Determinants of the Place of Sell and Price of Kale for Kiambu, Kenya
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Wageningen University & Research Publications African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 5(9), pp. 805-812, 4 May 2010 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR ISSN 1991-637X © 2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Determinants of the place of sell and price of kale for Kiambu, Kenya Beatrice Salasya1and Kees Burger2 1Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 169-50100, Kakamega, Kenya. 2Development Economics Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR). Accepted 20 April, 2010 Kale is a major source of cash for many households in Kenya. A study of households in Kiambu district revealed that kale made the highest contribution to household income among the crops. The farmers of Kiambu sell their kale either in Nairobi, at farm gate, or at the local market and fetch different prices. The farm gate price is highest when kale is sold in Nairobi, but only a small fraction of the farmers sell kale in Nairobi. This paper endeavored to know what influenced the decision of where to sell the kale, and why the prices were so variable between destinations. The results showed that the price of kale was influenced by the place of production and distance to a local market. The results further showed that the decision to sell kale in Nairobi where the price was highest depended on labor availability, the household’s wealth status and transport access to the market. Poorer households were more likely to seek higher prices in the city than the wealthier households. Improving marketing of kale could be a way of targeting the poorer households and improving their welfare. Key words: Kale, market outlets, price, Kiambu. INTRODUCTION The livelihood of many households the world over break-even at best. The farmers in Kiambu and other depends on the sale of agricultural commodities. areas that surround Nairobi city can utilize their proximity Horticultural crops such as kale are particularly beneficial to the urban market to increase their income from kale by to smallholders because the benefits can be ripped within increasing the sales made directly to the city. It has been a short time. Indeed the role of horticultural crops in noted that smallholders need dynamic markets to enable improving the welfare of rural households has received a them escape from poverty, and urban markets are at lot of emphasis in Kenya and else where (Swernberg, present the most dynamic food markets due to increasing 1995; Kimenye, 1995; Minot and Ngigi, 2002). Kale, a urban population and incomes (Weatherspoon and popular green vegetable consumed by almost every Reardon, 2003). But as Neven and Reardon, 2004 household in Kenya has been shown to be a major observed, smallholders are squeezed out as indirect source of cash for many households. For example, suppliers and are left to operate in the traditional system, results of a study in Kiambu district, which neighbors which fetches lower prices. In the dataset used in this Nairobi city, revealed that kale made the highest study there is a large variation in the price of kale, with contribution to household income among the crops and the price ranging from less than 2 Kenya shillings (ksh) also had the highest returns to variable inputs among the per kilo to 15 ksh per kilo. The farmers sold their kale crops (Salasya, 2005). However, even though kale made either in Nairobi, at farm gate, or at the local market and the highest contribution to household income, not all the received different prices, with some farmers getting better farmers sold kale in the city where prices are highest. prices than others. The farm gate price was highest when Neven and Reardon (2005) found that smallholder kale was sold in Nairobi, and lowest when kale is sold at farmers sell to brokers and get a price that just lets them the local market. A disturbing question then is why not all the farmers in Kiambu sell their kale in Nairobi where prices are highest. Are there barriers preventing some farmers from accessing the Nairobi market? If as *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: Fafchamps and Hill (2005) found, poor farmers receive +254 56 30031. lower prices because they cannot access markets with 806 Afr. J. Agric. Res. Table 1. Descriptive statistics for variables used in the analysis. Variable description (n=296) Mean Standard deviation Maximum Minimum Kale output price (ksh./kg) 7.11 3.77 1.30 15.0 Kale output (kg) 3038 3092 25000 15 Farm size in hectares (ha) 0.88 0.93 0.05 8.10 Education of household head (years in school) 8.68 5.08 0.00 16.0 Age of household head (years) 53.5 15.0 18.0 100 Number of adult males 1.93 1.37 0.00 9.00 Number of adult females 2.02 1.62 0.00 6.00 Number of children below 14 years 2.03 0.17 0.00 10.0 Cattle