ASJ: International Journal of Agricultural Research, Sustainability, and Food Sufficiency (IJARSFS) www.academiascholarlyjournal.org/ijarsfs/index_ijarsfs.htm Vol. 3(4) 28 June, 2016, Pp. 62-68 Available@: www.academiascholarlyjournal.org/ijarsfs/publications/june16/Indeche_and_Ondieke-Mwaura.pdf Also Available@: www.archive.org/details/Indeche_and_Ondieke-Mwaura ISSN: 2360-932X©Academia Scholarly Journals Open access Determinants and challenges of applying sustainable agriculture practices among rice farmers in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, Kenya Annah Indeche 1* and Florence Ondieki-Mwaura 2 1 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P. O. BOX 62000-00200, Nairobi. 2 Department of Development Studies, School of Communication and Development Studies, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. BOX 62000-00200, Nairobi. Accepted June 26, 2016 For a development project to be planned and implemented in any area it is essential that adequate information about the area is gathered for the success of the project to be feasible. Mwea Irrigation scheme is the largest in Kenya but rice yields have been declining over the years. One of the factors to sustained production is adopting sustainable agricultural practices. The objective of this research was to determine the influence of farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics on application of sustainable agriculture practices (SAPs) in rice farming in Mwea and the challenges the farmers face in applying SAPs. Cross sectional design, proportionate stratified sampling technique and questionnaire were used to select and collect data from 144 rice farmers. Statistical tools such as frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation and appropriate correlation coefficients were generated to describe or identify relationship among variables of the study. Results revealed that majority of rice farmers in Mwea are youthful males. Application of SAPs is influenced by a farmer s’ knowledge level, educational attainment, membership to an organization, contact with extension and the size of land they have under rice. There are many challenges hindering farmers to adopt SAPs in Mwea. This study recommends trainings for farmers on SAPs and a policy to encourage the youth to remain interested in agricultural projects. Key Words: Sustainable agriculture practices, rice farming, livelihoods, youth. INTRODUCTION Rice is the staple food for more than 50% of the world‟s population and its potential role in alleviating food insecurity problem was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly at its 57th *Corresponding Author Email: indecheannah@gmail.com session by declaring the year 2004 the International Year of Rice (FAO, 2006) and this saw an increase in production in subsequent years. However, In Sub- Saharan Africa, production continues to be outpaced by consumption, and therefore, the continent spends about 1 billion US Dollars annually on rice imports (Donkoh and Awuni, 2011). Sustainable