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This is the accepted manuscript version of the work published in its final form as Miriti, P., Otieno, D. J., Chimoita, E., Bikketi, E., Njuguna, E., & Ojiewo, C. O. (2022). Gender gaps in sorghum productivity: Evidence from male- and female-managed plots in Uganda.Development in Practice, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2022.2069228 Deposited by shareyourpaper.org and openaccessbutton.org. We've taken reasonable steps to ensure this content doesn't violate copyright. However, if you think it does you can request a takedown by emailing help@openaccessbutton.org.

Despite the roles and functions of natural forests on the livelihood of the rural communities, their economic values are poorly reflected in market considerations and largely ignored in the decision-making process. There is inadequate empirical evidence detailing forest management preferences in developing countries, including Volcanoes National Park (VNP) in Rwanda. VNP has a considerable contribution to Rwandan rural livelihood, global environmental protection and cultural heritage. This study aimed at assessing the monetary values farmers attached to VNP. A Choice Experiment approach and Conditional Logit model were used for a sample of 192 farmers living along the park corridor using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data obtained were analyzed using Nlogit 3.0. The results showed that farmers preferred to improve the current VNP management and were willing to pay for its participatory management attributes. Farmers’ characteristics significantly influenced preferences. The findings have an implication on programmes that improve the current park management and on the design of vocational, farmer groups and gender-based environmental awareness and promotional programs.

Background: Orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) is bio-fortified with vitamin A precursors through breeding and is thus ideal for combating vitamin A deficiency (VAD). One of the potential mechanisms to promote the consumption of OFSP is to enhance its availability through processing into products with a longer shelf life and more desirable to consumers. However, very few farmers and agro-processors practice value addition due to market uncertainties; there is little information on market availability for OFSP products. This study examined consumers' preference for OFSP puree chapati in rural and urban areas of Kenya, using the contingent valuation method. Data was collected from a random sample of 411 sweetpotato consumers and a double-bounded logit model was applied to analyze consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for OFSP puree chapati. Results: Consumers were willing to pay a price of Kshs 19 (USD0.14) and 35 (USD0.26) for OFSP puree chapati in Homa Bay and Nairobi counties, respectively. The presence of children under five years in a household, consumers' awareness of OFSP products and benefits of consuming OFSP, and level of education had a positive and significant influence on WTP for OFSP puree chapati in both regions. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that consumers exhibited a positive preference for OFSP puree chapati. In order to increase the consumption of OFSP and its value-added products, it is important to promote consumer awareness of OFSP puree chapati and other such nutritious products through cooking demonstrations and other nudging approaches using attractive illustrations and social media platforms that engage mothers and care-givers of children under five years old as well as the youth.

Crop breeding programs have often focused on the release of new varieties that target yield improvement to achieve food security and reduce poverty. While continued investments in this objective are justified, there is a need for breeding programs to be increasingly more demand-driven and responsive to the changing customer preferences and population dynamics. This paper analyses the responsiveness of global potato and sweetpotato breeding programs pursued by the International Potato Center (CIP) and its partners to three major development indicators: poverty, malnutrition and gender. The study followed a seed product market segmentation blueprint developed by the Excellence in Breeding platform (EiB) to identify, describe, and estimate the sizes of the market segments at subregional levels. We then estimated the potential poverty and nutrition impacts of investments in the respective market segments. Further, we employed the G+ tools involving multidisciplinary workshops to evaluate the gender-responsiveness of the breeding programs. Our analysis reveals that future investments in breeding programs will achieve greater impacts by developing varieties for market segments and pipelines that have more poor rural people, high stunting rates among children, anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age, and where there is high vitamin A deficiency. In addition, breeding strategies that reduce gender inequality and enhance appropriate change of gender roles (hence gender transformative) are also required.

This paper analyses the effects of gender and institutional support services on commercialisation patterns of maize by female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs) in Western K...

