Characterization, Determinants of Marketing Channels and Collective Action among Pigeon Pea Farmers in Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

Smallholder farmers are among the key players in pulse production in Kenya and require consideration when developing policies for improving the sector. Pigeon peas is a traditional crop that has a potential to increase food security and generate income through commercialization. It grows in arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. Pigeon pea farmers have been focusing on subsistence farming without the transition towards commercialization. This can be explained by farmer characteristics, choice of marketing channels, and the collective action among pigeon pea farmers. The objectives of the study were to analyze farmer characterization, determine the choice of marketing channels, and examine the determinants of collective action among pigeon pea farmers. The study was conducted in Machakos County, in Mwala, Yatta, and Masinga sub-counties. A sample of 310 pigeon pea farmers was selected using a purposive sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was administered to individual farmers to collect data. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Cluster Analysis (CA), multinomial logit (MNL), and Probit Models were used to analyze the data. The PCA results indicated a KMO of 0.557, a BTS of 437.278 and a p value of 0.000 to show the sampling and suitability of the model. There were three distinct clusters and were named as low production, average production, and high production. The distinguishing factors of these clusters were age, access to credit, distance to the market, land size, amount of pigeon peas sold, and group membership. The results from MNL showed revealed that majority of the farmers chose rural retailers as their main marketing channel (53.9%), followed by brokers (17.7%), rural and urban wholesalers (11.6%), and those who sold directly to consumers (9.4%). There was no export market available for farmers. However, there were a number of farmers who did not sell pigeon peas but produced for home consumption only. The choice of a marketing channel was significantly (P< 0.0005) determined by socioeconomic factors such as gender, age, monthly income, access to information, distance to the market, land size, the quantity produced in the previous season, dry pigeon peas sold, and group membership. The results further showed that 39.3% of the farmers were in producer groups. The decision to join producer groups was determined by age, source of income, access to credit, land size, and access to market information. The study thus, concluded that Pigeon pea farmers were not homogenous. Farmers sold majorly using rural retailers’ marketing channel, export channel was missing and that farmers were only in producer groups. There were no marketing groups for pigeon peas. Therefore, the study recommended that interventions and policies be tailored to specific clusters since pigeon pea farmers are not homogenous. It was further recommended that the National and County Governments need to establish export markets for pigeon peas. The need for export channels is to encourage farmers to sell their crop at better prices and encourage them to produce commercially. There is also need to strengthen the local markets. There were no market groups for pigeon peas, and therefore, the study recommends the need to persuade farmers to join more producer groups and establish marketing groups and link them to markets.