Analysis of the Determinants of Sweet Potato Value Addition by Smallholder Farmers in Kenya

Transcription

1 Analyss of the Determnants of Sweet Potato Value Addton by Smallholder Farmers n Kenya Mary Ornda 1* Job Lagat 2 Patence Mshenga 2 1.School of Agrcultural and Food Scences, Jaramog Ognga Odnga Unversty of Scence and Technology, P.O. Box , Bondo, Kenya 2.Faculty of Agrculture, Egerton Unversty, P.O. Box , Egerton, Kenya Abstract Sweet potato value addton s ncreasngly beng popularzed among producers due to ts potental to reduce wastage, ncrease market access and fetch optmal prces. Despte these documented benefts, smallholder sweet potato producers n Kenya have not mplemented value addton wdely. Ths study analyzed the factors nfluencng value addton and extent of value addton by smallholder sweet potato farmers of Rachuonyo South sub-county n western Kenya. Usng a sample of 200 smallholder farmers, Heckman s Probt model wth sample selecton was employed to frstly dentfy the factors affectng a farmer s decson to adopt value addton, and secondly evaluate the factors that affect the extent of a farmer s partcpaton n sweet potato value addton. Study fndngs show that the probablty of adopton was sgnfcantly nfluenced by household sze, total quantty produced, credt access, land sze and tranng. Further results show that the dstance to the market, group membershp, credt access and total quantty produced were found to greatly nfluence the extent of value addton by sweet potato farmers. In order to leverage smallholder farmers adopton of sweet potato value addton, t s mportant that county and natonal government polces should focus on encouragng farmers group formaton, provson of cheap value addton loan packages, semnars, farmer feld days and workshops to enable exchange of deas among dfferent farmers and further encourage farmers to produce more to beneft from economes of scale. In addton, proper marketng strateges such as lnkng farmers wth supermarkets, adequate product development, proper packagng and labelng are challenges that requre urgent attenton. Keywords: Postharvest technologes, food securty, Heckman two-stage selecton model, sweet potato value chan, communty based rural enterprse 1. Introducton Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) s a maor staple food and a source of ncome n several regons of Kenya and elsewhere (Keller, 2012; Were et al., 2013). In Kenya, t s an mportant food crop for those who depend on cereals especally maze as ther staple det wth an average per capta consumpton of 24 kg per year, wth hgher proportons beng consumed n the western parts of Kenya (Were et al., 2013). The agronomc trats of sweet potato to gve satsfactory yelds under adverse clmatc and sol condton as well as under low or non-use of external nputs has also made sweet potato producton gan popularty among many farmers n Kenya (Nungo et al., 2007). In addton, the flexblty of the crop n mxed farmng systems and the ablty to take short perods to mature, thus offerng household food securty, has made t an mportant lvelhood strategy for small-scale farmers. Although grown by small-scale farmers for subsstence, mportance of sweet potato producton as an attractve ncome generator has been rsng (Fugle, 2007). Ths has been nfluenced by factors, such as new market outlets n urban centers, hgh cost of nputs for maze producton, hgh cost of lvng whch has forced people to consume cheaper foods (IDCCS, 2009; Were et al., 2013). Ths s evdenced by the steady ncrease n the area planted. For example, n Kabondo and Kaspul dvsons of Rachuonyo south dstrct, farmers devoted approxmately 75% of ther land holdngs to sweet potato producton, where both whte- and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are grown by most households on smallholder farms (CEFA, 2010; DAO, 2008). Ths ndcates the mportant role sweet potato producton plays n reducng poverty and mprovng rural ncomes n these areas. Unfortunately, rapd post-harvest spolage due to pershablty, poorly developed market chans coupled wth nherent bulkness of the crop leadng to costly transport over long dstances, contrbute to lower net returns for smallholder sweet potato farmers. For sweet potato, postharvest losses of up to 20-30% have been reported (AGRA, 2013), wth hgher losses durng perods of abundance. Consequently, ntatves that offer the opportunty to ncrease demand for the crop and create value added products, thereby expandng the ncomes of smallholder producers, are crtcal for sustanablty of producton n these areas. 1.1 Sweet potato value addton Sweet potato value addton entals delberate actvty to change the form of the raw sweet potato nto a more refned or usable form, thus ncreasng ts value. For household and market purposes, sweet potato can be processed and utlzed n varous ways nto beverages, soups, baby foods, ce cream, baked products, restructured fres, breakfast cereals, and varous snack and dessert tems (Ray and Tomlns, 2010; Nungo, 2004; 1

