| dc.description.abstract | Coffee is an important crop globally due its contribution of National GDP, tax generation
food security and inequality reduction role. Global trend of poor coffee production has
seen increase in poverty and inequality in coffee production countries among small scale
coffee producers. The purpose of study was to assess factors influencing small scale
coffee production in Tetu constituency, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to assess
the influence of: social factors, adoption of coffee production technologies, coffee
Cooperative Societies management, coffee value addition and roles of key coffee players
on small scale coffee production . Primary data was collected using both open and closed
ended questionnaires from small scale farmers and interview schedules for Coffee
Cooperative Society’s Management and key stakeholders. The data was analyzed using
Statistical Package for Social sciences version 21 for both descriptive and inferential
statistics and presented in tables, inferential analysis done included Pearson correlation
and Chi square analysis. The target population was 12,409 small scale farmers in Tetu
Constituency in Nyeri County from which a sample size of 201 small scale farmers, 27
members of coffee Cooperative Society Management which comprised of manager,
secretary and the treasurer and 12 key stakeholders which comprised of extension staff
from Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing and
the Coffee Board of Kenya. Age of the household heads, marital status and gender did
not influence coffee production. However education level of the household head
attributed to 32.4% of coffee productivity. A total of 93% of the farmers attributed low
yield to high preference of pests and diseases incidences and 71.7% incidences was
attributed to low utilization of fertilizers. Low education level of the management staff
was evident with 90% having maximum education of secondary school. Irrespective of
this there was good financial and management of the societies. Low value addition
opportunities which included limited domestic consumption, restricted marketing
channels, low coffee prices could have influenced yield. The role of CBK which is a
regulatory body had oppressed farmers but favoured roles of coffee Cooperative
Societies Management. Roles of both Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of
Cooperative Development and Marketing were motivating farmers and the management
of Cooperative Societies. This study provided information which can be used to solve
problems facing coffee sector, assist farmers, policy makers, staff in Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Cooperative development and Marketing, Management of coffee
factory and Coffee Cooperative societies and other stakeholders in revitalizing coffee
sector. | en_US |
