Hill Publishing Group | contact@hillpublisher.com

Hill Publishing Group

Location:Home / Journals / International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture /

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2019.09.015

Strangling by Design; The Tragedy of Small Scale Farmers in Kenya

Date: September 10,2019 |Hits: 5033 Download PDF How to cite this paper

Joram Ngugi Kamau

Department of Agricultural Economics Egerton University-Kenya.

*Corresponding author: Joram Ngugi Kamau, Email: ngugij88@gmail.com

Abstract

The agrarian economy in Kenya is characterized by diminutive benefits by most small scale farmers from the agricultural supply chain due to the venomous gluttony of the most central actors in the value chain. Small scale farmers are positioned as net losers in the whole agricultural value chain but can’t quit for survival reasons. While this is the reality in the country, small scale farmers find themselves in a quagmire of choosing their marauder; brokers or the government. The former is ruthless while the latter is a smokescreen. The study used descriptive statistics using SPSS software to depict the insatiable appetite by the middlemen and government captors who frustrates the agrarian economy in the country. There are no standardized metric measures that guide the buying of agricultural commodities at the farm gate by the middle men. Prices are malevolently dictated by the brokers where the farmers have to swallow the bitter pills due to their economic detriments. The government on the other hand makes payments at their own pace without considering the economic survival of the farmers. Time value for money is not a factor in government’s institutions and breach of contracts has been a norm. For a country that aspires to be food secure, the import mentality of agricultural produces by ‘tenderpreneurs’ must be dismantled from the onset. Frustrating local production to pave way for the lucrative import business is a mistake that no nation can afford to commit especially if it’s the only sector it has a comparative advantage in.

References

[1] Bolo, M. (2016). Innovation systems and capability building among smallholders: lessons and insights from kenya’s flower farmers. Innovation Systems: Towards Effective Strategies in support of Smallholder Farmers, 74.

[2] Gyau, A., Mbugua, M., & Oduol, J. (2016). Determinants of participation and intensity of participation in collective action: evidence from smallholder avocado farmers in Kenya. Journal on Chain and Network Science, 16(2), 147-156.

[3] Lipton, M. (2005) Crop science, poverty, and the family farm in a globalizing world. 2020 Discussion paper 40. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC

[4] Mathenge, M. K., Smale, M., & Tschirley, D. (2015). Off‐farm employment and input intensification among smallholder maize farmers in Kenya. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 66(2), 519-536.

[5] Odero-Waitituh, J. A. (2017). Smallholder dairy production in Kenya; a review. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 29(7).

[6] Suleiman, R. A., & Kurt, R. A. (2015). Current maize production, postharvest losses and the risk of mycotoxins contamination in Tanzania. In 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting (p. 1). American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

[7] Wekesa, R., Onguso, J. M., Nyende, B. A., & Wamocho, L. S. (2015). Sugarcane In Vitro Culture Technology: Applications for Kenya’s Sugar Industry. Journal of Biology, Agriculture and Healthcare, 5(17), 127-134.

How to cite this paper

Strangling by Design; The Tragedy of Small Scale Farmers in Kenya

How to cite this paper: Kamau, J.N. (2019) Strangling by Design; The Tragedy of Small Scale Farmers in Kenya. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture, 3(3), 253-256.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2019.09.015

Volumes & Issues

Free HPG Newsletters

Add your e-mail address to receive free newsletters from Hill Publishing Group.

Contact us

Hill Publishing Group

8825 53rd Ave

Elmhurst, NY 11373, USA

E-mail: contact@hillpublisher.com

Copyright © 2019 Hill Publishing Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.