2 Fawza et al., 2000; Nxumalo, 1998). Intally, utlzaton of sweet potato n western Kenya was lmted to bolng, roastng and chewng raw. However, ths has been changng to value addton by processng the tubers nto dfferent products (Nungo et al., 2007; Fawza et al., 2000). Contemporary studes and research pont to the need of value addton of agrcultural produce as t s perceved that farmers could maxmze on ther produce and also potentally ncrease ther revenue n the process. Value addton n sweet potato has the potental to enhance the producton of the crop and further play an mportant role n the food/nutrtonal securty and ncome generaton among the rural households and even urban markets (Nungo et al., 2007; Westby et al., 2003). In addton, processng of sweet potato nto non-pershable products also addresses the farmer s storage problems whle ensurng food avalablty n tme of scarcty (Westby et al., 2003). Therefore, ths s a key strategy to commercalze farmng for small holder farmers n Afrca. Accordng to a study by Lemaga (2005), the ntroducton of sweet potato based enterprses to poor and margnalzed smallholder farmers ncreases ther ncome as a result of sweet potato products sales and ther knowledge on post-harvest technologes leadng to mproved food securty. Indeed, research carred out by the Internatonal Potato Centre (CIP) on sweet potato productvty n developng countres found that value addton s an mportant post-harvest need (Fugle, 2007). In Rachuonyo South sub-county, commercal processng of sweet potato nto other more (nontradtonal) commercal products have been promoted through farmer groups (FG), farmer feld schools (FFS), non-governmental organzatons (NGO) and communty-based organzatons (CBO) (IDCCS, 2009; Nungo et al., 2007). The promoton of on-farm processng of sweet potato n the dstrct has been gong on snce In 2002, nearly 60% of the farmers n western Kenya were reported to be aware of utlzaton and processng technologes that am at addng value and expandng sweet potato market potental (Odendo and Ndolo, 2002). Despte these documented ntatves and potental benefts of value addton, the maorty of smallholder sweet potato farmers n Rachuonyo South sub-county have not embraced value addton wdely. The factors that keep the sweet potato farmers from engagng n value addton are not clear and hence there s a need to nvestgate whch factors determne ther partcpaton n the dfferent value addton actvtes and the extent of value addton beng undertaken. The result wll be of nterest to several development stakeholders, ncludng relevant Government agences (research, extenson, polcy and plannng) and Non-Governmental Organzatons (NGOs) to allow more nformed decsons on how to promote value addton adopton and how to desgn approprate polces to develop the sweet potato sub sector by the government. 1.2 Theoretcal framework Ths study assumes that there s a potental for sweet potato value addton and that households who engage n value addton actvty wll ncrease ther purchasng power due to ncrease n ncome and thus mpactng postvely on ther lvelhoods. The decson to engage n value addton s predcted by ts perceved utlty whch s expected to be hgher than wthout value addton. A proft maxmzaton framework was used to examne the decson to add value or not. It s assumed that smallholder sweet potato producers wll only add value f the expected net beneft from ths opton s sgnfcantly greater than t s the case wthout t. Suppose that U and U represent a household s utlty for two choces, then the model s specfed as: U = β nχn + ε and U = β nχn + ε where U and U are perceved utltes of value addton and non-value addton choces and, respectvely, Χ n s the vector of explanatory varables that nfluence the perceved attractveness of each choce, β n are parameters to be estmated, ε and ε are error terms assumed to be ndependently dstrbuted (Greene, 2002). In the case of sweet potato value addton, f a household decdes to use opton, then the expected utlty from opton s greater than the utlty from opton, whch s defned as: U β Χ + ε ) > ( U ( β Χ + ε )) n( n n n The probablty that a farmer adds value and chooses opton nstead of, s then defned as: P Y = 1Χ) = P( U n > U ) ( n P( β' Χ + ε β' Χ + ε > 0Χ) n P( β ' Χ β' Χ + ε ε > 0Χ) n P( Χ Χn + ε > 0Χ = F( β Χn)) n n (1) (2) (3) 2

