David Otieno

University of Nairobi | UON · Department of Agricultural Economics

This study assessed various market and non-market factors that might have a considerable bearing on farmers’ adoption of improved beef cattle breeds in dry areas of Kenya. A binomial (binary) logit model was applied to analyse survey data from a multistage area sample of beef cattle farmers. Results showed that about 53% of farmers in the arid and...

Due to rapid population growth, agri-food systems have been under increasing pressure to adapt and innovate to sustainably meet the growing demand for food. This requires advances in agricultural practices, technology and distribution networks. Farmer training has been proven to be a crucial component in this transformative process. Equipping farme...

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is an important legume for food and nutritional security. However, the level of its cultivation in western Kenya, where there is a serious malnutrition challenge, is still low due to a lack of insights into its attributes. Hence, to bridge this knowledge gap, this study analyzed smallholder farmers' preferences for produ...

Horticulture is highly affected by climate variability. Various measures including climate-smart horticulture (CSH) practices are applied by farmers to curb the severity of climate change. Some farmers use mobile phones to access information and enhance their knowledge and skills related to CSH. However, the empirical effect of mobile phone usage o...

While desert locust invasions threaten agricultural production and household incomes, a common understanding of how to implement integrated control is missing. This study aimed to provide new insights on targeted policies that address the heterogeneity of perspectives held by farmers. To do so, the study compared both R and Q-methodologies to ident...

Agricultural advisory services help farmers to access farming skills, technologies and agricultural markets. The services are offered by different actors, who all together form the pluralistic advisory service providers. In recent years, pluralistic advisory service providers have emerged in various developing countries including Tanzania. Pluralis...

The destructive nature of desert locust invasions in terms of reduced food security and loss of agricultural income necessitates effective control strategies. While chemical spraying is effective, it is harmful to the environment, human, and animal health. Therefore, an alternative is the implementation of an integrated desert locust management (ID...

Horticulture is an important sub-sector of the Kenyan economy that contributes to food and nutrition security as well as a source of income to small-scale farmers. However, the sub-sector is largely affected by climate variability. Although various efforts have been initiated towards climate-smart horticulture (CSH) practices to reduce the challeng...

Hidden hunger, a condition that arises from eating a low legume-cereal mix, hinders the attainment of food security. It affects 25% of the world’s population and 20% of the African population. To address this problem, various crop improvement programs aimed at increasing the introduction of biofortified beans in households’ diets have been initiate...

Newcastle disease (ND) poses a major challenge to Kenyan farmers who raise local chicken in a free-range system. The lack of consistent poultry rearing practices makes it unclear how farmers manage the disease. Insufficient awareness and negative perceptions contribute to the problem, leading to poor management and increased disease outbreaks. The...

Apart from generating Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the dairy industry in Kenya contributes to the employment of over a million people along the milk value chain. The sub-sector, however, still experiences low productivity and extensive informal marketing. Farmers have, therefore, formed cooperative societies that have received support in cooling p...

With declining funding in agricultural research and development coupled with tremendous pressure from different stakeholders, it is now essential for research institutes to demonstrate the return on investments (RoIs) in projects that they implement. In response to the above need, this study evaluated the RoI of seed sector interventions implemente...

Enhancing the productivity of crops through the adoption and uptake of technologies improves farmers' socioeconomic status through increased market participation. However, smallholder farmers in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) face a myriad of challenges that make it difficult for them to access and participate in the output markets. Like most SSA countri...

Grain legumes are essential nutrient-rich crops that provide protein, starch and micronutrients for healthy diets. They are important crops for female farmers in many parts of developing countries including Kenya, due to their multiple economic benefits. Although various development partners such as the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) ha...

BACKGROUND Orange‐fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) is bio‐fortified with vitamin A precursors through breeding and is thus ideal for combating vitamin A deficiency (VAD). One of the potential mechanisms to promote the consumption of OFSP is to enhance its availability through processing into products with a longer shelf life and more desirable to consum...

Wetlands are important for their richness in biodiversity and livelihood support functions. Thus, their wise use is advocated in the Ramsar Convention and calls for implementing conservation approaches to maintain the ecological character of such lands. According to this, the factors responsible for degradation, like the indiscriminate use of ferti...

