| dc.description.abstract | The overall economic and social development in Kenya depends on Agricultural growth and
development. Kenya is a major producer of agricultural commodities such as tea and coffee for
export while cultivation of food crops such as maize and Irish potatoes are mainly for
consumption purposes. This study investigates potato pricing and marketing policies in Kuresoi
Sub-County of Nakuru County for the period 1977-2010. Price stability for any crop in the
market encourages more production and hence income stability for the farmers. The fluctuations
and unpredictable increase in farm input prices, inadequate market competition due to poor
infrastructural facilities leads to lower productivity for Irish potatoes and consequent unstable
incomes for the farmers. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used as an estimation technique
upon verifying of the various assumptions which include linearity, normality and constant
variance across observations, no serial correlation and stationarity. The study utilized both
descriptive statistics and estimation technique in presentation of the findings. The study variables
include the current number of hectares under cultivation, the input cost per hectare, the previous
year’s average price of potatoes, the previous year’s last quarter average price of potatoes, the
previous year’s yield per hectare and the previous year’s price of competing crop (maize).The
regression results show that previous year’s average price of potatoes and the previous year’s last
quarter average price of potatoes were statistically significant at 5%. However, the previous
year’s average price of potatoes was negatively related to the current number of hectares under
cultivation while the previous year’s last quarter average price of potatoes was positively related
to the current number of hectares under cultivation. Based on the study findings, it is suggested
that stability in prices may be achieved if the government through the relevant sectors improve
infrastructures which link farmers to the markets thus increasing income for potato farmers as the
cost of production will reduce. Utilization of proper storage facilities such as the cold stores to
store Irish potatoes will lead to improved prices in the market. Finally, it is recommended that
pricing policies be reviewed in order to ensure sustainability of price stability. | en_US |
