Abstract:
The participation of smallholders in export horticulture is often seen as problematic because of
the high transaction costs involved and this has further been exacerbated by the introduction of
food safety standards in the destination markets. Farmers have to participate in institutional
arrangements that help to reduce these transaction costs particularly with the absence of
government involvement in marketing. Eight arrangements were identified in Kirinyaga county ,
a dominant French producing area in Kenya. These arrangements had characteristics ranging
from spot market to contractual types of arrangements and farmers participated in them as
individuals or as part of a group. 228 French bean farmers were interviewed to assess the
factors that influence their participation in the alternative marketing arrangements. A
multinomial logit regression was used to identify factors that influenced the choice of each
arrangement identified and key determinants included producer’s perception of market risk,
frequency of transactions, total land acreage, number of years of schooling of household head
and distance to nearest agricultural office. The individual farmer-exporter seemed most
exclusionary since the choice to participate was influences by higher levels of mean years of
schooling and larger landholdings. Risk and uncertainty were the most common determinants of
participation in the eight arrangements
Description:
Invited paper presented at the ber 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia
Copyright 2013 by [authors]. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of
this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright
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