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This study analyses the structure and development of horticultural marketing channels in Kenya. It is based primarily on a farm survey among some 500 farmers in Nyandarua, Kisii and Taita Taveta Districts and a trade survey of about 750 horticultural traders in 18 different market places. The surveys were carried out between 1990 and 1992 as part of the Food and Nutrition Studies Programme.The book first describes the producers that bring horticultural commodities into the channels and then the actors and institutions that operate in those channels. Traders selling in the domestic market, agents, facilitating intermediaries, export traders, marketing cooperatives and processors are all reviewed. There is a particular focus on collecting wholesalers. It is shown that they increase the efficiency in the marketing channel to the benefit of both farmers and distributing wholesalers. The development of rural assembly markets, in which the collecting wholesalers sometimes operate, is also examined. It is concluded that such markets evolve in production areas with relatively poor farm accessibility and low supply concentration, because they reduce the transport and/or information costs of suppliers and buyers.The central research question of the study is what factors determine vertical differentiation in Kenyan horticultural marketing channels. A model is developed which seeks to explain this process. The first two explanatory factors found significant are the population of the market centre where the surveyed market place is located and population density of the rural hinterland. These are indicators of the consumer population served by the marketing channel. Other factors are transport time of the commodity from producer to consumer, keeping qualities of the commodity, and turnover of the traders.The analysis shows that marketing channel theory can be of relevance to the developing world. The vertical differentiation model proposed here can aid in predicting future chang

The study reported here describes the links between non-farm employment and child nutritional status in rural coastal Kenya using a model adapted from an operational model commonly used in nutrition planning. Four studies were conducted in 1994 and 1995 in a community in Kwale district. Three of these studies were nonfarm employment and subsistence food production, household income and food accessibility, and maternal employment and child care and house health environment. The findings of these three studies were used in the design of the fourth study which assessed the whole model.Households which combined both NFE and agricultural sources of income had higher total incomes than those which depended on only one source. The relation between non-farm employment and nutritional status was weak. There was a positive relation between household income and the level of household food expenditure, which, in turn, was positively associated with long-term nutritional status of children. Higher energy intake was associated with food diversity and increased with income level. The sources of differences in food diversity within income groups were not sought. Household income and time spent in the non-farm activities per woman had no direct linear effects on the components of child care. However, income did affect housing quality, while time affected household sanitation/hygiene. Maternal employment had no effect on the components of child care and household-living conditions when controlling for the age of the youngest child, mother's education and household income. This is attributed to the fact that the mother had a lot of "spare time". Hence, this analysis suggests that non-farm employment can open an opportunity to provide for enhanced child's long-term nutritional status through the effect of total income on nutrient intake and through purchased goods that improve housing quality. Women's time in non-farm employment, although affecting house sanitation/hygiene, does not ha

Fuelwood is the main source of energy for rural households in developing countries and is predominantly used for food preparation and processing. Due to rapid deforestation, the supply of fuelwood is threatened. Many factors influence household food and nutrition security, but so far the role of fuelwood shortages has received little attention. Nutrition security has three main aspects (food security, care and health conditions); it is a prerequisite to the nutritional security of the individual, that these are favourable. The relationship between fuelwood availability and nutrition security is determined by the coping strategies chosen. These may comprise increase in collection time, reduction in amount of fuelwood used and switch to alternative fuels (Chapter 1). These strategies may affect food supply, food preservation, preparation and distribution, income generation and food consumption, all of which may result in a decrease in quality and quantity of the food consumed (Chapter 2). However, most of the existing literature is based on limited research or anecdotal evidence, and scientific evidence for these propositions is still scarce.The purpose of this research was to describe and analyse the relationship between fuelwood availability and nutrition. The study was a joint project of the Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, and the African Studies Centre, Leiden, and was affiliated with the Centre for Social Research, Zomba. Field work was carried out among the Ngoni population in Ntcheu District, Central Region of Malawi, from 1990 to 1992. Study households originated from four villages selected on distance from woodlands, being less than 1.5 km, (Muuso), 2.5-3 km (Kachinjika), 4-6 km (Chimpuza) and more than 6 km (Magola). The area was characterized by nutrition insecurity (Chapter 3), overwhelming dependence on cereals for energy intake (Chapter 7) and moderate fuelwood scarcity (Chapter 4).With increasing distance from woodland