| dc.description.abstract | French bean production makes a significant contribution to the GDP, employment,
farmers' income, and welfare. However, french bean farming involves many practices
thus more capital is required; as smallholder farmers must invest approximately KES
311,353 per hectare of land for the french bean growing season. There is an observed
4.1% french bean demand increase in Kenya. Despite this, smallholder french bean
yield is low which is 5.93 to 7.91 tonnes per hectare, compared to the world’s potential
yield of 9.88 to 14.83 tonnes per hectare. Hence, smallholder farmers receive low
returns which may also lead to a decline in commercialization level. Therefore, the
study sought to identify smallholder french bean farms and farmers’ characteristics as
well as to determine the effect of institutional factors, farm and farmers' characteristics
on technical efficiency and commercialization of french bean production respectively.
The study was carried out in areas diversifying in french bean production such as
Machakos, Kajiado, Taita Taveta, Bungoma, and Trans Nzoia Counties, Kenya. Cross sectional data on the 2021 production season was collected from 288 french bean
farmers from selected counties using a cluster random sampling technique. A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data on institutional factors, farm, and
farmers' characteristics. Data was analyzed using Stata version 17 and SAS version 9.4.
Descriptive statistics was used in the characterization of smallholder french bean farms
and farmers. Cobb-Douglas function under the stochastic frontier approach was used to
determine the effect of institutional factors, farm and farmers' characteristics on french
bean production technical efficiency. French bean production technical efficiency level
among french bean smallholder farmers was found to be 86.07%. These findings
suggest that given the prevailing resources, smallholder french bean farmers can still
increase current production by 13.93%. Variables such as land size, manure quantity,
certified seeds, second-generation seeds, fertilizer, and planting labor increased the
output of french bean farmers. As a result, an increase in either input will result in an
increase in french bean production. Results from the inefficiency model indicated that
gender, education level, distance to market and experience all had positive and
significant impact on french bean production technical efficiency. The positive effect
implies that increase in any of them by one units holding other factors constant
increases french bean production technical efficiency by corresponding units. Whereas,
increase in soil testing negatively and significantly (p < 0.01) decreases french bean
production technical efficiency. Tobit model was used to assess the impact of
institutional factors, farm, and farmer characteristics on french bean production
commercialization. The results showed that 60.09% of french bean smallholder farmers
were commercialized. Results further showed that gender and age positively and
significantly (p < 0.05) affected french bean commercialization. Household size
distance to market and access to training services had a negative and significant (p <
0.05) effect on french bean production commercialization. The negative coefficient
implies that increase in any of this factors holding other factors constant reduces french
bean production commercialization. This study encourages french bean smallholder
farmers to increase use of certified seeds, quantity of fertilizer, land size and manure.
Male-headed households and educated farmers should be encouraged to start growing
french beans. The government should establish institutions to ensure the formation of
markets in french bean growing areas, thereby reducing the distance covered by these
farmers when marketing french bean produce and motivating these farmers to produce
more and thus deliver more output to the market. | en_US |
