Can Livelihood Capitals Promote Diversification of Resource-Poor Smallholder Farmers Into Agribusiness?: Evidence from Nyando and Vihiga Counties, Western Kenya.

The push towards the transformation of subsistence smallholder farming into market-oriented agribusiness has been in the public policy debates of many low- and middle-income countries, including Kenya. While various studies have highlighted the lack of livelihood capital as a reason for most smallholders not to diversify into agribusiness. How these livelihood capitals influence smallholders' decisions and choices have, however, only been partially researched. Using systematic random sampling, 392 households in Western Kenya were interviewed through a researcher-administered questionnaire. The multinomial logistic regression method was used to analyze the data. The findings reveal that livelihood capitals acted in parallel and jointly to determine the decisions of smallholders to participate in agribusiness. Results show that education level, gender, landholding size, distance to markets, farm input access, and agriculture extension services positively and significantly influenced the decision choices of households to participate in agribusiness. Households with higher livelihood capital accumulation resulted in a higher probability of participating in agribusiness while those with limited livelihood capital resulted in a lower probability to participate in agribusiness. We argue that designing appropriate pro-poor targeted policy interventions to improve households’ livelihood capital could address the problem of non-participation of poor rural smallholders in agribusiness markets

A spatially explicit approach for targeting resource-poor smallholders to improve their participation in agribusiness:a case of nyando and vihiga county in Western Kenya

The majority of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa face myriad challenges to participating in agribusiness markets. However, how the spatially explicit factors interact to influence household decision choices at the local level is not well understood. This paper’s objective is to identify, map, and analyze spatial dependency and heterogeneity in factors that impede poor smallholders from participating in agribusiness markets. Using the researcher-administered survey questionnaires, we collected geo-referenced data from 392 households in Western Kenya. We used three spatial geostatistics methods in Geographic Information System to analyze data—Global Moran’s I, Cluster and Outliers Analysis, and geographically weighted regression. Results show that factors impeding smallholder farmers exhibited local spatial autocorrelation that was linked to the local context. We identified distinct local spatial clusters (hot spots and cold spots clusters) that were spatially and statistically significant. Results affirm that spatially explicit factors play a crucial role in influencing the farming decisions of smallholder households. The paper has demonstrated that geospatial analysis using geographically disaggregated data and methods could help in the identification of resource-poor households and neighborhoods. To improve poor smallholders’ participation in agribusiness, we recommend policymakers to design spatially targeted interventions that are embedded in the local context and informed by locally expressed needs

Mapping the spatial dimension of food insecurity using GIS-based indicators: A case of Western Kenya

Food insecurity elimination is a major focus of the Sustainable Development Goals and addresses one of the most pressing needs in developing countries. With the increasing incidence of food insecurity, poverty, and inequalities, there is a need for realignment of agriculture that aims to empower especially the rural poor smallholders by increasing productivity to improving food security conditions. Repositioning the agricultural sector should avoid general statements about production improvement, instead, it should tailor to location-specific recommendations that fully acknowledge the local spatial diversity of the natural resource base that largely determines production potentials under current low input agriculture. This paper aims to deconstruct the complex and multidimensional aspect of food insecurity and provides policymakers with an approach for mapping the spatial dimension of food insecurity. Using a set of GIS-based indicators, and a small-area approach, we combine Principal Component Analysis and GIS spatial analysis to construct one composite index and four individual indices based on the four dimensions of food security (access, availability, stability, and utilization) to map the spatial dimension of food insecurity in Vihiga County, Kenya. Data were collected by the use of a geocoded household survey questionnaire. The results reveal the existence of a clear and profound spatial disparity of food insecurity. Mapping food insecurity using individual dimension indices provides a more detailed picture of food insecurity as compared to the single composite index. Spatially disaggregated data, a small area approach, and GIS-based indicators prove valuable for mapping local-level causative factors of household food insecurity. Effective policy approaches to combat food insecurity inequalities should integrate spatially targeted interventions for each dimension of food insecurity

Application of GIS in Agriculture in Promoting Evidence-Informed Decision Making for Improving Agriculture Sustainability: A Systematic Review

The objective of this review was to synthesize existing evidence on GIS and RS application in agriculture in enhancing evidence-informed policy and practice for improving agriculture sustainability and identifying obstacles to their application, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Systematic searches were conducted in the databases SCOPUS, Web of Science, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine, COnnecting REpositories (CORE), and Google Scholar. We identified 2113 articles published between 2010–2021, out of which 40 articles met the inclusion criteria. The results show that GIS technology application in agriculture has gained prominence in the last decade, with 66% of selected papers being published in the last six years. The main GIS application areas identified included: crop yield estimation, soil fertility assessment, cropping patterns monitoring, drought assessment, pest and crop disease detection and management, precision agriculture, and fertilizer and weed management. GIS technology has the potential to enhance agriculture sustainability through integrating the spatial dimension of agriculture into agriculture policies. In addition, GIS potential in promoting evidenced informed decision making is growing. There is, however, a big gap in GIS application in sub-Saharan Africa, with only one paper originating from this region. With the growing threat of climate change to agriculture and food security, there is an increased need for the integration of GIS in policy and decision making in improving agriculture sustainability

Land Tenure Systems in Kisumu City;The formal- Informal Dichtomy

Abstract: In the process of urbanization, the peri-urban areas are often the front line of urban transformation and transition and therefore potential zones of conflicts over land tenure arrangements. This study sought to explore land tenure arrangements, administration and governance in the peri-urban zones of Kisumu city. The objective was to provide empirical evidence on the conflicts and emerging governance issues in Kisumu city. In this working paper, we recognize three main drivers as being particularly important for facilitating equitable land use and therefore good outcomes from urbanization in Kisumu; Sound land use planning, smoothly functioning land and housing markets and capable and responsive land market. The results, based on the insights gained through conversational interviews as well as desk-top reviews show that public land tenure, leaseholds, freeholds and community land tenure systems are the most widespread in the study area. Holding land under leasehold and freehold tenure appears to be more widespread within peri-urban fringe. Whereas elaborate town planning criteria should ideally direct resource allocation, the challenge for Kisumu like other developing towns and cities is that it has been developing against a backdrop of poor urban planning practice