Welfare and food security effects of commercializing African indigenous vegetables in Kenya

authored by

Henning Krause, Anja Faße, Ulrike Grote

Abstract

African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) have high nutritional value, forming a potent weapon against the pressing hidden hunger problem in East Africa, but they are not sufficiently adopted as cash crops by Kenyan small-scale farmers to meet the rising demand in the urban areas. This study therefore aims (i) to explore which factors motivate small-scale farmers to specialize in commercial AIV production and (ii) to assess the impact of AIV production on household income and food security. This analysis was based on primary data from 706 rural and peri-urban small-scale vegetable producers in Kenya. Results of a binary choice model showed that education, participation in producer groups, access to market information and irrigation water, as well as distance to the next city influenced the decision to commercialize AIV production. Impact analysis was conducted with binary and continuous propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR). The production of AIVs as cash crops positively influenced the total per capita household income and the food security status of the households.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

External Organisation(s)

Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Type

Article

Journal

Cogent Food and Agriculture

Volume

5

Publication date

2019

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Food Science, Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2019.1700031 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/9335 (Access: Open)