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Many community groups in rural Africa malfunction or collapse after external support has ended. The use of non-consultative and non-contextual approaches in the establishment and evaluation of comm...

This study provides new insights on consumer preferences for chicken welfare attributes in a developing country context. Further, the inclusion of chicken transportation methods as an attribute is ...

Poverty is a critical issue in developing countries. It has become almost impossible to carry out any profitable agricultural production as a means of livelihood diversification in areas with small land acreage. Therefore, there is need to identify enterprises that can be incorporated into small holder farmers’ production processes. This study assessed the factors that influence small holder farmers’ adoption of mushroom for livelihood diversification from a sample of 240 smallholder farmers in Vihiga County in Western Kenya. Both descriptive methods and a binomial logit model were applied in the analysis. Results indicate that about three quarters of the farmers in the area were aware of mushroom production in the area and four fifth of them were willing to engage in mushroom production as a livelihood diversification option. Empirical results indicated that marital status, formal education, group membership, consumption of mushroom, availability of market for mushroom in the area, previous involvement/experience in mushroom production and total land acreage had a positive effect on farmers’ awareness of mushroom production. Age, gender, awareness level, consumption of mushroom and total land available had a positive effect on the farmers’ willingness to engage in mushroom production. Key words: Poverty, land constraint, livelihood diversification, mushroom production.

Agricultural credit has been argued to be very important for sustainable agricultural development and poverty reduction in rural areas. This study seeks to identify and to analyze the determinants of smallholder farmers’ access to and use of credit in Suakoko district, Bong County, Liberia. This research is quantitative using a survey questionnaire distributed to 105 smallholder farmers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and causal analysis was performed using a binary Logit regression model. Results from regression indicate that 39% of the farmers were credit users. The marginal effects of bank account and other sources of income show significant and positive effects on access to credit. However, education, occupation and group membership are significant but have negative effects on access to credit by smallholder farmers. The results also show that 38% of credit users applied credit received for agricultural activities, while the rest utilized it for non-agricultural activities. It is recommended that a policy should be established to ensure older farmers gets adult literacy while younger farmers get formal education. Moreover, the government should issue a policy aimed at increasing opportunities for off-farm activities through creation of jobs and motivating self-employment. Finally, the government should promote the creation of development groups geared towards providing collateral support for members and also serve as guarantors for farmers to receive banks credit/loans in order to increase agricultural productivity in the study area. Key words: Credit access, rural, farmers, smallholder, Suakoko district, Liberia.

The study estimates small-scale mango farmers’ choice of market channels using the Cragg’s two-step procedure where the farmer decides on the channel in the first step and the proportion sold to the selected channel in the second step. Cross section data was collected from a sample of 224 mango farmers selected through multistage sampling just after the mango season. The study was carried out in Makueni County in Eastern Kenya. The county is leading in production of mangoes in Kenya, having produced over 146,000 tonnes valued at over 18 million US dollars, in 2015. The data was analyzed using Cragg’s two step regression model. The first step assessed factors that determine choice of a particular channel, while the second step assessed factors that influence the proportion of produce sold to the channel. Results show that socio-economic factors significant in the first stage are not necessarily significant in the second stage. In some cases, the direction of effect reverses. Factors such as distance to tarmac road, number of mango trees in the farm, membership in producer marketing groups, training in mango agronomy, and access to extension services affect choice of export market channel. Only membership to mango marketing groups significantly influences proportion sold. Household income, distance to tarmac, number of trees, market information, and gender significantly affect choice of the direct market channel. The direct market channel earns farmers the largest margins, followed by the export channel. However, majority of farmers sell to brokers followed by export channel. It was found that despite being aware that they could fetch higher prices through direct selling, they lacked financial capacity, transport resources, and information on market locations and requirements. Policies need to enhance financial capacity of farmers, as well as expand efforts to disseminate timely and accurate market information. Key words: Small-scale farmers, mango market channels, Kenya.

Whereas there is abundance of information on community groups that engage in income generation in rural agricultural and peri-urban areas, information on community groups in pastoral areas still remains scarce. However, in the recent past, a growing trend of such groups has been observed in the pastoral areas in northern Kenya. This study therefore explores how these groups have emerged since Kenya’s independence in 1963 to date, and which factors have contributed to their evolution. A full survey on all income-generating community groups was conducted and different types of interviews were used to elicit the perspectives of members of the community and external development actors. The findings on the history of group formation show the roles played by different entities over time and reveal how and why various factors influenced group formation. The characterisation of all 153 income-generating groups found in Marsabit South showed the diversity of the different group activities and yielded information on the reasons why usually a combination of different income-generating activities is practised. The collective group activities offer a possibility for income diversification for pastoralists despite labour constraints posed by key domestic and livestockmanagement tasks. The findings explain why community groups are increasingly gaining importance in pastoral areas, as a means to solve problems and fulfil diverse needs at household and community level.

Food fortification is an important strategy for addressing micronutrient malnutrition, especially relating to, among others, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in developing countries. Current efforts to tackle VAD in developing countries include biofortification and industrial fortification. In Kenya, the recent formulation of the national food security and nutritional policy has spurred efforts to fortify sugar with vitamin A to complement the on-going biofortification efforts targeting rural farm households. This study assessed consumer preferences for sugar that is industrially fortified with Vitamin A. The study used data collected from a random sample of 350 sugar consumers drawn from rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya. Preference data were collected using choice experiment method and analysed using the random parameter logit regression technique. Results show that consumers had positive and heterogeneous preferences for the key attributes of fortified sugar including natural fortificants, inclusion of gift packs and fortification labels, minimum levels of vitamin A and the colour of the grains. Consistent with the current campaigns, respondents from households with infants and lactating mothers had higher preferences for fortified sugar than those with aged members or the youth. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for production and marketing policy.

This study used choice experiment survey data from a random sample of 374 respondents to analyze consumer preferences for quality and safety attributes of artisanal fruit juices in Kenya. Results show that consumers had a positive and significant preference for single fruit juices compared to fruit mixtures, private rather than public inspection of the juices, traceability of fruit origin, and vendor’s health. Additives such as colorants, flavors, and preservatives were not preferred. Consumers were willing to pay premiums of up to 200% for artisanal juices that contain single fruits, lack additives, and are inspected by private agencies. These insights should be incorporated in ensuring that artisanal fruit juice designs comply with food quality and safety requirements. Further, there is a need to license and regulate the artisanal juice preparation and handling and to provide training to the handlers on safety and quality requirements.

This paper analyzes the socio-economic characteristics of households that affect husbands and wives' contributions to decisions regarding the use of income from crop and livestock sales in Kenya. Using a sample of 276 households, we apply a multinomial logit model to assess factors affecting decision-making. Results show that husbands make most decisions concerning agriculture, while wives mainly decide on daily household expenditure. Higher education levels were found to increase women's involvement in decision-making on income use. Group membership had a positive effect on joint decision-making on income use. The study recommends improving women's access to education, which will improve their access to productive resources, hence their decision-making power. Providing incentives for members of agricultural groups can provide avenues for learning. Gender-transformative approaches that empower women and sensitize men to allow space for women to engage in decision-making, can have an impact in improving the decision-making capacity of women in households.