Crop breeding programs have often focused on the release of new varieties that target yield improvement to achieve food security and reduce poverty. While continued investments in this objective are justified, there is a need for breeding programs to be increasingly more demand-driven and responsive to the changing customer preferences and populati...

Bio-fortified foods including orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) have been promoted worldwide as a potential mechanism to combat Vitamin A deficiency. One of the ways to promote consumption of OFSP is to process it into less perishable products with wider geographical coverage. However, there is a dearth of empirical insights on the specific attrib...

The cost of chicken production in developing countries is 300% higher than in developed nations. Overreliance on the key protein feed ingredients especially soybean and fishmeal (SFM) that are characterized by rising food-feed competition and supply chain impediments exacerbate the situation. The use of insect protein as a sustainable alternative p...

This 2018 randomized controlled trial examined the role behavioral nudges can play in improving caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) relating to biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). The experiment involved 431 preschooler–caregiver pairs in 15 villages. The preschoolers were enrolled in public-run Early Childhood Developm...

Gender gaps in crop productivity can negatively affect rural socio-economic development of agrarian economies with serious implications for food and nutrition security. We assess productivity in male- and female-managed sorghum plots in Lira, Kumi, and Serere districts in Uganda. We find male-managed plots have higher productivity of 850.6 kgs/ha c...

Despite the roles and functions of natural forests on the livelihood of the rural communities, their economic values are poorly reflected in market considerations and largely ignored in the decision-making process. There is inadequate empirical evidence detailing forest management preferences in developing countries, including Volcanoes National Pa...

This paper analyses the effects of gender and institutional support services on commercialisation patterns of maize by female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs) in Western Kenya. Using primary household survey data from 297 maize farmers, we estimate a Tobit model and a treatment effect model to assess the determinants and g...

Background Persistent high malnutrition prevalence among poor households in developing countries calls for enhancement of cost-effective nutrition interventions among the vulnerable groups. One responsive way is to promote regular consumption of home-grown biofortified foods, particularly among the micronutrient deficient groups. Previous nutrition...

Background: Biofortified staples have been promoted widely in sub-Saharan Africa to combat micronutrient deficiencies. Contemporary projects are increasingly using elementary schools to target households with these foods. Objective: This study assessed the effects of integrated nutrition education approaches, targeting preschoolers and their car...

African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) and its vectors, mainly tsetse, are a major constraint to livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Control efforts have been ongoing for decades, but finding a sustainable solution remains a major concern. This paper assessed the complementarity and substitutability of existing AAT management methods to...

Newcastle disease (ND) poses a challenge especially for farmers rearing indigenous chicken under the extensive system. This is due to the lack of uniformity in practices, favoring the introduction and spread of the disease. This is worsened by the lack of information on how management practices contribute to the spread of ND. The current study asse...

Sorghum plot managers in different locations have varying levels of resource endowment that in turn influence technical efficiency (TE). Therefore, plot managers operate at different levels of technology. The present study applied a stochastic metafrontier approach to assess TE and technology gaps of female, male and jointly-managed sorghum plots....

Contract farming is an innovative institutional arrangement with potential benefits to the livelihoods of value chain actors. However, there are mixed results in the literature on the extent to which participation in contracts contributes to farm efficiency and optimal use of available technology. This study estimated and compared technical efficie...

Fair trade is an important ethical concern in the food value chains of developed countries. However, there is a dearth of empirical insights into consumer preferences for this critical aspect in the domestic markets of developing countries. The current study analysed consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for fair-trade attributes in the goat meat value...

This paper analyzes the socio-economic characteristics of households that affect husbands and wives' contributions to decisions regarding the use of income from crop and livestock sales in Kenya. Using a sample of 276 households, we apply a multinomial logit model to assess factors affecting decision-making. Results show that husbands make most dec...

This study provides new insights on consumer preferences for chicken welfare attributes in a developing country context. Further, the inclusion of chicken transportation methods as an attribute is a useful contribution to empirical literature. Choice experiment survey data from 200 chicken consumers in Kenya were analyzed using random parameter log...

