Access to Agricultural Extension Services and Post-Harvest Losses among Smallholder Sweet Potato Farmers in Kuria West Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya

Post-harvest losses (PHL) remain a challenge for smallholder sweet potato farmers in Kenya. Agricultural extension services can provide the knowledge needed to reduce them, yet evidence linking extension access to PHL is limited. This study examined the association between access to agricultural extension services and sweet potato PHL among smallholder farmers in Kuria West Sub-County, Migori County. Guided by Diffusion of Innovations Theory, a cross-sectional correlational survey was conducted: 376 farmers were selected by stratified random sampling from 16,303 farming households, and 376 responded. Data were analysed in SPSS (Version 30) using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and an independent-samples t-test. Only 29.52% of farmers reported access to extension services. Losses were experienced by 93.62% of respondents; the mean total PHL among those reporting losses was 34.54%, with handling accounting for the largest share (10.37%), followed by transportation (8.69%), marketing (7.75%) and storage (7.73%). Among farmers with access, extension access quality was weakly and negatively associated with PHL (r = −.202, p = .039). Farmers without access had higher mean PHL (M = 37.66%) than those with access (M = 27.07%), a difference of 10.59 percentage points (t(374) = 8.50, p < .001; Cohen’s d = 0.96). Because the design was cross-sectional, losses were self-reported and no adjusted analyses were conducted, the findings indicate associations, not causation. Expanding extension coverage, practical training on handling and storage, and stronger collaboration among extension providers are recommended.