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Impact of Participation in Milk Processing on Smallholder Farmers’ Welfare: The Case of Kikima Dairy Cooperative Society in Makueni County, Kenya
Abstract
The productivity of the few established cash crops in Makueni County is affected by low rainfall reliability, which in turn leads to drought and crop failure. Thus, the dairy sector is a crucial source of livelihood for the residents in Makueni County. The dairy sector, however, is constrained by the lack of adequate processing capacity which has the potential to enhance the shelf life and retail price of milk. It’s for this reason that the Kikima dairy plant was established to provide a ready market for farmers’ milk and enhance the processing capacity within Makueni County. However, there is scanty empirical evidence on the impact this dairy plant has had on farmers’ welfare. The current study assessed the impact of participation in milk processing on farmers’ welfare in Makueni County using farm income as the welfare indicator. The study used primary data with a sample size of 200 respondents drawn from Mbooni and Kilome sub-counties in Makueni County. The respondents were stratified by participation and farmers were randomly selected from the two sampling frames to give a sub-sample of 100 project participants and 100 non-participants. Data were then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The endogenous switching regression model was used to analyze the impact. The results indicated a negative impact of participating in milk processing on farmers’ income.
... However (Ngeno, 2018), found an inverse relationship between distance and income of dairy farmers. Musyoki et al. (2022) found no relationship between distance to market and income levels between participants and non-participants of milk processing plants in Kenya. ...
... Mutonyi (2019) vindicated that the knowledge obtained from collective action had a spill-over effect on the production of other crops, thus resulting in increased income. This result concurs with earlier studies by (Abdul-Rahaman & Abdulai, 2020;Musyoki et al., 2022). ...
Apart from generating Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the dairy industry in Kenya contributes to the employment of over a million people along the milk value chain. The sub-sector, however, still experiences low productivity and extensive informal marketing. Farmers have, therefore, formed cooperative societies that have received support in cooling plants and access to dairy services, animal health and artificial insemination. However, participation by members of these cooperative societies is still low, and participation’s impact on income has not been determined. This study sought to assess the impact of the choice of cooperatives on smallholder dairy farmers’ incomes. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from a sample of 277 Nyamira and Homa Bay Counties farmers. An endogenous switching regression model was used to analyze data. The results indicated that cooperative market participation increased farmers’ incomes by about 10%. The results also revealed that distance to market, milk payment period, number of lactating cows, farm size, and farmer location influenced farmers’ decision to participate in the cooperatives. Furthermore, the level of education, number of lactating cows, farm size, access to off-farm income and access to extension services were significant in determining farmers’ income. This paper suggests policies that increase cooperative market participation for smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya.
... Several authors have used household income as a measure of household welfare. This includes Musyoki et al. [15] in a study involving dairy farmers in Kenya. Wainaina et al. [16] and Geffersa et al. [17] used household income as a welfare indicator in their studies in Kenya and Ethiopia respectively, while Bellemare [18] used income and household access to loan as indicators of welfare in Madagascar. ...
Agricultural extension services (AESs) are crucial in promoting farm performance and household welfare. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the interrelationship between extension access and farm household welfare in the Sudan Savanna of Ghana. The study is unique as it provides evidence of the influence of agricultural extension on household welfare in a conflict-prone and semi-arid area of the country. The study used a Heckman selection model and propensity score matching to assess smallholders’ access to AESs and the welfare
benefits of agricultural extension (AE). The study’s findings showed that access to AESs led to higher yield, crop income, and fertilizer application, hence boosting household welfare. Furthermore, formal education considerably increased agricultural productivity while group membership enhanced access to AESs. In order to encourage AESs as part of programs to alleviate rural poverty and enhance family welfare, the study recommends that AE should be combined with other pro-poor development initiatives, such as the provision of basic and secondary education, especially in rural areas.