3 where P s a probablty functon, U n, U n represent a household s utlty for two choces and Χ n s * the vector of explanatory varables that nfluence the perceved attractveness of each choce, ε * ' ' = ε ε s a random dsturbance term, β = ( β β ) s the net nfluence of the vector of ndependent varables * nfluencng adopton of value addton, and F( β Χ n ) s a cumulatve dstrbuton functon of ε* evaluated at β * Χ n. The exact dstrbuton of F depends on the dstrbuton of the random dsturbance term, ε*. Dependng on the assumed dstrbuton whch underles the random dsturbance term, several qualtatve choce models can be estmated (Greene, 2002). 2. Materals and Methods 2.1 Descrpton of the study area The study was conducted n Rachuonyo South sub-county, whch s located n Homabay County n western Kenya (Fg. 1). The regon was selected because t s the leadng sweet potato producton area n Kenya. Rachuonyo South sub-county falls between longtude S 35 o E and lattude 0 o 15 S 45 S, coverng an area of km 2 wth 196,210 nhabtants and small farm holdngs as per the 2009 populaton census of Kenya (GoK, 2009). The alttude ranges from m above sea level along the Lake Vctora shores to the upper areas borderng Ks and Nyamra Dstrcts. The dstrct has an nland equatoral clmate whch s modfed by the effect of alttude and proxmty to the Lake Vctora wth temperatures rangng from 17 C to 25 C. Ranfall s dstrbuted b-modal around the year and ranges from mm per annum. The crops grown nclude maze, sorghum, cotton, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower and beans. 2.2 Study desgn and data The study uses both prmary and secondary sources of data. Prmary data was collected usng questonnares whch were admnstered to the sampled households. Durng samplng process, a two-stage samplng procedure was used to select sample farmers that were ncluded n the study. In the frst stage, out of the total 18 locatons of the Rachuonyo South sub-county four locatons were selected purposvely based on ther sweet potato producton. In the second stage, from the selected locatons, systematc random samplng technque was adopted to randomly select respondents based on probablty proportonal to sze of households of each locaton. As a result, two hundred farmers were chosen for the study. Prmary data were collected from the selected farmers through a well-structured questonnare whch was randomly admnstered to farmers. Secondary data was collected from the Dstrct Agrcultural Reports, NGO s such as CEFA, IDCCS and C-MAD and Government databases. Data collected ncluded marketng outlets, varous value addton actvtes and varous sweet potato value added products. Descrptve statstcs nvolvng mean, percentage and standard devatons were used to assess the household characterstcs and nsttutonal factors affectng farmers response to adopton of value addton technologes. Both Pearson Ch square analyss and t-test were used to compare the qualtatve determnants affectng the decson of both non-value adders and value adders. These analyses were performed usng SPSS verson 17.5 (IBM, NY, USA). 2.3 Emprcal approach and model specfcaton In ths study both descrptve statstcs and econometrc models were utlzed to assess the relatonshp between explanatory and dependent varables. For the econometrcs model, the Heckman two stage selecton model was used to assess the factors nfluencng sweet potato value addton. It ncluded varous varables such as household characterstcs, nsttutonal characterstcs and marketng characterstcs. It s hypotheszed that the farmers behavor s drven by the need to derve or maxmze the utlty assocated wth the practce. Dependng on the farmers percepton on the utlty choce s made, ether to add value or not. Ths farmers behavor that leads to a partcular choce s modeled n a logcal sequence, startng wth the decson to add value, and then followed by a decson on the extent of the value addton. Snce the farmers utlty maxmzaton behavor cannot be observed, the choce made by the farmer s assumed to represent the farmers utlty maxmzaton behavor. Based on the nature of these decsons, t s ustfed to use the Heckman two-stage selecton model, n whch estmatons nvolves two stages. In the frst stage, the decson to add or not to add value was assessed usng a probt model. The choce of ths model s based on the fact that the decson to add value s dscrete; t s ether one adds value or not. Furthermore, the study assumes that the error term s normally dstrbuted hence the choce of the probt model. The reasonng behnd the two stage approach s that the decson on the extent of sweet potato value addton (the number of 90 klogram bags used for value addton) s usually preceded by a decson to engage n the process of value addton. The probt model 3