Background: Biofortified staples have been promoted widely in sub-Saharan Africa to combat micronutrient deficiencies. Contemporary projects are increasingly using elementary schools to target households with these foods. Objective: This study assessed the effects of integrated nutrition education approaches, targeting preschoolers and their caregivers, on retention of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) on farms in the second season after lapse of free vine dissemination initiatives. Methods: Rural farming households, with preschoolers and no prior engagement with OFSP, were targeted. A multistage sample of 431 preschooler–caregiver pairs was recruited for a cluster-randomized controlled trial. After issuing routine OFSP promotion activities, 15 village-level clusters of the pairs were randomized into 1 control group (3 villages) and 3 treatment arms (4 villages each) for the interventions. Baseline and follow-up household-level survey data were collected from the caregivers. The interventions included: (1) OFSP-branded exercise books, posters, and a poem to preschoolers only; (2) OFSP-oriented mobile phone mediated text messages to caregivers only; and (3) both 1 and 2 provided to individual households concurrently. Interventions 1 and 2 were single-channeled, while 3 was multichanneled. We estimated the intention-to-treat (ITT) and treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) effects using a binary logit model and a special regressor method, respectively. Results: Only the multi-channeled nutrition education approach had significant effects (ITT = 0.167, P = .001; TOT = .243, P = .007) on the caregivers’ likelihood to retain OFSP on their farms. Conclusions: The finding implies that multi-channeled agriculture nutrition education interventions through Early Childhood Development institutions can be effective in ensuring sustainable adoption of OFSP.

Feed insecurity associated with prolonged and recurrent droughts remains a perennial challenge impeding livestock production and a major source of resource-based conflicts in the drylands of many developing countries such as Kenya. Thus, the emerging fodder markets in the drylands act as a secondary source of livestock feed to augment the natural pastures and hence play a crucial role in meeting the year-round feed requirements of pastoralists. However, little information exists on the factors influencing pastoralists to purchase fodder for their own livestock amid their long-held cultural beliefs in using natural pastures for forage . Using primary household survey data from a multi-stage sample of 201 pastoralists, this study assessed socio-economic and institutional factors that influence the pastoralists’ participation in fodder markets in Isiolo County, Kenya. Both descriptive statistics and a Heckman two-step model were applied in data analysis. The findings showed that pastoralists’ decisions to purchase fodder are significantly influenced by access to credit, weather and market information, land tenure system, exposure to shocks, off-farm income, age, gender and proximity to towns. The amount of fodder purchased was significantly affected by access to weather information, exposure to shocks and livestock holdings. These results underscore the importance of improving pastoralists’ access to prerequisite institutional support services to enhance their access to fodder and livestock markets, basic services and increased integration into the broader market economy.

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...

The cost of chicken production in developing countries is 300% higher than in developed nations. Overreliance on the key protein feed ingredients especially soybean and fishmeal (SFM) that are characterized by rising food-feed competition and supply chain impediments exacerbate the situation. The use of insect protein as a sustainable alternative protein source has attracted global attention recently. However, there is a dearth of empirical insights on farmers’ preferences for commercial insect-based feed for chicken production in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluated farmers’ willingness to pay for attributes of insect-based commercial chicken feed in Kenya using a choice experiment based on a survey of 314 predominantly chicken farmers. Results show that the farmers are willing to pay premium prices ranging between US$ 0.35 and US$ 3.45 for insect-based feed in the form of either pellets or mash, feed explicitly labelled as containing insects, insect protein feed mixed with SFM and dark-colored feed. These findings provide evidence for multi-stakeholder collaborations to facilitate the creation of an inclusive insect-based feed regulatory framework for sustainable feed and chicken production.

This 2018 randomized controlled trial examined the role behavioral nudges can play in improving caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) relating to biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). The experiment involved 431 preschooler-caregiver pairs in 15 villages. The preschoolers were enrolled in public-run Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centers in the respective villages. Caregivers were first exposed to the routine OFSP promotion activities in the area - invited to cooking demonstration workshops and issued with free OFSP vines to plant. A baseline survey followed. Next, the 15 villages were randomized into four study groups (a control and three treatments). The interventions were deployed for 30 days as follows: Treatment 1 - preschoolers issued OFSP-branded exercise books, class posters, and poems; Treatment 2 - caregivers received phone-mediated text messages; and Treatment 3 - received the full suite of interventions. This study analyzed the endline and baseline data and finds that, in general, changes in KAP scores were negatively associated with control group (

