| dc.description.abstract | Access to market plays a vital role in poverty alleviation among smallholder farmers in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural markets provide income generating opportunities for
farmers in rural areas hence improving their livelihoods. Avocado fruit has a high demand
in both local and export markets due to its nutritional value and industrial use. However,
smallholder avocado farmers have not benefited from this increased demand. The purpose
of the study was to assess the effects of transaction costs on market participation among
smallholder avocado farmers in Murang’a County. Stratified random sampling was applied
to obtain a sample of 384 farmers. Murang’a County was selected because it is one of the
leading producers of avocados in Kenya. Findings showed that sales through farmer market
organizations had the highest gross margins while sales through local traders had the lowest
gross margin. Heckman first stage regression results showed that cost of information search
negatively affects the probability of export market participation. Further the results
indicated that factors such as years in avocado marketing, membership to farmer
organizations and trainings on avocado farming positively affected participation in export
market. The second stage OLS regression results revealed that harvesting costs negatively
affects the extent of market participation, while factors such as farm size and farm income
positively affect participation in export markets. Results of Multinomial regression
analysis showed that the probability of choosing brokers was significantly affected by farm
size, household head’s gender, education level of household head, time taken to collect
avocado, access to extension, farm income and intercropping avocado with coffee. On the
other hand off-farm income, dairy cattle kept by the farmer, intercropping avocado with
coffee, growing organic avocado, travelling costs to buyer locations, farmer organization
membership fees and subscriptions affected farmers’ decision on direct sales to market.
Trainings on avocado farming methods, time taken to collect avocados, delayed buying of
avocados and off-farm income were among the factors that significantly affected the
probability of choosing to market through local traders. Farm gate price reduced the
likelihood of choosing brokers and direct sales. This study therefore recommends that
strengthening farmer marketing organizations is vital in increasing the number of farmers
engaging in export marketing chain. Also there is a need for provision of market
information especially on avocado collection dates by the exporters. | en_US |