Newcastle disease (ND) is the most prevalent chicken disease in many developing countries including Kenya. It accounts for over 80% of chicken mortality rates, depriving farmers of their source of livelihood. It is the main challenge for farmers especially those rearing indigenous chickens under the free-range system. This is due to the lack of uni...

Horticultural farmers, especially vegetable producers are characterized by poor access to inputs such as credit and operate in unreliable markets for inputs and outputs. Empirical evidence shows that contract farming can potentially solve most of these constraints. However, contract violation is a key challenge among smallholder farmers in many dev...

Food fortification is an important strategy for addressing micronutrient malnutrition, especially relating to, among others, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in developing countries. Current efforts to tackle VAD in developing countries include biofortification and industrial fortification. In Kenya, the recent formulation of the national food security a...

This study used choice experiment survey data from a random sample of 374 respondents to analyze consumer preferences for quality and safety attributes of artisanal fruit juices in Kenya. Results show that consumers had a positive and significant preference for single fruit juices compared to fruit mixtures, private rather than public inspection of...

Climate change and weather variability are perhaps some of the major challenges facing the world today. In the phase of these challenges, various climate mitigation strategies including financial, production, as well as marketing aspects have played a significant role in cushioning farmers against adverse effects. In Kenya, agricultural insurance i...

Information asymmetry has traditionally constrained smallholder farmers’ access to markets, consequently limiting their adoption of modern technologies and farm productivity. Improved smallholder farmers’ access to markets via the recent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms has the potential to reverse this scenario. This study...

Agricultural risk management is very important in protecting farmers against the vagaries of weather. The initial stage in risk management is the identification of the perceived risk followed by application of various agricultural mitigation strategies. The risk mitigation strategies available to farmers fall under three categories, focusing on fin...

The stochastic metafrontier method is applied to estimate technical efficiency levels in beef cattle production in Kenya. Subsequently, a Tobit model is used to assess factors that might influence efficiency. Results show that the average efficiency level is 0.69, suggesting that there is considerable scope to improve beef production in Kenya. Cons...

Abstract Management of livestock diseases is important in ensuring food safety to consumers in both domestic and export markets. Various measures are prescribed under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization. In order to prevent the spread of trans-boundary cattle diseases, the SPS agreement recommend...

In this study the stochastic metafrontier method is used to investigate technical efficiency and technology gaps across three main beef cattle production systems in Kenya. Results show that there is significant inefficiency in nomadic and agro-pastoral systems. Further, in contrast with ranches, these two systems were found to have lower technology...

Management of food-borne illnesses is important in ensuring food safety to consumers in both domestic and export markets. In livestock trade, various measures are prescribed under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With regard to food safety, the SPS agreement recommends establishment of...

Transformations in agri-food systems provide prospects for improving livelihoods of many farmers through enhanced participation in commercial agriculture. Indeed, various studies have been undertaken to establish factors that influence the level of market orientation in different areas. However, those studies do not show appropriate objective crite...

Participation in commercial agriculture holds considerable potential for unlocking suitable opportunity sets necessary for providing better incomes and sustainable livelihoods for small-scale farmers. This study examined factors that influence the intensity of market participation among smallholder farmers in Kenya. Data was obtained through a rapi...

Smallholder Agriculture is key to livelihoods of many rural households in developing and transition economies. In Kenya, small farms account for over 75% of total agricultural production and nearly 50% of the marketed output. Despite favourable trends in global development drivers such as rising population, per capita incomes and emerging urban die...

Smallholder cattle farming is an important livelihood strategy in most developing countries like Kenya. However, tropical diseases in Africa often wipe out these valuable assets. This paper focuses on mitigation of cattle disease risks through a hypothetical insurance scheme. The study is based on data from a survey conducted on a purposive sample...

Food security remains a key challenge to the development efforts of most poor nations. This study investigated the significance of gender (denoted by number of male, female and children in a household) and social amenities in the food security equation. Frequency of food-related illnesses in a household was used as proxy for food security situation...

Involvement of farmers especially those at the smallholder level, in commercial agriculture is an important pathway towards economic development. There is a growing literature on the extent and determinants of market participation by farmers in different areas of the world. However, many studies fail to statistically account for the choice of eithe...