TY - JOUR

T1 - Welfare and food security effects of commercializing African indigenous vegetables in Kenya

AU - Krause, Henning

AU - Faße, Anja

AU - Grote, Ulrike

N1 - Funding Information: The authors received no direct funding for this research. This publication is a product of the HORTINLEA project (http://www.hortinlea.org/) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not under any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the BMBF and BMZ. The article processing charge (APC) was funded by the Open Access fund of Leibniz Universit?t Hannover. Funding Information: This publication is a product of the HORTINLEA project ( http://www.hortinlea.org/ ) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not under any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the BMBF and BMZ. The article processing charge (APC) was funded by the Open Access fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) have high nutritional value, forming a potent weapon against the pressing hidden hunger problem in East Africa, but they are not sufficiently adopted as cash crops by Kenyan small-scale farmers to meet the rising demand in the urban areas. This study therefore aims (i) to explore which factors motivate small-scale farmers to specialize in commercial AIV production and (ii) to assess the impact of AIV production on household income and food security. This analysis was based on primary data from 706 rural and peri-urban small-scale vegetable producers in Kenya. Results of a binary choice model showed that education, participation in producer groups, access to market information and irrigation water, as well as distance to the next city influenced the decision to commercialize AIV production. Impact analysis was conducted with binary and continuous propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR). The production of AIVs as cash crops positively influenced the total per capita household income and the food security status of the households.

AB - African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) have high nutritional value, forming a potent weapon against the pressing hidden hunger problem in East Africa, but they are not sufficiently adopted as cash crops by Kenyan small-scale farmers to meet the rising demand in the urban areas. This study therefore aims (i) to explore which factors motivate small-scale farmers to specialize in commercial AIV production and (ii) to assess the impact of AIV production on household income and food security. This analysis was based on primary data from 706 rural and peri-urban small-scale vegetable producers in Kenya. Results of a binary choice model showed that education, participation in producer groups, access to market information and irrigation water, as well as distance to the next city influenced the decision to commercialize AIV production. Impact analysis was conducted with binary and continuous propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR). The production of AIVs as cash crops positively influenced the total per capita household income and the food security status of the households.

KW - African indigenous vegetables

KW - East Africa

KW - endogenous switching regression

KW - food security

KW - household income

KW - propensity score matching

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097080065&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/23311932.2019.1700031

DO - 10.1080/23311932.2019.1700031

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85097080065

VL - 5

JO - Cogent Food and Agriculture

JF - Cogent Food and Agriculture

IS - 1

M1 - 1700031

ER -