Assessing Smallholder Farmer's Participation in the Wheat Value Chain in North-West Mt. Kenya

Abstract

Wheat is the second most important carbohydrate staple in Kenya and is produced by both smallholder and large-scale farmers. Smallholders are the majority, but produce <20% of the total national production. Compared to large-scale farmers, they have been considered to be less efficient producers and thus fail to benefit fully from their participation in the wheat value chain. This study aims at establishing the value accruing to smallholder and large-scale farmers participating in wheat production in north-west Mt. Kenya. For comparative purposes and to explore the potential of smallholder farmers, a sample of 58 smallholder and seven large-scale farmers was selected for the study. We use budget analysis to determine the gross output, cost of production and gross margins attained by the smallholder and large-scale farmers. Further, an analysis of constraints to productivity is done to establish the factors hindering farmers from reaching high yield potential. Results of the study show that smallholder farmers obtain lower yields, have higher costs of production per bag of wheat and lower gross margins compared to large-scale farmers. High cost of inputs, low market prices, low bargaining power, high cost of machinery services, diseases and weeds were among factors excluding smallholder farmers from benefitting from their participation in the value chain. However, results also show that smallholder farmers can produce wheat profitably albeit with necessary support. Thus, interventions should consider these constraints and aim at improving smallholder farmers' horizontal and vertical integration in the value chain. We recommend continued investment in research and development on wheat, adoption of climate resilient agricultural practices, improvements in the fertilizer subsidy programme and creating or increasing participation in producer groups that will provide possibilities of increased bargaining power and reduction of costs through improved access to machinery services, markets and credit.

Economic Survey of Household Expenditure Pattern during COVID-19 Pandemic in Ogun State, Nigeria

“…The fi ndings of the research indicated that 57.50% of the participants identifi ed as male, with an estimated mean age of 45 years. Consistent with the fi ndings of [4,10] the average age of the participants was also reported to be 45 years. Concerning the respondents' marital status, 11.67%were divorced, 24.17%…”

“…It depicts a household's ability to withstand price rises while yet being productive by investing in health care, education, tools, and other productive assets for its members. Households that spend more than 65% of their total expenditure on food are vulnerable in this regard because such a high percentage implies that the household is forced to choose between meeting their food and non-food needs or reducing consumption of one or both to below their needs [4].…”

“…Households have different levels of spending capability, which determines their spending habits. According to Engel's rule of expenditure, the share of spending on food is inversely linked to total income [4]. The level of household income is often a major determinant of expenditure patterns of households, and hence differences between patterns of expenditure are largely a refl ection of differences in income between household groups or individual households [5,6].…”

Creating Food Value Chain Transformations through Regional Food Hubs: A Review Article

“…The second popular method used by authors was a statistical analysis to evaluate strategies for improving FVCs, RFHs, and alternative food distribution networks. Statistical analysis was used to understand gender perspectives on FVCs, economic and social sustainability, farmer regeneration, and consumer perspectives on local food [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]. The tools commonly used for statistical analysis were SPSS and the software ANOVA.…”

“…Hence, a few scholars discussed FVCs in the context of global issues, such as business strategy, knowledge, and capacity building [51,90]. The review showed that FVCs were seen more as a strategy that can be adopted to develop region's potential rather than to develop a food network at the global level [64,75,91]. Research topics often discussed by researchers related to FVC were mostly related to the development of upstream food actors.…”