In developing countries, chicken trade is characterized by complex chains comprising of many actors with limited biosecurity. This increases the spread of chicken diseases like Newcastle disease (ND). In Kenya, there is lack of uniformity in practices used in live bird markets, leading to increased disease outbreaks. This study aimed at assessing the effects of the chicken marketing practices on the frequency of ND outbreaks. A Poisson regression (PRM) was used on data collected from 336 traders selected using multi-stage sampling in Kakamega, Machakos, and Nairobi. Results highlight the low access of trainings and credit by traders. From the PRM results, breed composition, market channel, transportation, origin of birds, mixing of birds, slaughter of birds, disposal of waste, and housing as well as trader attributes like ND awareness, licensing, gender, and age had significant effects on the frequency of ND outbreaks. The study recommends that County governments collaborate with development partners to develop innovative ways of disseminating information on ND. The County governments should invest in market infrastructure such as slaughter facilities, special shelters and waste disposal equipment. There is also need for enforcement of biosecurity and hygiene measures through regular market inspections.

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 ...

Most pastoralists’ in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) are adversely affected by climate-change related shocks such as droughts and livestock diseases. These shocks lead to deterioration of livestock quality and even mass death of herds. This leaves pastoralists vulnerable as they derive most of their food and income needs from livestock, necessitating emergency disaster response and the need to build their long-term adaptive capacity. In most cases however, investments only focus on reducing risks and not on building long-term adaptation strategies. In this study, we analyzed factors affecting household resilience among the pastoralists of West Pokot County in Kenya. A focus group discussion and key informant consultations were held to understand community perspectives on the historical nature of climate-change related shocks. In additional, individual household surveys were done with 191 randomly selected households to obtain information on the shocks experienced by pastoralists, coping strategies, long term adaptation strategies and external support, their uptake of these and the effect on their resilience. The household resilience index was constructed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). An ordered probit regression was used to analyze the effect of socio-demographic, institutional factors and adaptive practices on households’ resilience. It was noted that years of formal schooling, household income, access to credit and extension and adaptive practices such as post harvest use of field crops for grazing, enclosures, stocking improved breeds, bee keeping, ethno-veterinary practices and afforestation have a positive and significant effect in building household resilience to shocks. There is therefore a need to direct investment to bolster pastoralists’ own efforts towards building their resilience.

Newcastle disease (ND) poses a challenge especially for farmers rearing indigenous chicken under the extensive system. This is due to the lack of uniformity in practices, favoring the introduction and spread of the disease. This is worsened by the lack of information on how management practices contribute to the spread of ND. The current study assessed the role of extensive chicken production systems and management practices on the frequency of ND outbreaks in Kenya using a Poisson regression model (PRM) on primary survey data from 332 farmers in Kakamega and Machakos counties. Descriptive results showed a low access to institutional support services like extension, training, credit, and vaccination services for both male and female farmers. Results from the PRM analysis show that flock size, isolated and confined housing, multi-aged flock mixture, screening of birds, access to ND vaccination, ND awareness, distance to agro-veterinary service providers, and access to animal health training and extension services had significant effects on the frequency of ND outbreaks. The findings underscore the need for innovative extension approaches that facilitate the use of information communication technologies to create more awareness on disease detection and mitigation measures. Use of farmer groups as innovation platforms for enhanced skill sharing and as key peer monitoring channels would also improve compliance with prescribed disease control methods. Further, there is a need for partnerships between local-level county governments, vaccine producers, and agro-veterinary service providers to ensure the development of low-cost vaccines and requisite storage facilities, and their timely delivery to the male and female resource-poor smallholder extensive chicken farmers.

In recent decades, researchers and development practitioners have explored strategies to manage shocks and reduce food insecurity in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) especially through introduction of modern scientific approaches and interventions; for instance promotion of exotic livestock breeds, but these interventions have not yielded desired results. This has been attributed to the fact that most of these interventions ignore pastoralists’ own indigenous knowledge and practices and thus tend to have low acceptability. Recognizing the need for context-specific locally-acceptable and adaptable solutions to pastoralists’ challenges, the present study assessed the role of indigenous knowledge and practices in reducing food insecurity in pastoralists’ households in West Pokot County, Kenya. Data was collected from arid and semi arid locations. A focus group discussion, key informant interviews and individual surveys on 191 households were conducted. Results demonstrate the value attached to traditional customs, guided migratory patterns and sustainable human-environment interactions in adapting to the harsh environment and mitigating food insecurity. Results from a binary probit regression analysis showed that seasonal transhumant migration, traditional pasture conservation and planting indigenous drought tolerant crops have a significant effect in reducing household food insecurity. The findings point to the need for documentation of indigenous knowledge and practices and their integration in long-term programs and plans aimed at building resilience in pastoralist systems. Key words: Pastoralists, indigenous knowledge, local practices, food security.