... Thus, welfare in this study is taken as a self-rated improvement in health, education and assets (Greve, 2008;Ravallion and Lokshin, 2002). Therefore, welfare could be resulted from direct improvement in farm income (Musyok et al., 2022). ...
Purpose
Although the majority of Ethiopians continue the on-farm and off-farm work, the country still struggles to secure food for its citizens and farmer welfare is very low. To increase farmers' welfare, improving farmers' entrepreneurial competency is believed to be the solution. However, entrepreneurial competencies are diversified, and investigating the most important dimensions specific to the agricultural sector is important. As a result, the objective of this research is to look into important entrepreneurial competencies that could help farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the objective, survey data, collected from 178 households in North Shoa, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia is analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The study revealed that of the six entrepreneurs' competencies considered, only two of them (Strategic competency and relationship competency) have a significant association with the welfare of farmers. Moreover, the study revealed that the moderating effect of agricultural extension (taking model and non-model farmers as a group) on the relationship between entrepreneurial competency and farmers' welfare is not significant.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses only on six entrepreneurial competencies from which two of them are found significant factors in farmers' welfare. Thus, future research could broaden the scope in terms of looking into additional variables.
Originality/value
The study investigated the moderating effect of the farmers' category as a model and non-model on the relationship between entrepreneurial competency and farmers' welfare, which is the first to discuss the moderation effect.
A relatively large body of literature has documented the welfare effects of smallholder farmers’ participation in single-commodity output markets. However, limited empirical evidence is available when smallholder farmers participate in multiple-commodities output markets. We tried to fill this gap in the literature by estimating the impacts of smallholder farmers’ contemporaneous participation in both maize and legume markets vis-à-vis in only maize or legume markets using household-level data from Tanzania. Applying a multinomial endogenous switching regression model that allows controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity associated with market participation in single-commodity and multiple-commodity markets, results showed that smallholder farmers’ participation in both single–and multiple–commodity markets was positively and significantly associated with household income and food security. Moreover, the greatest benefits were obtained when farmers participated in multiple-commodity markets, suggesting the importance of policies promoting diversification in crop income sources to increase welfare and food security. Our findings also signal the complementary–rather than substitute–nature of accessing multiple-commodity markets for enhancing household livelihoods under a specialization strategy. Finally, important policy implications are suggested, from promoting and supporting public infrastructure investments to expanding road networks to reduce transportation costs, especially in remote communities, to enhance smallholder farmer access to profitable maize and legume markets in Tanzania.
This study analyzed the contribution of off-farm economic activities of rural women to household food security in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Specifically, this study identified off-farm activities with which rural women are engaged, and assessed their level of involvement in off-farm activities, assessed women’s expenditure on household needs, determined the relationship between respondents’ socio-economic characteristics and their off-farm activities, and identified women’s constraints to engage in off-farm economic activities. Rural women in Kaduna State were targeted for this study. One-hundred and eighty rural women used for this study were selected through multi-stage sampling techniques. Structured interview schedule was used to elicit relevant information from the respondents. Frequency counts, percentages, and chi-square test were used to analyze the data collected. The mean age, monthly income, and household size of the rural women was 46 years, ₦8,879, and 7, respectively. Most of them (43.9%) had no formal education. Most rural women engaged in multiple off-farm economic activities including trading, food processing, tailoring, livestock rearing amongst others. The majority (82.8% and 72.8%) of the women contributes to provide food and cloth, respectively, for the household. Significant relationship exists between household size (X2=2.87; P≤0.01), access to extension (X2=1.98; P≤0.01), and access to credit (X2=1.73; P≤0.01) and women engagement in off-farm activities. Also, women’s contributions to household food security depend on a number of activities engaged in. Poor institutional support was the major constraint to engagement in rural off-farm economic activities. Extension agencies should design innovative ways (through training and re-training) to impact on the off-farm activities of women.