4 used n the frst stage s as specfed n Equaton 4 below: 1 (4) where Y s an ndcator varable equal to unty of households that add value, φ s the standard normal dstrbuton functon, s are the parameters to be estmated and s are the determnants of the choce. When the utlty that household derves from value addton s greater than 0, takes a value equal to 1 and 0 otherwse. It follows therefore, that: (5) where s the latent level of utlty the household gets from value addton and 0,1. Gven ths assumpton, t follows that: 1 f %0 and 0 f )0 (6) Emprcally, the model can be represented as follows: * (7) where Y s the probablty of a household addng value gven farm, farmer and market and nsttutonal characterstcs and the error term*. In the second step the Inverse Mlls Rato (IMR) s added as a regressor n the extent of value addton equaton to correct for potental selecton bas. It was expected that the extent of value addton s self-selected n the sense that only some farmers choose to add value, hence the decson of the extent of value addton s preceded by the decson to add value. Consequently, ths rases an emprcal problem of self-selecton. To reconcle ths problem, the decson to add value s treated endogenously n ths study to control for the potental sample selecton problem. Therefore, frst the determnants of the decson to add value are estmated, then the IMR from the selected equaton s used as an ndependent varable n the target equaton, that s used to assess the determnants of the extent of value addton. EZ Y 1 -x yλ1μ (8) where E s the expectaton operator, Z s the (contnuous) extent of value addton measured by the proporton of value added sweet potato output, x s a vector of ndependent varables nfluencng the extent of value addton and s a vector of the correspondng coeffcents to be estmated, λ1 s the estmated IMR. So Z can be expressed as follows: 3 yλ1μ (9) where 3 s only observed f the farmer s undertakng value addton (Y=1), hence Z 3. Emprcally, ths can be represented as: 3 yλ1μ (10) where 3 s the extent of value addton gven the farm and farmer characterstcs, the Inverse Mlls Rato λ1 estmated n step one of the Heckman model and the error term μ. Equaton (7) and (10) were then ontly estmated usng the Heckman two stage procedure n STATA 9 (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA). The explanatory varables used n the two stage Heckman selecton ncluded age of respondent, gender household head, access to extenson servces, household sze, accessblty to credt, tranng, educaton level, quantty of potato harvested, off-farm employment, dstance to the nearest local market and farmer group membershp (Table 1). The a pror expectaton of the survey was that age, gender of the household head, dstance to the market and household sze would nfluence value addton ether postvely or negatvely, whle total quantty produced, educaton level, credt access, group membershp, tranng and land sze were hypotheszed to postvely nfluence uptake of value addton technologes. 4

5 Table 1: Descrpton and measurement of explanatory varables used n the model Varables Descrpton Unt of measurement Dependent Varable Value addton Whether respondent adds value or not 1= addng value, 0 = not addng value Explanatory varables Age Age of the respondent Years Household head Head of the famly Dummy(1=yes,0=No) Household sze Number of people lvng n the Number respondents compound Extenson servces Access to extenson servces Number of tmes vsted by extenson offcer Credt If the respondent was able to acqure any Dummy (1=access, 0=otherwse) loan Tranng If have ever attended farmer tranng Dummy(1=yes,0=No) Educaton Level of respondent s educaton Years Gender Gender of household head Dummy (1=male,0 = female) Output Quantty of potato harvested Klograms. Off-farm employment Hours spent on daly off-farm actvty Hours Dstance Dstance to the nearest local market Klometres Group If member of a group Dummy(1=yes,0=No) 3. Results Sampled households were heterogeneous n varous attrbutes. The average mean age of the respondents was years wth an average household sze of 7 people. Table 2 shows the summary statstcs of the socoeconomc characterstcs of smallholder sweet potato farmers n the sub-county. Table 2: Soco-economc and nsttutonal support characterstcs of the study populaton In the study area, the land sze per household ranges from 0.13 to 13 acres wth the average land holdng of about 3.12 acres. In the study households, nvolvement n off-farm actvty accounted for 67.5% aganst 32.5% who never engaged n the actvty. The maorty of the respondents were members of farmer 5

