Factors Influencing Marketing Of Agricultural Produce Among Small-Scale Farmers, A Case Of Sorhgum In Giaki Location, Meru County Kenya

Abstract

Small scale farmers frequently consider marketing of their farm produce as one of their major problems. This study aimed at establishing the factors that influence marketing of agricultural produce among small-scale farmers, a case of sorghum in Giaki location, Meru County Kenya. The study embarked on the influence of middlemen as market link, road infrastructure, access to marketing information, and price on marketing of agricultural produce among small scale farmers. The research was conducted using descriptive research design and the data was collected using questionnaires. The target population consisted of all the 212 households which are involved in sorghum produce in Giaki location. These households are widely spread all over the three sub- locations in Giaki location namely; Mbeu, Thameri and Kambereu sub- Locations. The sample size was 138 sorghum farmers distributed among the three sub-locations as follows; Mbeu 52, Thameri 41, and Kambereu 45 households. The questionnaires were self-administered to the respondents. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) and presented in form of tables. The variables were correlated using statistical methods. The study found that a large number of small scale sorghum marketers in the location are involved in sorghum grains marketing and they are not organized in group but market individually. Majority of smallholder farmers (89.5%) use middlemen as market link while marketing their sorghum produce. 96.2 % of the respondents felt that middlemen are exploitive to small scale sorghum famers. As a result of this the profit coming in the pockets of the farmer is very little. Majority of the respondents (69.1%) felt that middlemen as market link are important because they help the farmer‘s link with the consumers while saving the customers a lot of cost involved in marketing of sorghum produce. The study also found out that most of the respondents (52.6 %) use dusty roads when marketing their sorghum produce. This makes difficult to transport their produce to the market place during the rainy season. The study also revealed that 72.2 % use mobile phones as mode of accessing marketing information since it‘s convenience to everyone. 69.9% of the respondents get the information from the middlemen as their source. 66.2% of the respondents indicated that the middlemen are the one who set the prices of sorghum produce. Lastly the study found out that the largest number of the respondents (55.6 %) use mobile banking as mode of payment for their sorghum produce. It was established that there was a strong positive correlation between Access to information followed by price and middlemen respectively while road infrastructure had the weakest association with sorghum marketing .Moreover all the variables were significant at 95% confidence level with sorghum marketing, access to information being the most significant (P=0.019) and road infrastructure being least significant (P=0.048). Based on the findings the research recommends that there is a need for sorghum producers to be empowered in terms of access to marketing information, especially on the information involving prices and market availability for their produce. also there is need a for the government agencies who are involved in price setting of agricultural produce to intervene towards the price setting of sorghum grains as recommend by many respondents. This is because respondents feel that middlemen being the ones who sets the price for the sorghum grains they set prices which only favors them and hence gaining more profits at the expense of producers (small scale farmers). The results obtained in this study can be utilized in developing marketing strategies that can improve the livelihood of small scale farmers.