in tropical livestock units (TLU) 1.29 0.12 0.00 13.7 Distance to the nearest market (km) 2.11 1.63 0.01 10 Area under tea and/or coffee (hectares) 0.09 0.23 0.00 2.41 Dependency ratio (children to adults) 0.62 0.65 0.00 3.33 Gender of the household head (% female headed) 22.3% Membership of organizations (% members) 87.1% Percentage owning a bicycle 30.4% Percentage owning a donkey cart 19.3% Percentage owning a car 13.9% Main occupation of household head (% farming) 64.9% better prices, then their welfare can be raised by offering central province of Kenya, located just north of Nairobi City. Kiambu institutional alternatives that enable them to access was selected because it is located close to Nairobi city and hence it markets with better prices. was expected that farmers could easily carry their produce to the city without fear of spoilage, considering that kale is a perishable The paper investigates the factors influencing the commodity, and without incurring high transaction costs. Average farmers’ decisions on where to sell kale, and why annual rainfall in Kiambu varies with altitude between 500 mm in different farmers sell in different market outlets and fetch the lower parts up to 2000 mm in the higher forest zones (Jaetzold different prices. The paper thus follows the lines of and Schmidt, 1983). The population density is high with an average Fafchamps and Hill (2005) to investigate the relationship of 562 persons per square kilometer (CBS, 2001) but also very variable with some areas having population densities exceeding between the price of kale and the market conditions 1500 persons/km2. The average household has 3.9 persons living facing different households. Unlike coffee, which on 0.7 ha of land creating a very high dependency on agriculture Fafchamps and Hill investigated, kale is highly perishable (ROK, 2005), which is the main economic base. and hence the produce needs to reach the market within a short time after harvesting. The specific objectives of the paper are: to investigate what influences the farmers’ Data and data collection choice of which market outlet to sell the kale to; examine Data collection was through household interviews, conducted in the why there is a large price variation in the price offered at local language by trained enumerators using a pre-tested structured the different market outlets and; to identify what questionnaire between October and December 2003. Sub-locations characteristics of kale influenced its price. Some of the (the smallest administrative unit in Kenya) falling within high questions to be answered are: which households are agricultural potential areas of Kiambu formed the sampling frame. more likely to sell kale in Nairobi where prices are highest The study was limited to the high potential areas because those are the areas suitable for kale production, and also it is possible to and what needs to be done for most households to sell produce kale through out the year and hence can supply the urban the kale in Nairobi? The remaining part of the paper is market continuously. Nine sub-locations located in Githunguri, organized as follows: Methodology which describes the Limuru and Lari divisions were randomly selected. Two pairs of study area, data collection methods and analytical major landmarks (permanent features such as a school, a church, a procedures. The results are presented and discussed trading centre) in each of the selected sub-locations were randomly selected on a map and transect lines drawn joining each pair. and the paper ends with conclusion. Sampling was thereafter done following as closely as possible the marked transects by a trained enumerator. Every fifth household first on the left and then on the right was selected alternately and in METHODOLOGY this way, a random sample from all sub-locations was obtained. The number selected from each sub-location was proportional to the The study area population density of that sub-location. In total 297 households from the three divisions (115 from Githunguri; 95 from Limuru and 86 The study is carried out in Kiambu district, one of the districts in from Lari) were interviewed. Data collected from each household Salasya and Kees Burger 807 Table 2. The main destinations and the price of kale for the sample households. Number of Average quantity Average quantity sold per Average Average farm gate households produced per household (kg) retail price price (ksh.) selling household (kg) (Ksh.) Total 156 3485 3191 7.21 7.09 Middleman 118 3631 7.06 6.98 Open market 38 1823 7.78 7.42 Nairobi (all) 33 4070 3646 11.3 10.8 - To middleman 15 4897 10.3 9.82 - In open market 18 2602 12.2 11.6 Local market (all) 29 2660 2488 4.36 4.23 - To middleman 9 5525 5.61 5.46 - In open market 20 1121 3.79 3.69 Farm gate 94 3534 3248 6.68 6.68 Source: Calculations from household survey data; NB: The quantities and prices for one year.