Keywords: Rural women, off-farm activities, food security, rural economy, Nigeria
Purpose
– Contract farming (CF) is seen as a tool for creating new market opportunities hence increasing incomes for smallholder farmers. Critics, however, argue that CF is likely to pass risks to small scale farmers, thus favouring large scale farmers at the expense of smallholder farmers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of CF on smallholder farmers’ income using a case study of avocado farmers in Kandara district in Kenya.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study uses data collected from 100 smallholder avocado farmers in Kandara district in Kenya and employs an instrumental variable model (Probit-2SLS) to control for endogeneity in participation in the contract and examine the effect of CF on household, farm and avocado income.
Findings
– The results indicate that participation in CF is not sufficient to improve household, farm and avocado income. Question remains regarding efficient implementation of CF arrangements to promote spill over effects on other household enterprises.
Research limitations/implications
– The research was carried out using farmers in Kandara district in Kenya as a case study, findings might therefore not reflect the status of CF in all countries.
Originality/value
– The paper contributes to the growing debate on the effect of value chain upgrading strategies such as contracting on smallholder farmers’ welfare. The form of contracting studied in this paper differs from the standard contracts in that the key stakeholders (producers) are loosely enjoined in the contract through officials of their groups.
This paper identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt soil and water conservation technology in Africa and how this technology impacts farm yields and net returns. This technology is important because it improves efficiency of water use from rainfall—a critical issue in water-deficient Sub-Saharan Africa. An analysis of new data from a survey of 342 rice farmers in northern Ghana shows that farmers’ education, capital and labor constraints, social networks and extension contacts, and farm soil conditions mainly determine adoption of field ridging, and the adoption of this technology increases rice yields and net returns significantly. (JEL Q15, Q24)
According to the study, currently more than 26 million hectares of farmland are under organic management worldwide. This is more than two million hectares more than in the previous year.
In terms of organic land, Australia leads pack with 11.3 million hectares, followed by Argentina (2.8 million hectares) and Italy with more than one million hectares. Regarding the share of organic farmland in comparison with the total agricultural area, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries lead the way. In Switzerland for example more ten percent of the agricultural land is managed organically.
In 2003, the market value of organic products worldwide reached 25 billion US$, the largest share of organic products being marketed in Europe and North America. For the upcoming years.
A cross-sectional survey of dairy farms with low bulk milk somatic cell counts was carried out to assess the level of clinical mastitis and to quantify risk factors associated with the incidence rate of clinical mastitis. Questionnaires were sent to 3009 milk operations with an annual mean bulk milk somatic cell count of less than 100,000 cells/ml during 1997. A response rate was 61%. The mean incidence of clinical mastitis reported was 22.8 cases per 100 cows/yr. Negative binomial regression models were used to assess statistically significant risk factors associated with the incidence of clinical mastitis. The incidence increased when farmers reported that they had straw yard housing for milking cows (compared with cubicle housing), mucked out the calving area less frequently than once per month, kept cows standing in a yard after milking, always practiced postmilking teat disinfection, had greater than 50% replacement rate, had some cows that leaked milk on entry to the parlor, had some cows that leaked milk at other times, and foremilked before cluster attachment. The incidence of clinical mastitis was lower on farms when the gathering yard used before milking was scraped at least twice a day, cows were offered feed after both milkings, rubber gloves were not worn during milking, teat liners were changed after 6000 milkings, and the average dry period was less than 40 d. The study has identified areas of the environment in which efforts to improve hygiene should be focused.
Corruption in the public sector erodes tax compliance and leads to higher tax evasion. Moreover, corrupt public officials abuse their public power to extort bribes from the private agents. In both types of interaction with the public sector, the private agents are bound to face uncertainty with respect to their disposable incomes. To analyse effects of this uncertainty, a stochastic dynamic growth model with the public sector is examined. It is shown that deterministic excessive red tape and corruption deteriorate the growth potential through income redistribution and public sector inefficiencies. Most importantly, it is demonstrated that the increase in corruption via higher uncertainty exerts adverse effects on capital accumulation, thus leading to lower growth rates.
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