Achieving food security has been an elusive goal for many economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among the strategies being pursued to achieve this goal is agribusiness development through strengthening smallholder farmers' entrepreneurial capacity and promotion of traditional crops production and utilisation. Cassava has been identified as a high value traditional crop that has enormous industrial value. In Kenya, it has been promoted by the government and other interested organisations. However, despite the efforts, cassava has not evolved from subsistence to a commercial crop that can be relied on in the fight against food insecurity. This paper examines the level of adoption of cassava commercialisation technologies by smallholder farmers in Kenya. It is based on a study conducted in Ngata Division of Nakuru District Kenya where 99 smallholder household heads who are members of cassava common interest groups were interviewed and stakeholder discussions held. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and stakeholder discussions analysed thematically. Though cassava was grown by 57% of the households, very few (6.1%) engaged in entrepreneurial activities involving cassava, selling only the raw tubers. Cassava tended to be grown by older farmers as compared to younger farmers. Smallholder farmers encountered challenges in cassava production, cassava utilisation and cassava commercialisation. For cassava to contribute towards food security, a market-oriented approach that focuses on empowering farmers for entrepreneurial action may need to be considered.
As we show in this chapter, much of the literature about children's experiences in Kenya focuses on children in rural areas, whose parents have little or no education. The literature on Brazil, on the other hand, has concentrated largely on children and adolescents living in urban areas, describing the lives of those who are living in poverty and/or existing on the streets. Although these portrayals are not inaccurate of the experiences of many children, they fail to take account of the wide diversity to be found in both countries. In this chapter, we redress the balance by discussing findings from the first author's study of everyday activities and interactions of 3-yearolds from middle-class and working-class families in a single city from each country. We also provide comparative data from cities in the United States,
Kenyan women are increasingly participating in the microenterprise sector to earn a living for themselves and their families. However, they are constantly faced with numerous challenges that force them to rely on a number of strategies to counteract the unfavorable business environment they find themselves in. This paper examines the strategies used by women in milk microenterprises to ensure the survival of their enterprises in Kenya. The study was carried out in Nairobi, Kiambu and Nakuru districts. 108 women entrepreneurs participated in the study. Interviews and observations were used to collect data among women who were selected using stratified, simple random, purposive and snowball sampling methods. Strategies used by women to sustain their enterprises included accessing credit facilities from relatives and friends; using low level technologies; operating their businesses illegally to avoid heavy licensing costs; and managing their enterprises close to home. While these strategies allowed the women to operate their enterprises at a certain level, they are unlikely to encourage the growth and sustainability of women owned microenterprises. This call for policy interventions that can create favorable environment that promote women's entrepreneurship and facilitate their effective participation in the microenterprises within the dairy industry in Kenya.
There is renewed interest in female entrepreneurship as policy makers recognize the importance of social inclusiveness in economic development. Women's involvement in entrepreneurship is applauded as a necessary precursor to economic growth of developing nations despite women under-representation among business owners. Many factors have been blamed for this under-representation among them, socialisation and lack of motivation in choosing entrepreneurship as a career option. In Kenya, women entrepreneurs have low levels of education; are in need of business knowledge and skills yet unable to pay for business development services; and are affected strongly by patriarchal structures especially the role of husbands. Yet, some few women own growing businesses that contribute towards wealth and employment creation. This study sought to determine how women learn to be entrepreneurial and to establish hindrances to female entrepreneurial learning process. A survey was conducted on 106 women micro-entrepreneurs in the Kenyan dairy processing industry. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings showed that majority (76.9%) of the micro-entrepreneurs went into business without any prior business skills. Only 5.5% of them had training in business-related fields before starting their businesses. Another 17.6% had learnt some business skills from previous employment. Social contacts and relations were important sources of business knowledge and skills for 68.7% of them. Rarely did the respondents engage in active search of business knowledge and skills. Probably an entrepreneurship development curriculum weaved through the entire school syllabus would help in entrenching an enterprising culture among women.
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