Purpose: Several development organisations have implemented programs to enhance smallholder farmers' crop productivity and market access through collective action with mixed results. Therefore, this study examines the drivers of success of collective action initiatives as a pathway to improving farmers marketing performance using data from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data collected from 30 farmer groups through focus group discussions. These groups are assessed for differences in their marketing performance using descriptive and cluster analysis techniques.Findings: Most of the group members are poor (67%) and few are considered as rich (2%) or middle class (28%), while the rest are destitute. The destitute community members are often excluded from the groups due to their own passivity and inability to contribute financial resources for joint activities. Mature farmer groups with strong internal structures and greater participation in product bulking as well as formally organised groups with stable external links significantly have higher marketing performance.Practical implications: We recommend that for farmers to maximise the benefits of collective action, supportive policies are necessary to encourage the formation of groups and transform existing ones into business entities to access high-value markets and perhaps even export markets. Farmer groups need to intensify their market research to access ready and stable markets such as supermarkets and institutions with larger volumetric requirements.Theoretical implications: The study shows that collective action is important for smallholder farmers in developing countries to sustainably access markets and increase their marketing performance.Originality/Value: Few studies have examined how social capital and collective action are utilised to improve smallholder farmers marketing performance, particularly in Central Africa.
The study evaluated factors influencing participation in tree planting program and the extent of participation measured in acreage allocation in Nyeri district, Kenya. With many studies focusing only on the factors influencing participation, drawback often arises from self selection. Hence the study employed Heckman two stage sample selection model in analysis to deal with this problem. Various socioeconomic, farm specific and institutional factors that affect participation and the extent in tree planting program were evaluated. Multistage sampling was used to select 120 farmers. The results showed that farm size, access to micro-finance and awareness program’s benefits positively influenced participation and extent of participation and were significant at various levels of significance. This implies that increased participation can be enhanced through increased awareness of program’s benefits and institutional innovations such as inclusion of microfinance in the program model that will attract smallholder farmers.
Migration and remittances has potential to improve development in rural areas but in Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo empirical work is still limited. We used New Economics of Labour Migration as analytical framework to explain the role of migration and remittances on crop intensification. A randomly selected sample of 480 farm households were interviewed. We found that out-migration negatively influence input use while remittance does not affect their use either. We recommend smart input subsidies and policy on their distribution to create higher incomes, thus discouraging massive rural out-migration. In addition, creation of an enabling investment environment in the sending areas by improving basic infrastructure and efficiently channelling extension messages to farmers would increase intensification and crop yields.
This paper characterises smallholder milk outlets in Nakuru district one of the major milk producing Districts in Kenya, and also analyses factors that influence their current operating and handling capacities. Data comes from four divisions of the district. A sample of 137 smallholder milk retail outlets was made using systematic random sampling methodology. Both descriptive and ordinary regression methods were used in the analysis. A characterisation of the retail outlets is brought out and the factors that affect their current operating capacities presented. Results show that a unit change in education, experience and selling prices leads to 0.29, 0.18 and 0.23 significant changes in milk handling capacities by the retail outlets respectively. These imply that there is an efficiency gain from education and better prices through higher consumer incomes in the industry. Enhancement of milk retailers' value addition through provision of physical facilities such as cooling equipment and stability in prices should be encouraged through policy intervention to promote informal sector investments in the sub-sector.
