Determinants of the competitiveness of smallholder African indigenous vegetable farmers in high-value agro-food chains in Kenya: A multivariate probit regression analysis

Evans Ngenoh,Sindu W Kebede,Wolfgang Bokelmann,Barnabas K Kurgat,Hillary K Bett

doi:10.1186/s40100-019-0122-z

Abstract

Smallholder farmers are excluded from efficient and effective participation in high-value agro-food market chains due to major competitiveness constraints and several market failures along these chains. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the competitiveness of smallholder farmers in a more coordinated and sustainable way that promote their effective and efficient participation in high-value agro-food market chains. In particular, the study aims at determining the main role of households’ capitals, institutional, and access-related factors in conditioning the decision of smallholder farmers of African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) to access pillars of competitiveness in high-value market chains (HVMCs). For this purpose, a unique household-level data from a total of 1232 rural and peri-urban AIV-producing households were surveyed, and the data obtained were analysed by using a multivariate probit model.The results suggest that about two thirds of smallholder AIV farmers had access to at least one pillar of competitiveness in HVMCs. The model results show the presence of inter-dependency of household level decisions to access multiple pillars of competitiveness in HVMCs. Furthermore, the results also reveal that coping with shocks, coupled with access to information on market prices and warnings of unexpected events, contract farming, certification and modern irrigation technologies are the main conditioning factors to the access of the pillars of competitiveness by smallholder farmers.The promotion and implementation of a well-founded mobile phone-based information access platforms, as well as effective and efficient livelihood strategies that support smallholder farmers to access pillars of competitiveness, is of critical importance towards overcoming the major competitiveness constraints along high-value agro-food chains.

Highlights

The agriculture sector is vital to the economy of many developing countries because it provides raw materials, food and employment to the rising and urbanising population, improving the welfare of producers who are poor smallholder farmers (Rios et al 2008; Zuwarimwe and Mbaai 2015; von Grebmer et al 2016)
These results show a likelihood ratio test of χ2 (6) = 13.416 (p < 0.013), which suggests the presence of interdependence between multiple pillars of competitiveness in High-value market chains (HVMC)
This paper determined the main factors influencing the decisions of smallholder African indigenous vegetables (AIV) farmers to access pillars of competitiveness in HVMCs in Kenya

Summary

Introduction

The agriculture sector is vital to the economy of many developing countries because it provides raw materials, food and employment to the rising and urbanising population, improving the welfare of producers who are poor smallholder farmers (Rios et al 2008; Zuwarimwe and Mbaai 2015; von Grebmer et al 2016). Most developing countries are struggling to secure an adequate and nutritious food supply to match rising demand through various strategies of increasing agricultural production capacity and enhancing the commercialisation of farm produce (Muhanji et al 2011; FAO 2014; Zuwarimwe and Mbaai 2015). This is due to the strong link between the strategic direction taken by smallholder farmers when organising their scarce resources and the market conditions for the produce, along with other investments and innovations. Linking smallholder farmers to markets reduces the cost of agricultural products and strengthens the economic linkages between farm and non-farm production systems (Fischer and Qaim 2012; Rao et al 2012)

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Conclusion