6 groups (60.5%) whch enabled easer access to tranng and techncal advce from varous sources. However, credt access was low among the study populaton. 3.1 Descrpton of sweet potato farmers characterstcs by adopton status of value addton Table 1 gves the report of descrptve statstcs dsaggregated by farmers adopton status and soco-economc, nsttutonal and market characterstcs for 200 surveyed sweet potato farmers. In ths study, adopters were defned as farmng households that planted sweet potato and were engaged n at least one of the value addton actvtes. Table 3: Descrptve statstcs of adopters and non-adopters of sweet potato value addton n the study area Characterstc Value adders Non-value adders T-test / (N = 126) (N = 74) 2 value Age (years) Household sze (numbers) ** Land sze (acres) Dstance from home to market (Km) * Total quantty produced (90Kgs/bag) * Gender Female (%) Male (%) ** Martal status Marred (%) Educaton status Above Prmary (%) ** Involvement n off-farm actvty (%) Group Membershp (%) * Credt Access (%) * Tranng (%) * *** sgnfcant at 0.1, ** sgnfcant at 0.05 and * sgnfcant at 0.01, T-test values The household survey results show that 63% (126 out of 200) of the sampled sweet potato farmers partcpated n dfferent forms of value addton. Gender also played a sgnfcant role n decson makng, wth women more lkely to partcpate n value addton than men. Of the sample value addton adoptng households, 73.5% of sweet potato farmng was done by females compared wth 26.5% n non-adoptng households. T-test results also showed that dstance to market and the producton level had sgnfcant nfluence on adopton. Results for the average household szes showed that the mean household sze for value addton adopters was 7.69 compared wth 8.61 for the non-adopters. Although these values are hgher than the natonal average famly sze, the dfferences were sgnfcant at p < 0.1. The value adopters (61.1%) had a hgher level of educaton, the maorty had group membershp (84%), credt access (77%) and were exposed to hgher number of tranngs than non-adopters n the study populaton. The dfferences n level of educaton, membershp to farmer groups, access to credt and number of tranngs between the two groups were statstcally sgnfcant at 0.01 sgnfcance level. Fgure 1: Sweet potato value addton technques practced n the study area 6

7 Fgure 1 shows the varous sweet potato value addton technques practced n the study area. The fndngs revealed that the maorty of sweet potato farmers were practcng gradng and packagng (30.57%), and slcng and sun-dryng (22.84%). Other forms of value addton practced ncluded flour processng (18.53%), addtves and uce (14.93%), bakng (7.91%) and other technques (5.22%). Gradng, packagng, slcng, sun dryng, and grndng nto were the most popular due to low nput and techncal support requrements. Bakng, preparaton of addtves and uces and am are consdered more advanced technques of value addton whch requre more nputs thereby lmtng ther wder adopton by the farmers. 3.2 Factors affectng the adopton of sweet potato value addton From the descrptve statstcs, t s clear that there are mportant dfferences n the varous characterstcs between the adopters and non-adopters of sweet potato value addton. The causal analyss of the determnants of value addton was performed to delneate the contrbuton of the dfferent explanatory varables. Ths study adopted the Heckman two-stage model to assess the soco-economc/demographc characterstcs that nfluence the farmers adopton and extent of adopton of sweet potato value addton technology. Table 4 presents the estmated parameters and the statstcally sgnfcant varables explanng the decson to adopt value addton technologes. Dagnostc statstcs showed that the model had a good ft as the lkelhood functon of the Heckman probt model was sgnfcant (Wald χ 2 =392.98, wth p <0 0001), showng ts strong explanatory power. The results showed that producton level, access to credt, household sze, land sze and tranng were statstcally sgnfcant ndcatng ther mportance n determnng farmers decson to partcpate n value addton practces. Table 4: Factors nfluencng sweet potato value addton usng Heckman Two-stage model Varable Coeffcent Std Error Z P-value Age (Years) Gender (Male/Female) Educaton level(years) Total quantty produced (90 kg/bag) Dstance(Km) Credt access (Amount) Household sze (Number) Group membershp(yes/no) Tranng (Number of tmes) Land sze (acres) N Censored observatons Wald χ 2 Probablty of χ 2 log lkelhood Y ftted values (predct) *** sgnfcant at 0.1, ** sgnfcant at 0.05 and * sgnfcant at 0.01 In the second stage, the extent of value addton adopton was examned. To correct the sample selecton bas, Inverse Mlls Rato was used. Table 5 shows that group membershp (P=0.000), credt access (P=0.059) total quantty produced (P=0,069) and dstance to the market place (P=0.096) sgnfcantly nfluenced the extent of value addton by the farmers. 7