Background Persistent prevalence of high malnutrition in poor households in developing countries calls for enhancement of cost-effective nutrition interventions among the vulnerable groups. One responsive way is to promote regular consumption of home-grown biofortified foods, particularly in the micronutrient-deficient groups. Previous nutrition interventions have targeted adults with behavior change education, but have rarely explored the potential of nutrition education of preschoolers as change agents. Objectives This study sought to assess the effect of nutrition education targeting preschool children and their caregivers on their consumption of vitamin A–biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in rural farm households in Homa Bay County, Kenya. Methods A total of 431 preschooler-caregiver pairs from 15 village-level clusters were recruited into a randomized controlled trial. The sample was randomized into 1 control (3 villages) and 3 treatment groups (4 villages each). Treatments involved channeling nutrition education to preschoolers through their learning materials (preschooler treatment); the caregivers through their mobile phones (caregiver treatment); and to both preschoolers and their caregivers simultaneously (integrated treatment). Baseline and follow-up household-level surveys were conducted with the caregivers, and consumption data were collected from the preschoolers using a child dietary diversity register. Class teachers sought 24-h consumption recalls of the preschoolers for 19 consecutive schooldays. Results The results of a zero-inflated Poisson regression showed that the phone-mediated and multichanneled nutrition education approaches significantly increased the number of days of OFSP consumption. The integrated nutrition education approach significantly increased the preschoolers’ likelihood to consume OFSP, number of OFSP consumption days, and likelihood to consume it more than once per week by 11%, 77%, and 20%, respectively. Conclusions Nutrition education through OFSP-branded preschoolers' learning materials and phone-mediated messages provides effective nudges to the caregivers to feed their preschoolers regularly with OFSP. This could have implications for realizing sustainable nutrition programs in biofortified crop-growing areas., A field trial in rural Kenya found that an integrated nutrition education intervention involving the preschoolers and caregivers’ phone-mediated text messages significantly increased biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato consumption days in preschoolers.

The devolved governance structure in Kenya places the provision of agricultural sector services such as extension at the local units. However, farmers’ awareness on this aspect and where services are available remains limited and often, there is confusion. In order to provide clarity and enhance the understanding of extension service delivery, this study sought to characterize farmers’ awareness of agricultural extension devolution and analyze factors that influence their awareness. Data was collected in Meru County using semi-structured questionnaires through face-to-face interviews on a representative multi-stage sample of 288 farmers. A binary logit model was applied to analyze the determinants of farmers’ awareness. Slightly less than half of the respondents indicated that they were aware of agricultural extension devolution. The factors that were found to significantly enhance awareness are attendance to farmer field days, land tenure security, income and education. Key words: Extension-devolution, farmers, awareness, Kenya.

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.

The utilization of insect-based feeds (IBF) as an alternative protein source is increasingly gaining momentum worldwide owing to recent concerns over the impact of food systems on the environment. However, its large-scale adoption will depend on farmers’ acceptance of its key qualities. This study evaluates farmer’s perceptions of commercial IBF products and assesses the factors that would influence its adoption. It employs principal component analysis (PCA) to develop perception indices that are subsequently used in multiple regression analysis of survey data collected from a sample of 310 farmers. Over 90% of the farmers were ready and willing to use IBF. The PCA identified feed performance, social acceptability of the use of insects in feed formulation, feed versatility and marketability of livestock products reared on IBF as the key attributes that would inform farmers’ purchase decisions. Awareness of IBF attributes, group membership, off-farm income, wealth status and education significantly influenced farmers’ perceptions of IBF. Interventions such as experimental demonstrations that increase farmers’ technical knowledge on the productivity of livestock fed on IBF are crucial to reducing farmers’ uncertainties towards acceptability of IBF. Public partnerships with resource-endowed farmers and farmer groups are recommended to improve knowledge sharing on IBF.

