between the main study variables Relationship having a value of r=0.7 and above was considered very strong and between 0.5 and 0.69 strong and between 0.3 and 0.49 reasonably strong and a value of r below 0.29 was considered weak and an indicator that there was no relationship at all. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in data analysis. Based on the study findings, the study has exhibited a positive and significant influence of capacity building (β2=0.170, ρ<0.05 Thus, the study concludes that with more capacity building of members in Agricultural food crop projects and officials sustainability will be enhanced.. Moreover, there is need for increased investment in capacity building of Agricultural food crop projects.