ABSTRACT Food insecurity is still prevalent in many parts of the world. Despite several research attempts to alleviate food insecurity in Kenya, estimates indicate that approximately 50% of Kenyans are food insecure with 10% in constant need of food relief. One of the causes of food insecurity as it has been reported by other scholars is gender inequality. Women, especially in developing countries have been reported to significantly contribute to food production compared to men while in deci...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is one of the major vegetables grown in Kenya as a commercial crop. It is mainly grown in the open-field under both rain-fed and irrigation production systems. The crop has gained popularity as a cash crop due to declining land sizes as it can be grown on small-scale unlike traditional cash crops like coffee and tea. Since the crop is susceptible to diseases and weather conditions, the country does not have an all year round supply of the produce. Co...
ABSTRACT Kwale County has a vibrant agricultural land rental market due to its relative good climate and fertile soil. However, it is faced with several challenges including inefficiency use of resources such as land. There is evidence in Ethiopia and other parts of the world that participation in agricultural land rental markets can be a solution to solving food insecurity and land inequalities in Sub -Saharan Africa and the world at large. However, there are few studies which have been con...
ABSTRACT Horticultural sector is an important sector in production of food and generation of income. According to Kenya‘s vision 2030, crop cultivation is one of the main pillars of unlocking the potential of Kenya through increased productivity. The importance of snow peas is increasing greatly due to its high demand especially in Europe. In spite of the benefits associated with the production of snow peas, farmers in Nyandarua county have been withdrawing from its production probably due...
ABSTRACT Kenyan dairy sub-sector has been undergoing many changes since the collapse of Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) in 1992. There have been developments in establishment of milk cooling plants which are thought to reduce milk losses and benefit the smallholder dairy farmers besides bulking milk at one point for the processing firms. However, there is evidence of underutilization of the cooling plants and the reasons that inform farmers’ decision to use the cooling plants as milk ma...
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers produce the bulk of total milk marketed in the country. Despite this, they face high transaction costs in marketing their milk. Theory and empirical evidence indicate that cooperatives can minimize transaction costs. This study assessed how effective cooperatives were in increasing smallholder dairy farmers’ incomes through the minimization of transaction costs. The objectives of this study were to determine socioeconomic factors influencing smallholder farmers...
ABSTRACT Dairy commercialization is constrained by several factors including lack of funds. Access to financial services such as credit and savings were identified as important instruments to curb these financial challenges. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been found to play a critical role amongst smallholder farmers in enhancing their access to finance. This study sought to investigate factors influencing credit access and the extent of credit access and how microfinance participatio...
ABSTRACT While number of studies focusing on the effect of technology adoption on alleviating rural poverty is increasing, much remains unclear about effects of shocks and Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Practices (SAIPs) on household vulnerability to poverty. Furthermore, most literature focuses on household food security without adequately capturing determinants of gender perceptions of food insecurity. Therefore, the study estimated the effects of shocks and SAIPs on household vu...
ABSTRACT Makueni County in Kenya is one of the leading producers of mango fruits. The County experiences surplus mango production that ends up being wasted or sold at throw away prices due to imperfect marketing. The marketing of fruits is liberalized giving rise to multiple channels. Given the freedom to select a channel, different transaction costs such as information cost, negotiation and contract enforcement have not been evaluated in relation to farmer‟s choice of marketing channel. T...
ABSTRACT The agriculture sector is the backbone of Rwandan economy with tea and coffee as the major source of export earnings. However, between years 2001 and 2016, the share of agriculture exports to the GDP has been fluctuating considerably, and yet it has not been established if this is due to exchange rate volatility. The overall effects of these fluctuations are not obvious and empirical literature is not conclusive on the overall impact of real exchange rate fluctuations on agriculture...
ABSTRACT East Coast fever (ECF) is a current threat to smallholder cattle keepers in the eastern, central, and southern Africa regions; as it causes substantial economic losses. Infection and Treatment Method (ITM) is considered to be the best method for ECF control. ITM has potential benefits of improving the livelihood of cattle keepers; through improving cattle productivity and reducing cost of production. However, since its commercialization in 2010, not all the cattle keepers in the tar...
ABSTRACT Potatoes are crops that although perishable can be stored easily with minimum loss of quality and quantity. Potato storage in Kenya is not common with the few farmers that practice it doing it traditionally and are therefore exposed to risks and consequently losses. Studies have indicated that the storage of potatoes is a means of protecting farmers from seasonality in supply and price fluctuations constraints. Studies in Tunisia, India, and USA have shown the benefits of potato sto...
ABSTRACT Livestock production in Semi-Arid Lands (SALs) of Kenya has continued to decline over the past decade, thereby threating the livelihood of pastoralists. In the recent past, there have been concerted efforts by the Government to supply more hardy cattle breeds with ability to produce enough meat and milk for pastoral communities. Despite introduction of high perfoming breeds such as Sahiwal, the dissemination of this genetic material among the pastoralists remain low. Whereas pastora...
ABSTRACT Kenya has the potential to produce enough wheat for its domestic consumption, but over the years wheat consumption has continued to outstrip local production thus, making Kenya a perennial net importer of wheat. Current annual wheat consumption is estimated at 600,000 metric tonnes against a production of 365,696 metric tonnes. Though low wheat productivity can be attributed to many factors, little is known about the attitudes to and adoption of improved wheat production technologie...
ABSTRACT In spite of the efforts and the emergence of numerous group based interventions for technology dissemination, the productivity and technology uptake levels of smallholder farmers of South Kivu, democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) still remain low. The objectives of this study were therefore to describe the changes in input use, value of production and incomes, determine changes in institutional linkages resulting from group based interventions, quantify the economic gains from the gr...