8 Table 5: Determnants of the extent of sweet potato value addton Varable Coeffcents Std Error Z P- value Age (Years) Gender (Male/Female) Educaton level (Years) Total quantty produced (bags of 90kgs) Dstance(Km) Credt access (Amount) Household sze (Number) Group membershp (Yes/No) Land sze (acres) Advce (Number of tmes vsted by extenson offcer) Mlls Lambda Rho Sgma *** sgnfcant at 0.1, ** sgnfcant at 0.05 and * sgnfcant at Dscusson Most lterature on agrculture technology adopton consder that the decson to adopt technologes ncludng value addton s affected by the characterstcs of the farm household, market and nsttutonal characterstcs (Ng ombe et al., 2014; Kaguongo et al., 2010; Tura et al., 2010; Ememwa et al., 2008; Amsalu and de Jan, 2007; Croppenstedt et al. 2003; Makhura et al., 2001). Ths artcle was set out to dentfy the determnants of adopton of sweet potato value addton through emprcal evdence and further evaluate the factors that affect the ntensty of value addton by smallholder farmers n Rachuonyo South sub-county of Kenya. The econometrc analyss showed that nsttutonal characterstcs such as credt access, number of tranngs (extenson servces), membershp to assocatons and producton level (total quantty produced) nfluenced value addton postvely, that conformed to the a pror expectatons. Ths was n agreement wth study by Tura et al. (2010) that showed that tranng, compettveness of credt and labor markets, access to extenson as some of the mportant determnants of adopton and contnued use of new technologes. In ther study on the transfer of postharvest technologes for cassava and sweet potato n western Kenya, Ememwa et al. (2008) also reported these aforementoned factors as the maor hurdles of producton. In terms of producton, total quantty produced nfluenced value addton postvely ndcatng that the more a farmer produces the more they wll have surplus for value addton. Rono et al. (2006) found that farmers who had surplus sweet potato harvests were lkely to add value for consumpton than those who dd not. Kelley (1997) found that the earlest adopters of new technology were large farms due to the advantages of large szes or economes of scale. An ncreased producton stmulates partcpaton n the market as t allows for an ncreased producton extendng beyond the consumpton requrements of the household (Makhura et al., 2001). Access and uptake of credt by the sweet potato farmng households was very low wth only 35% respondents havng access to credt contrbutng to low adopton of value addton observed. Ths was expected as poor farmng households rarely have suffcent resources to buy value addton equpment and other assocated components, magnfyng the mportance of credt. Avalablty of credt also helps farmers to fnance the acquston of value addton equpment that could enhance adopton and contnued use of the value addton technology. However, access to credt by tself s not enough and should be provded n such ways that clents wll be able to repay n tme wthout stayng ndebted for long, thus endng up abandonng the lvelhood mprovng technology. Tranng through extenson servces has been wdely reported to postvely nfluence adopton and contnued use of agrcultural technologes (Knowler and Bradshaw, 2007; Badu-Forson, 1999). In the study, t was observed that tranngs played an mportant role on farmer s decson to adopt value addton. Through tranng, farmers acqure sklls and technques they need to engage n value addton. Farmers who attended workshops and semnars on varous topcs touchng on sweet potato were more exposed n terms of nformaton, sklls and knowledge concernng mportance of sweet potato and how to mprove prces they get from the produce. Badu-Forson (1999) opned that extenson servces play a central role of provdng support for nsttutonal mechansms desgned to support the dssemnaton and dffuson of knowledge among farmers and demonstraton of gans from new technologes. Household sze had a negatve (p<0.1) nfluence on value addton, where a unt ncrease n the sze of household reduced the probablty of a household engagng n value addton by 1%. Smlarly, land sze had a negatve nfluence on value addton. In the study area, the average household sze and land sze were

9 persons and 3.12 acres, respectvely. It was expected that large famly would have postve nfluence on the adopton of value addton by farmers. The works of Amsalu and Jan de (2007) and Croppenstedt et al. (2003) stated that household sze has sgnfcant and postve effect on adopton and contnued use of a new technology n Ethopa, whereby, a large household accords the farmer fewer labor shortages at peak tmes and hence more lkely to adopt agrcultural technology and use t ntensvely. An ncreased area of land under cultvaton generally stmulates partcpaton n the market as t allows for an ncreased producton extendng beyond the consumpton requrements besde decreasng fxed transacton cost. The contradctng observaton made n ths study mpled that n larger households