Economic E Ciency Analysis of Banana Farmers in Kiambu East District of Kenya
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Journal of Developments in Sustainable Agriculture. : ++2ῌ +,1 ( ,**3 ) Economic E$ ciency Analysis of Banana Farmers in Kiambu East District of Kenya: Technical Ine$$ ciency and Marketing E ciency Stephen Mutuku Nzioka Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki-*/ῌ 2/1, , Japan Approximately2*ῌ of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas and derives its livelihood largely from agriculture. Agriculture makes up about,0ῌ of Kenya’s gross domestic product, and banana production occupies,ῌ of Kenya’s arable land. Bananas are grown both as a source of food and household income to millions of rural Kenyans; however, production has been declining in the last, decades. My objective was to examine banana production and marketing in Kiambu East District, with the aims of improving levels of banana production by small-scale farmers and making recommendations to improve marketing e$ ciency. A structured questionnaire was given to farmers in- Divisions of Kiambu East District: Githunguri, Municipality, and Kiambaa. A frontier production function was established, and results indicated that farmers operated at about 0*ῌ of the optimum production level because of technical ine $ ciency, resulting in low levels of production by individual farmers. If farmers received training on how to manage their traditional bananas and organized into marketing groups, they could improve their bargaining power and increase household income to as much as - times current levels. Farmers therefore should form production and marketing groups to grow and market their bananas collectively. Farmers also need to be given management training and financial assistance to grow higher yielding varieties of bananas (e.g., Tissue Culture bananas). In addition farmers need to be trained on indigenous post-harvest technology to realize increased household incomes. Key words: Frontier production function, marketing groups, Bargaining power, Household income, Technological change ῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍῍ +. Introduction subsistence and small-scale farmers in Kenya. They occupy,ῌ of the total arable land and are ++. Background widely grown in areas with adequate rainfall. The Agriculture makes up,0ῌ of Kenya’s gross crop is grown as a source of both food and income domestic product,0*ῌ of export earnings (flowers, to millions of rural Kenyans, and with the collapse fruits, vegetables and tea mainly), and./ῌ of of what used to be major cash crops in Kenya, government revenue (Muturiet al., ,**+ ). Ap- especially co # ee and tea, banana production has proximately2*ῌ of Kenya’s population lives in become an important source of household income rural areas, and they derive their livelihoods largely (Mbogohet al., ,**, ). Production, however, has from agriculture. The majority of the urban poor been on the decline for the past, decades also earn a living doing agriculture-related work. (Wanzala,,**/ ). This decline has threatened food There are an estimated./ . million small-scale security and household incomes in rural com- farmers in Kenya, and they account for1/ῌ of munities and also has reduced employment op- total agricultural output (Kimenyi,,**2 ). portunities. Bananas (Musa spp.) are grown mainly by many Received: October+ , ,**3 , Accepted: November , , ,**3 Corresponding author’s current address: P.O. Box.-- , 3*+-+ Tala, Kenya. E-mail: [email protected] Nzioka: Economic E$ ciency Analysis of Banana Farmers in Kiambu East District of Kenya 119 +,. Banana Production in Kenya but they could increase production e$ ciency by Banana is the most popular fruit in Kenya and is using new technology to increase technical e$ cien- often consumed as a desert whereas the cooking cy. variety also serves as a staple food. Bananas are Banana production in Kiambu East District is grown in a mixed farming system and are often rain fed, and the district has two rainy seasons. seen as a security crop, which provides continuous Banana plants produce continuously, and produc- household income under a low input regime (Qaim, tion reaches a peak during the rainy seasons. Pro- +333). Banana production, however, is often duction of bananas in Kiambu East District could neglected in terms of supplying input factors such be increased through irrigation initiatives, but most as fertilizer and water and is primarily managed by farmers cannot a# ord irrigation infrastructure. As women who have limited amounts of education and a result, bananas are grown in high rainfall areas are also responsible for domestic activities such as that have been under cultivation for a very long raising children and providing for other family time, leading to soil infertility and hence contribut- needs. Women also provide labor for income- ing to reduced banana production (Wambugu, generating activities such as growing tea, co# ee, ,**.). and vegetables and for dairy farming. They there- fore have little time to concentrate on banana pro- +-. Banana Marketing in Kenya duction, which is treated as a subsistence activity Unlike other