Assessment of Market Potential for Tree seedlings and Agroforestry Products in Western Kenya: Insights from Lower Nyando Basin

Abstract

This study was an attempt to establish market potential for tree seedlings and other agroforestry products in addition to assessing the viability of the tree seedling enterprise in the lower Nyando Basin, which comprises three micro catchments namely Onyuongo, Katuk-Kapsiti and Kapsokale. In particular, the objectives of the study were to map actors in the tree seedlings' and agroforestry products' value chains; identify the functions of the actors; map business services and identify constraints and opportunities for growth along the value chains. In order to accomplish the aforementioned objectives, we used mixed methods of data collection and used a value chain approach in which key actors in the agroforestry value chain were interviewed to identify leverage points for intervention and opportunities for growth along the tree seedlings and agroforestry products' value chain. The data used in this report were gathered from 8 nursery operators (2 communal and 6 individual operators), 60 producers (20 from each micro-catchment), 15 traders (7 fuel wood traders, 5 fruits traders and 3 timber traders) and 8 primary processors (4 charcoal burners and 4 carpenters) who were purposively selected. Purposive sampling was preferred for this particular study because there was need to gather data from actors who are actively involved in the production and marketing of agroforestry products and tree seedlings. Stratified random sampling would have been feasible but the proportion of actors involved in agroforestry was too small to allow for such a technique. In some cases, snow balling approach was employed to identify other actors owing to the small number of the target population. The results of the survey were complemented with the information obtained from key informants during the participatory market system development (PSMD) workshop held in Kisumu and the three stakeholder forums held in the three micro-catchments. The information gathered from the stakeholder forums and the PMSD workshop was useful in adapting the data collection instruments as well as in identifying priority tree species to be subjected to further economic and market analyses. Consequently, the individual survey data collected from the actors were useful in validating the information obtained from the two workshops.