the need to meet the consumpton requrements s hgh and therefore tends to dscourage value addton and sellng of farm produce. Results also showed that ncrease n land sze reduced respondent s partcpaton n value addton. In the study area, farmers wth large tracks of land devoted large chunks to other competng enterprses such as maze whch s consdered a staple food n the area. In addton, households that had off-farm ncome were found to be less lkely to adopt value addton. Ths mght be because off-farm actvtes would dvert the tme from beng allocated to agrcultural nvestments and result nto the farm household to less lkely adopt value addton technologes. Ths could be attrbuted to the percepton of sweet potato as a crop of low commercal value n the area. Ths could also explan the low partcpaton of male n sweet potato farmng observed. It s antcpated that a greater male partcpaton would have renforced the efforts of women n pursung value addton actvtes. Several factors lke farm household, market access and nsttutonal characterstcs were also found to sgnfcantly affect the extent of adopton of value addton by smallholder farm households n Kenya. Total quantty produced and market accessblty (dstance to market) had a postve nfluence on the extent of value addton. Whle ncreased producton ensures avalablty of surplus for value addton, farmers who are far away from the market outlets are compelled to add value so as ncrease shelf lfe and also get better prces than ther counterparts who are nearer to market outlets. Ths could also be attrbuted to the fact that sweet potato beng bulky and hghly pershable products, value addton help reduces transport costs and ncrease shelf lfe to access markets further away from the ste of producton. Ths mples that the utlzatons technologes should be targeted at a wde range of households partcularly those wth surplus producton that may go nto waste. Group membershp postvely contrbuted to the extent of value addton, whereby most farmers who are members n dfferent farmer groups partcpated more n value addton. Ths could be explaned by the fact that farmers n groups get to exchange deas and nfluence each other leadng to adopton of value addton technques. Furthermore, group membershp ensures collectve producton, marketng, tranng, ensurng poolng of resources together and reducton of nformaton asymmetry thus reducng transacton costs and ensurng economes of scale. Ndegwa et al. (2000) found that groups can be very effectve especally when t comes to poolng external nputs and dssemnatng nformaton. Group membershp enables farmers to access loans whch wll enable them to purchase value addton equpment. Moreover, most NGO s that advocated for sweet potato value addton n the study ste worked through farmers groups. Farmers n groups have a strong barganng power when marketng ther products and n turn receve better returns for ther produce. Ths s n addton to penetratng wder markets and beng offered contracts by maor buyers. Ths case has been supported by Shferaw et al., (2006), who argue that collectve marketng, allows small-scale farmers to spread the costs of marketng and transportaton and mprove ther ablty to negotate for better prces, and ncrease ther market power. As s the case n many rural areas, farmers actng ndvdually face hgh transacton costs because they deal n small quanttes. Mgnouna et al., (2011) found membershp to be sgnfcantly assocated wth a hgher probablty of adoptng Imazapyr resstant maze n western Kenya. He further argues that the most mportant ssue n adoptng a new technology s group unty. Such unty s attrbuted to a sprt of teamwork and cooperaton where there s communcaton. Membershp to a group may enable farmers to learn about a technology va other farmers and from other development agences Informaton flow between members of farmer groups s usually very rapd and mportant. Smlarly, credt access nfluenced extent of value addton postvely. Access to credt enables farmers to acqure value addton equpment. The result of the study s n agreement wth Teklewold et al. (2006) who reported that farmers wth better access to credt are sgnfcantly more lkely to be adopters of the technology and that credt schemes tend to focus on the dstrbuton of very few nputs but restrcted to only few groups of farmers. 5. Concluson and Polcy Implcatons Sweet potato farmng s an mportant agrcultural practce n Kenya, partcularly n the western regon. However, the economc benefts derved from t are not yet optmzed due n part to nadequate knowledge of approprate value-addng technologes coupled wth poor nfrastructure facltes and the absence of coherent polces to support such an undertakng, especally n rural areas. Sweet potato value addton has the ablty to create employment, absorb excess labour from agrculture, enable rural resdents to capture more margns from agrculture, hence rasng rural ncome levels. Based on the fndngs from the analyss of the factors affectng 9

