Articles: Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension

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Browsing Articles: Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension by Author "Gichimu, Bernard M."

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    Decomposition of the Coffee Value Chain Among Smallholder Farmers in Embu and Kirinyaga Counties in Central Kenya
    (UoEm, 2024-10-24) Musau Wambua, Daniel; Ndirangu, Samuel N.; Mogaka, Hezron; Gichimu, Bernard M.
    The coffee value chain is lengthy and complex with numerous actors and this exposes the farmers to inherent financial risks. This study sought to decompose the coffee value chain and its dynamics. The study was undertaken in Embu and Kirinyaga counties in Central Kenya and the target population was smallholder coffee farmers. The study used multistage stratified sampling techniques to draw a sample of 385 respondents. Majority (97%) of the sampled farmers were processing and marketing their coffee through cooperative societies. Socioeconomic analysis of these farmers showed that majority were middle-aged, fairly educated and with adequate coffee farming experience but their cherry production was very low averaging 2.3 kgs per tree for 2022/2023 crop year. The cooperative societies were playing key roles in the coffee value chain including farmers’ training, input and credit provision, coffee processing and marketing. There were numerous coffee marketing challenges, including high middlemen involvement, which lowered the coffee prices and reduced the trade volumes. Value adding activities such as roasting, grinding, and packaging were rare and farmers’ involvement in the upstream value chain was minimal. The local demand for the produced coffee was very low with domestic consumption taking only 2% of the output. The multilevel mixed effect model results revealed that value adding and farmer involvement were found to have a significant positive influence on the traded volumes and coffee prices while middlemen involvement had a negative influence. There is need for enhanced value adding and farmers involvement in the upstream value chain as well as strengthening the cooperative societies’ role in coffee marketing for more accountability and increased incomes.
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    Influence of Access to Land and Finances on Kenyan Youth Participation in Agriculture: A Review
    (European Centre for Research Training and Development UK, 2014-09) Njeru, Lucy K.; Gichimu, Bernard M.
    The Kenya Government prioritized the development of the agricultural sector to achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of sustainable food production. Kenya’s strategic plan, Vision 2030 positions agriculture as a key driver for delivering a 10% annual economic growth and is expected to have an average growth rate of 7% by 2015. Agriculture contributes over 80% of all employment opportunities in the country, but Kenyan youths are not taking advantage of these opportunities since 64% of them are unemployed. To advance the 7% average growth rate, it is pertinent that the Kenyan youth be fully involved in agricultural development. However, agriculture is perceived unattractive to the youth and its potential has not been fully realized. The purpose of this review is to find out the influence of land and finances on youth participation in agriculture and to identify the interventions that can make agriculture attractive to the youth in Kenya. This information will be useful to the government, the farming community, agriculturalists, policy makers and non-governmental organisations in laying strategies that will make agriculture attractive to the youth. This will subsequently enhance youth participation in agriculture resulting in increased food production, employment creation and income generation for the youth. Engaging the youth in agricultural activities will contribute in reducing crime and other social problems attributed to the youth.
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    Influence of access to land and finances on Kenyan youth participation in agriculture: a review
    (European Centre for Research Training and Development UK, 2014-09) Gichimu, Bernard M.; Njeru, Lucy K.
    The Kenya Government prioritized the development of the agricultural sector to achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of sustainable food production. Kenya’s strategic plan, Vision 2030 positions agriculture as a key driver for delivering a 10% annual economic growth and is expected to have an average growth rate of 7% by 2015. Agriculture contributes over 80% of all employment opportunities in the country, but Kenyan youths are not taking advantage of these opportunities since 64% of them are unemployed. To advance the 7% average growth rate, it is pertinent that the Kenyan youth be fully involved in agricultural development. However, agriculture is perceived unattractive to the youth and its potential has not been fully realized. The purpose of this review is to find out the influence of land and finances on youth participation in agriculture and to identify the interventions that can make agriculture attractive to the youth in Kenya. This information will be useful to the government, the farming community, agriculturalists, policy makers and non-governmental organisations in laying strategies that will make agriculture attractive to the youth. This will subsequently enhance youth participation in agriculture resulting in increased food production, employment creation and income generation for the youth. Engaging the youth in agricultural activities will contribute in reducing crime and other social problems attributed to the youth.
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    Influence of Kenyan Youth’s Perception towards Agriculture and Necessary Interventions; a Review
    (Science Domain, 2015) Njeru, Lucy K.; Gichimu, Bernard M.
    Approximately 64% of unemployed persons in Kenya are youth, most of which live in rural areas and lacks formal education and vocational or professional skills. In spite of this, youth participation in agriculture has been relatively low in the country. This may be partly attributed to, among other factors, thepoor perception of the youth on agriculture. Agriculture which is basically a ruraloriented sector remains the backbone of the Kenya’s economy contributing over 30% of GDP. The sector provides over 80% of employment opportunities in the country but remains unattractive to the youth. This implies that most of the Kenyan youth are not fully engaged in productive economic activities which put their dependency index quite high. If the perception of youth towards agriculture is not changed, they will remain a big burden to the society and to their families in particular. There are various activities along the agriculture value chain which the youths can engage in to ensure their self-reliance and create employment thus reducing youth-related social problems and improving national economic growth and self-sufficiency. The paper seeks to analyze and discuss the influence of Kenyan youth’s perception towards agriculture and required interventions. This information will be useful in developing policies that will make agriculture attractive to the youth.
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    Smallholder Coffee Productivity as Affected by Socioeconomic Factors and Technology Adoption
    (Hindawi, 2021-02) Wambua, Daniel M.; Gichimu, Bernard M.; Ndirangu, Samuel N.
    Despite the increase in area under coffee in Kenya in the last decade, productivity has been on the decline. Numerous production technologies have been developed through on-station research but there has been limited on-farm research to assess the impact of these technologies at the farm level. On the other hand, smallholder farmers are endowed differently and this would positively or negatively affect the adoption of recommended technologies and hence coffee productivity. -is study was carried out to evaluate the effects of socioeconomic factors and technology adoption on smallholder coffee productivity at the farm level. -e study employed stratified random sampling where 376 farmers were randomly sampled from six cooperative societies which had been preselected using probability proportional to the size sampling technique. -e effects of socioeconomic factors and technology adoption on coffee productivity were analyzed using the stochastic Cobb-Douglas production function. -e study revealed that off-farm income, access to credit, type of land tenure, and land size had significant positive effects on coffee productivity. -erefore, coffee farmers should be encouraged to diversify their income sources and to embrace credit financing, as the government reviews land use policies to avail adequate agricultural land. -e study further revealed that the adoption of recommended application rates of manure, fungicides, and pesticides had significant positive effects on coffee productivity. -e adoption of these technologies should therefore be enhanced among small-scale farmers to improve coffee productivity at the farm level.