Evaluation of Effects of Value Addition in Sweet Potatoes on Farm Income in Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

Sweet potato value addition has become an increasingly important aspect in improving the diversification in its production and expanding the unexploited market amongst consumers. Homa Bay County is among the leading areas of production in Kenya due to its favorable land conditions and rainfall patterns that enables sweet potato to thrive well in the region. Value addition has been introduced in the County mainly by Non-Governmental organizations that work together with the public sector. However some small scale farmers do not practice value addition, partially because little has been done empirically to measure the impact that value addition has on farm income. This study focused on filling in this gap in the existing knowledge on sweet potato value addition. The study was conducted in Homa Bay County and the study sites selected included three sub counties namely Kasipul, Kabondo Kasipul and Ndhiwa. Multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting the study sites and the required sample size determined by proportionate to size sampling method. Interview schedules and observation were used to collect primary data. Multiple regressions were used to analyze the effect of different value addition activities on Income received solely from sweet potatoes. In addition marginal effects were obtained to analyze the effect of each independent variable separately on income. Findings revealed that the more value a farmer added to raw tuber, the better the income obtained from the market. In addition, farmer marketing groups had a stronger bargaining power in the market compared to farmers selling individually. The study therefore recommended that the County government should work closely with the non-governmental organizations to enlighten farmers on the importance of forming farmer groups since most training on value addition, information on prices and market opportunities can be easily disseminated through farmer groups .It is through these trainings that farmers would be able to make rational decisions with regard to production and adding value to get higher incomes.

Keywords: Value Addition techniques, Smallholder farmer, Farm income.