10 adopton and the extent of value addton by smallscale farmers n Rachuonyo South Sub-county, t s recommended that for the smallholder sweet potato farmers to beneft from value addton, several polcy and nsttutonal ssues need to be addressed. There s need to revew and strengthen polces that wll mprove access to and use of credt and educate the farmers on the mportance of value addton as a tool for poverty reducton, employment creaton and economc development. Polcy makers should come up wth loan packages ntended for those nterested n value addton. Mechansms should also be put n place on follow up on how the funds borrowed are used. Ths s because those who accessed loans only devoted a small porton to value addton. Furthermore, polcy makers should encourage farmer group formaton and make farmers feel part of t snce maorty felt that they pool ther resources and only a few ndvduals beneft from t. Group membershp has an element of collectve acton whch gves the farmers barganng power when sellng ther produce. The government extenson system needs to address the factors whch affect the decson to use a technology contnuously. An effectve and effcent extenson system can render an nnovaton sustanable and useful for economcally and spatally dsadvantaged groups, thus, contrbutng towards allevatng poverty and reducng nequalty among rural communtes. Marketng of the processed sweet potato products stll reman a challenge, whch calls for proper marketng strateges such as lnkng farmers wth supermarkets. Inadequate product development, proper packagng and labelng are other challenges that requre urgent attenton through acqurng certfcaton from Kenya Bureau of Standards. References AGRA (2013) Establshng the status of post-harvest losses and storage for maor staple crops n eleven Afrcan Countres. Avalable at: Last accessed: Amsalu, A. & De Jan, G. (2007) Determnants of adopton and contnued use of stone terraces for sol and water conservaton n an Ethopan hghland watershed. Ecologcal economcs 61, CEFA (2010) Good agronomc practces for Sweet Potato n Western Kenya. Tranng manual for Traners. Avalable at: Last accessed: Badu-Forson, J. (1999) Factors nfluencng adopton of land-enhancng technology n the Sahel: lessons from a case study n Nger. Agrcultural Economcs 20, Croppenstedt, A., Demeke, M. & Mesch, M. M., (2003) Technology adopton n the presence of constrants: the case of fertlzer demand n Ethopa. Revew of Development Economcs 7, Ememwa I., et al. (2008) Challenges and experences n transfer of post-harvest technologes to farmng communtes n western Kenya: A case of cassava and sweet potato processng. Paper presented n 11 th Bennal scentfc conference and 3 rd agrcultural forum, 10 th 13 th November, Fawza A., Karur E. G &Hagenmana V. (2000) Sweet potato ketchup: Feasblty, acceptablty and producton costs n Kenya. Journal of Food Technology n Afrca 5, Fugle K, O. (2007). Prortes for sweet potato research n developng countres: Results of a survey. Hortscence 42, Government of Kenya (2010). Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey. Government Prnters, Narob, Kenya. Greene, W. H. (2002). Econometrc analyss, 5th edton. Prentce Hall, Upper Saddle Rver, New Jersey, Unted States, pp Inter-Docesan Chrstan Communty Servces (IDCCS) (2009) Sweet Potato Mappng and Baselne Survey. Economc Empowerment Proect. (Unpublshed). Kaguongo W., Ortmann G.F., Wale E., Darroch M.A.G. and Low J. (2010). Factors nfluencng adopton and ntensty of adopton of orange flesh sweet potato varetes: evdence from an extenson nterventon n Nyanza and Western provnce, Kenya. Paper presented at the ont 3 rd Afrcan Assocaton of Agrcultural Economsts (AAAE) and 48 th Agrcultural Economsts Assocaton of South Afrca (AEASA) Conference, Cape Town, South Afrca, September 19 23, Keller, H. (2012). Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Stuatonal Analyss and Needs Assessment. Tanzana report. (last accessed: on ). Kelley, M. R. (1997). Frm sze and capabltes, regonal agglomeraton and the adopton of new technology. (last accessed: ). Knowler D. and Bradshaw B. (2007) Farmers adopton of conservaton agrculture: A Revew and Synthess of recent research. Food Polcy, 32, Lemaga, B. (2005) Improvng the Lvelhoods of small-scale sweet potato farmers n central Uganda through a crop post-harvest-based nnovaton system. Crop post-harvest Programme. (last accessed: ). Makhura M.N., Krsten J. and Delgado C. (2001). Transacton costs and smallholder partcpaton n the maze 10

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