major cash crops produced in and given very little attention. Kenya for which cooperative marketing exists, Banana production in Kenya has been on the banana marketing in Kenya uses middlemen who decline in the past, decades for many reasons. buy bananas directly from the farmers at the farm Indigenous bananas take, years to mature, require gate and then transport them to a collection center more space to grow than high-yield varieties where they can be transported to Nairobi on hired (HYVs), produce small bunches, and yields are trucks. Most of the intermediary “middlemen” are uneven. Although high-yield disease-resistant actually women who purchase bananas from female varieties (e.g., Tissue Culture bananas) have been farmers (Qaim,+333 ). Distance from markets and developed by research institutions, many farmers poor transportation infrastructure makes it di$ cult continue to use low-yield bananas because high- for farmers to deliver bananas to local markets or yield banana plants (stools) are expensive. to the Nairobi market, but farmers directly sell ripe Farmers are not able to access credit to purchase bananas to consumers at local markets in a few HYV bananas because loans require collateral and cases. Retail prices of bananas in Nairobi are about farmers think they will be unable to repay the loans -.to times those in rural areas, indicating a high (New Agriculturist ,**3 ). Hence, most of the demand for bananas in Nairobi. Banana demand in technologies to improve production appear to be Nairobi is strong from urban consumers with no beyond the reach of small-scale farmers in Kenya. access to “home grown” produce (USAID Kenya, Moreover, farmers have limited crop management ,**0). Moreover, individual farmers in Kiambu knowledge of HYV bananas, and land under East District have little negotiation power because banana production has continuously been reduced they produce small amounts of bananas and do not because of the expanding population in urban act cooperatively (Mbogohet al.,,**, ; New Agri- centers (Wanzala,,**/ ). culturist ,**3). Most farmers in Kiambu East District conduct Mukhebi (,**. ) indicated that agricultural agriculture on a small scale. Farmers have an markets have not worked e$ ciently in Kenya since average land holding of, acres (Kiambu East market liberalization occurred in the late+32* ’s District Annual Report,,**2 ). On this piece of and early+33* ’s and identified . reasons for ine $ - land, a farmer has a house, grows a variety of cient markets: long transaction chains between the crops, and keeps dairy cattle. It is quite di$ cult for farm gate and consumers, poor access to appropri- farmers in Kiambu East District to increase banana ate and timely market information, small volumes production because the amount of land is restrict- of products of highly varied quality o# ered by ed, especially with the expansion of nearby Nairobi, individual small-scale farmers, and poorly struc- 120 J. Dev. Sus. Agr.., ( ) tured and ine$ cient marketing systems. Kinyua of -2+ , 03. , with an average population density of (,**2 a) identified the following causes of ine $ cien- + , *.. persons per km, , and 2*ῌ of the population cy in the banana value chain: a large number of lives in rural areas. Because of the high population intermediaries, a lack of comprehensive knowledge density, land has been fragmented into small of the market by all value players, policy and parcels and agricultural productivity has declined. institutional failures (e.g., no agreed upon grades The district has, broad topographical regions, and standards), low technical capacity for ripening, the upper midland and lower highland, and is divid- high costs in the chain (e.g., for transportation, ed into-,+ divisions: Githunguri ( km from transactions, and intermediaries), lack of consisten- Nairobi), Municipality (+- km from Nairobi), and cy in supply, and di$+* culties in changing the mind- Kiambaa ( km from Nairobi). set of farmers from subsistence to commercial The rainfall regime is bimodal and reliable. The farming. “long” rains occur in April and May (range ,/*ῌ +0** mm), whereas the “short” rains occur in Octo- +.. Objective of the Study ber and November (range+***ῌ +,** mm). The Very little research has been conducted on the mean daily minimum and maximum temperatures technical ine$$ ciency and marketing e ciency of in the district vary between 2-* to῎ . Soils are banana farmers in Kenya. Colman and Young generally fertile, but over-application of synthetic (,**, ) defined technical e $ ciency as the output fertilizers has made the soils acidic and crop pro- from a given set of inputs. In this study, the ductivity has fallen as a result. The main economic production unit is the banana stool. Colman and activities are farming and small business (self em- Young (,**, ) also defined technological change as ployment). The main staple crops grown in an improvement in the state of knowledge such that Kiambu East District are maize, beans, potatoes, production possibilities are enhanced. With tech- and bananas. Other vegetable crops are also nological change, the production function can shift grown, including tomatoes and cabbage.