In this article, we analyzed the integration of pineapple markets using the Ravallion-type model with price data collected through personal interviews with thirty-one market actors from producing and consumption markets in Kenya. The market structure was found to be oligopsonistic in nature with aspects of collusion amongst the urban middlemen and local market traders thus barring further entry by other potential actors. There was little market integration between urban markets and producing markets, and very low or no integration between the remote producing markets. Market information flow between production and consumption markets influence integration. Highly integrated horticultural markets are likely to increase market efficiency through efficient resource allocation and price transmission which would result in lower transaction costs and increased incomes and profits to market actors. Improved marketing efficiency for fresh pineapple calls for improving integration process of the markets. We recommend deliberate efforts to promote market integration as a strategy for improving rural incomes since more incomes and profits would encourage more market actors to enter the marketing agribusiness system. Keywords: Marketing chain, market efficiency, market integration, pineappleEastern Africa Journal of Rural Development Vol. 21 (1) 2005: pp. 23-33
Since independence, poverty reduction and enhanced food security have been Kenya Government’s objectives. At micro-level, households diversify income sources as a management strategy to enhance their welfare. However, this has not been satisfactorily achieved due to multiple factors. This research was aimed at analyzing factors influencing income diversification in maize based farming systems. It is hypothesized that these factors significantly contribute to the performance of agro-based household economies. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2004 covering 1850 rural households covering seven agro-ecological zones describing different sources of incomes and labour allocation using a structured questionnaire. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents. Descriptive statistics, multinomial logit and Tobit models were employed in the analyses. The results show that majority of farmers engage in cash cropping but with off-farm income supplementation. However, though there is evidence that most households have opportunities in cash cropping and non-farm activities, pricing, inefficiency in production and marketing negatively impact on the fight against poverty and food security. In addition, lack of capital, makes it difficult for farmers to diversify from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming. Household heads and their spouses spend about 70% of their time on-farm. The household members participate in low paying casual labour ranging from KSh. 84.00 to 120.00 per day against the government recommended rate of KSh 210 to 245. In addition, households with bigger farm size are more likely to participate in the non-farm sector than those with illiterate or low educated heads. This implies that government role in catalyzing asset accumulation through job creation in both farm and a non-farm activity is still an important aspect if poverty and food insecurity have to be alleviated.
This study analyses the impact of the liberalization on the intensification of maize production in Kenya. It first analyses the impact of liberalization on input and output prices, followed by an analysis of farmer practices comparing two major farmer surveys, from 1992 and 2002. The results show that liberalization has had a general positive impact on the evolution of prices, with a decrease of input/output price ratios. However, fluctuations of maize prices has become very high and, combined with a decrease of marketing by the marketing board, has increased the uncertainty in maize production. The liberalization has also resulted in a decrease in extension services. Fortunately, farmers have an increased access to credit services. The combined effect of prices and access to services has resulted in little change in the number of farmers using new maize technologies, in particular improved varieties and fertilizer. The dose of fertilizer per ha has, however, decreased. As a result, yields have not increased. The analysis also showed that credit and extension have a major effect on adoption and, indirectly, on yield. The results indicate that an effort is needed to improve extension access. While the improved access to credit is encouraging, more than half the farmers still miss this essential service. Finally, the increased price fluctuation and market uncertainty should be addressed through improved use of price buffer mechanisms. Market access can also substantially be improved through investment in infrastructure.
In Africa, many rural farming households keep indigenous chickens (Gallus domesticus) in traditional scavenging systems characterized by low input and low output. To improve productivity, African governments and development partners disseminate a management intervention package consisting of feed supplementation, vaccination, brooder, chick rearing equipment and improved housing. Some smallholder farmers adopt the full package, while others adopt the feed supplementation and vaccination only, or the feed supplementation and brooder only. This study surveyed 120 households in western Kenya and analyzed the data using a multinomial logit model to examine these adoption patterns. The factors that were found to significantly influence adoption were access to extension services, female gender, education level, membership of farmer groups and off-farm income. We therefore recommend the formulation of pro-poor policy, focusing on improved extension programs, formation of farmer groups, encouragement of off-farm income earning and improvement of smallholder farmers’ socio-economic conditions, to enable these farmers to adopt the package.
This paper characterises smallholder milk outlets in Nakuru district one of the major milk producing Districts in Kenya, and also analyses factors that influence their current operating and handling capacities. Data comes from four divisions of the district. A sample of 137 smallholder milk retail outlets was made using systematic random sampling methodology. Both descriptive and ordinary regression methods were used in the analysis. A characterisation of the retail outlets is brought out and the factors that affect their current operating capacities presented. Results show that a unit change in education, experience and selling prices leads to 0.29, 0.18 and 0.23 significant changes in milk handling capacities by the retail outlets respectively. These imply that there is an efficiency gain from education and better prices through higher consumer incomes in the industry. Enhancement of milk retailers' value addition through provision of physical facilities such as cooling equipment and stability in prices should be encouraged through policy intervention to promote informal sector investments in the sub-sector.
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