Browsing by Author "Ngeno, Vincent"

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    Assessment of profit efficiency of smallholder potato farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya
    (Crop Science Society of America, 2024-11-19) Chemjor, Henry; Mose, Jared; Ngeno, Vincent
    The importance of potato (Solanum tuberosum L) production to the country's economic growth is quite clear, but little is known about its profitability and determinants. The current potato yields of smallholder farmers are <10 t/ha, against 40 t/ha achievable under optimum utilization of resources and recommended agronomic practices. The objective of the study was to assess the gross margin (GM) of smallholder potato farmers and estimate their profit efficiency level and influencing factors. A cross-sectional research design and multistage sampling technique were used to obtain a sample of 277 respondents for the study. Results indicated an average GM of Ksh 57,438 per ha per season, implying that potato farming is a lucrative enterprise. Despite this, the study further showed that there are profit inefficiencies in its production process. The average profit efficiency recorded was 43.5%, implying that potato farmers can potentially increase their profits up to 56.5%. Profit efficiency was found to increase significantly with access to extension and credit services, education level, non-farm income, and membership in farmer groups, while decreasing significantly with farmer age. Apart from optimizing the use of farm inputs, the profit efficiency of smallholder potato farmers can thus be improved by enhancing farmer education and extension service delivery, formulating favorable credit strategies that will make loan acquisition easier for potato farmers, and encouraging farmers to join farmer groups in order to benefit from economies of scale.
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    Impact of Joint Multiple Agricultural Technology Production of Beans on Household Nutrition Outcome in East Africa
    (Science Publishing Group., 2021-04-29) Levy, Kachilei; Ngeno, Vincent
    This study analyzes the impact of beans produced under joint multiple agricultural technologies (Improved beans variety, soil carbon management, integrated pest control, and use of compost manure) on nutrition outcome of stunting, underweight, and wasting in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Adoption of technologies in East Africa has been in isolation only focusing on single technologies. However, farmers typically adopt joint multiple agricultural technologies as complements or substitutes thus technologies to be adopted dependent on early technology choices. The objective of the study was to analyze the impact of the nutrition outcome variables in terms of stunting, wasting, and underweight for the best joint multiple agricultural technology combinations as a set of explanatory variables (z). This study adopts the multinomial endogenous switching regression model to correct for the selection bias and endogeneity. Results indicate that joint multiple agricultural technologies had a significant impact on the overall nutrition outcome in East Africa households. It is concluded that households in East Africa rarely use a single agricultural technology but rather a combination of different joint technologies in order to improve their nutrition outcome. The findings recommend that households should adopt joint multiple agricultural technologies rather than focusing on single technologies.