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.

Objectives: Of the 234 million surgeries conducted yearly worldwide, only 3.5% are carried out in low-income countries. Known advantages exist to laparoscopic surgery, and it is widely utilized in high-income countries; however, many barriers exist to uptake in low-income countries. Since 1992, laparoscopic surgery has been successfully undertaken in various rural public hospitals in Kenya. We sought to review outcomes of laparoscopic surgeries performed by our group in these facilities. Materials and methods: Between 1992 and 2015, 3,119 laparoscopic procedures were performed at 17 rural hospitals in Kenya as a part of the Round Table’s “Week of Healing Project.” The medical and operative records of all patients who underwent gynecological laparoscopic surgery were retrospectively reviewed for outcomes. Results: During the reporting period, 2,901 cases performed were gynecologic procedures; the mean age of patients was 34.2. Forty-one complications were encountered (1.41%), and one death (0.03%) occurred secondary to hemorrhage WJOLS

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.

The stochastic metafrontier method is applied to estimate technical efficiency levels in beef cattle production in Kenya. Subsequently, a Tobit model is used to assess factors that might influence efficiency. Results show that the average efficiency level is 0.69, suggesting that there is considerable scope to improve beef production in Kenya. Considering the importance of the livestock enterprise to rural livelihoods and its potential role in poverty reduction, there is need for appropriate development strategies for enhanced efficiency. In particular, livestock development policies should focus on provision of technology-related services. For instance, promoting use of controlled cattle crossbreeding methods would enhance productivity gains. Effective institutional support is also necessary in order to improve efficiency, including improved access to market contracts, better farm management skills and off-farm income opportunities. Key words: Beef production, technical efficiency determinants, metafrontier, Kenya.

Global land acquisition and lease investments in developing countries by foreign companies have elicited a lot of controversy and interest in recent literature. Well-structured foreign land leases and investments might offer development benefits to the host countries including opportunities for employment, provision of capital for improvement of infrastructure and stabilization of food prices. However, most foreign land lease deals in Africa are often characterized by secret negotiations and lack of local stakeholder consultations. Consequently, the land deals often result in displacement of land owners and loss of their customary land rights such as grazing and fuel wood access rights. The situation is exacerbated by relatively low monetary compensation offered to the land owners by the foreign investors. In recent years, numerous protests by the excluded stakeholders have resulted to considerable loss of investments and disruption of livelihoods. Against this backdrop, the present study analyzed local community members' preferences for foreign land lease design attributes in coastal Kenya using choice experiment survey data from a random sample of 200 respondents. Results showed that respondents prefer varying payment levels in order to allow design of leases that incorporate the following attributes: short lease duration (up to 15 years); renewable leases after joint negotiations and; provision of formal employment to land owners’ household members. These insights should be incorporated in the design of foreign land leases to promote harmony between land owners and leasers., Agriculture; Foreign land lease; Kenya; Local stakeholder preferences

Management of livestock diseases is important in ensuring food safety to consumers in both domestic and export markets. Various measures are prescribed under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization. In order to prevent the spread of trans-boundary cattle diseases, the SPS agreement recommends the establishment of Disease-Free Zones (DFZs). These have been implemented successfully in some major beef-exporting countries, but in Kenya are still at a pilot stage. To understand Kenyan farmers' preferences on the type of DFZ that would be readily acceptable to them, a choice experiment was conducted using a D-optimal design. Results show that farmers would be willing to pay to participate in a DFZ where: adequate training is provided on pasture development, record keeping and disease monitoring; market information is provided and sales contract opportunities are guaranteed; cattle are properly labelled for ease of identification; and some monetary compensation is provided in the event that cattle die due to severe disease outbreaks. Preferences for the DFZ attributes are shown to be heterogeneous across three cattle production systems. We also derive farmers' preferences for various DFZ policy scenarios. The findings have important implications for policy on the design of DFZ programmes in Kenya and other countries that face similar cattle disease challenges. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.