Determinants of Market Outlets Choices among Smallholder Mango and Passion Fruit Farmers in Kenya

Aims: Mango and passion fruit farming is one of the lucrative enterprises in the areas where they are grown and marketed. However, there is need for stability in the market outlets choices made by farmers due to the negative influence of brokers and fear of postharvest loss. This study sought to identify the determinants that influence the choice of market outlet made by mango and passion fruit farmers in Machakos, Makueni, Embu, Uasin Gishu, and Trans Nzoia Counties, Kenya.

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used on a target population of 18750 smallholder mango and passion fruit households to get a sample size of 402 households through random cluster sampling. The study considered three market outlets: direct marketing, intermediate marketing, and collective action. A multinomial logit model was used to analyze the determinants of the choice of market outlets.

Results: The descriptive findings revealed that most smallholder mango farmers (72.73%) and passion fruit farmers (91.67%) rely on brokers/intermediaries to market their produce. The multinomial model revealed that market distance, household size, age, and years of schooling among the independent variables led to 52.84% influence on the choice of market outlet. An increase in any of the determinants by a unit increased the likelihood of the farmers' use of broker market outlet as opposed to direct marketing or wholesaling. As farmers' years of schooling increased by one year, the propensity to trade with a broker increased by a factor of 0.027 (P-value=0.01), while the tendency to trade with exporters increased by 0.004 (P-value=0.1).

Conclusion: There is lack of proper regulated market outlets for mango and passion fruit. The government must streamline mango and passion fruit markets to aid in dealing with brokers. Government needs also to improve roads connecting markets in mango growing areas.