Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98229 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 185
Publisher: 
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper describes the participation of smallholders in commercial horticultural farming in Kenya and identifies constraints and critical factors that influence their decision to participate in this industry by selling their produce. The study employs panel survey data on smallholder producers of both international (export) and domestic market vegetables and controls for unobserved heterogeneity across farmers. We find that participation of smallholders in both the domestic and export vegetable markets declined and that this trend is associated with weather risks, high costs of inputs and unskilled labour, and erratic vegetable prices, especially in the international market. Different factors are at play in determining a household´s market choice for the commercialisation of vegetables: credit is important only when vegetables are (also) exported, livestock ownership is negatively related to production for the domestic market, and distance to the nearest market town positively related to all pathways of commercialisation, for example.
Subjects: 
horticulture
commercialisation
smallholders
Kenya
JEL: 
O10
Q12
Q13
Q17
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
773.99 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.