Abstract:
African indigenous vegetable (AIV) farmers have limited information in
the areas for training and readiness to access and produce vegetables to satisfy the
growing demands by retailers in Kenya. The study assessed the readiness of women
AIV farmers in Kakamega County to satisfy quality standards for high value
markets (HVMs). Descriptive survey design, multistage sampling technique and
interview schedule were used to collect data from 276 farmers. Observations and
discussions with key informants were used to collect primary data. Statistics such
as frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation and appropriate correlation
coefficients were used to describe and/or identify the relationships among
respondents.
Results of the study revealed that farmers had low knowledge on quality
standards, especially the transaction attributes. The public extension was the main
source of information but the perception of farmers on status of resources was low.
The male headed households allocated less land for vegetables compared to
females. Farmers were willing to a large extent to satisfy quality standards but had
low competencies. Famers’ readiness to satisfy standards of HVM depends on
knowledge, perception of resources, educational attainment, infrastructure, finance
from credit institutions, contact with extension officers, number of years of
marketing vegetables and membership to an organization. The study recommends
among others that the Ministry of Agriculture train farmers on AIV production and
marketing and develop trade policy to ensure that retailers purchase vegetables
from certified local farmers.
