Agricultural Sciences, 2021, 12, 726-737 https://www.scirp.org/journal/as ISSN Online: 2156-8561 ISSN Print: 2156-8553 DOI: 10.4236/as.2021.127047 Jul. 15, 2021 726 Agricultural Sciences Influence of Farmer Capacity Building in Institutional Linkages on Performance of Smallholder Irrigation Projects in Migori County, Kenya Asawo Leopold Othieno, Anne Aseey, Chandi John Rugendo ODeL Campus, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya Abstract The smallholder irrigation sector in Kenya is considered inadequately devel- oped. The study views unawareness of critical success factors in the small- holder irrigation sector as contributing to poor performance of smallholder irrigation projects. Consequently, the study investigated influence of farmer capacity building in institutional linkages on performance of smallholder ir- rigation projects in Migori County, Kenya. The study embraced a pragmatic view of philosophy, and used cross sectional and correlation research design. The target population was 2815, and comprised farmers drawn from fifteen smallholder irrigation projects that receive water from River Kuja through Lower Kuja Project. The sample size was 341. The study used systematic ran- dom sampling procedure to draw the sample, and collected data using ques- tionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that farmer capacity building in institutional linkages has a significant influence on performance of smallholder irrigation projects (r = 0.803, R 2 = 0.645, F (5, 331) = 120.254 and p < 0.000 < 0.05). Thus, the study recommends that Migori County Government come up with policies that link smallholder irrigation projects in Lower Kuja Project to institutions that pro- vide land ploughing services, certified seeds and fertilisers, control of crop pests and diseases, transportation of farm produce and marketing of farm produce. Keywords Institutional Linkages, Critical Success Factors, Irrigation Management Transfer, Smallholder Irrigation Projects How to cite this paper: Othieno, A.L., Aseey, A. and Rugendo, C.J. (2021) Influ- ence of Farmer Capacity Building in Insti- tutional Linkages on Performance of Small- holder Irrigation Projects in Migori County, Kenya. Agricultural Sciences, 12, 726-737. https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2021.127047 Received: June 15, 2021 Accepted: July 12, 2021 Published: July 15, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access