Influence of access to markets on Farmer’s production decisions in Mbeere, Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Decision making, being an integral part of agricultural production means that this critical component affects farmers’ production overall yield and, ultimately, impact their livelihoods. The basis of these decisions include past experiences, newly presented information, financial pressures, resource availability, risk factors, availability of markets and even imposed regulations. In Embu county low crop production is also often associated with lack of appropriate farming practices and methods that are suited to the fragile ecosystems to cope with climate change challenges. The general objective of the study was to determine influence of Access to Markets on Farmer’s Production Decisions in Mbeere, Embu County, Kenya. A sample of 384 respondents was drawn from the study area encompassing the four administrative wards. The study adopted questionnaires to collect data which was later analysed to establish the respondent’s opinions on the influence of market access on farmers’ production decisions. The study analysed both descriptive statistics to define characteristics of the respondents and their opinions on the variables under study and inferential statistics to understand the extent to which the results reflected the characteristics of the wider research universe. The study results established that access to markets had a significant effect on farmers’ production decisions. The study concluded that it was important to increase access to markets so as to improve farm decisions and increase productivity of farmers in rural parts of Mbeere. The study recommended that there is a need to research on other factors affecting farmers’ production decisions including climate change, culture, farming practices and government policy and regulation. Keywords: Farmers’ production Decision Making, Food security, Market access, Embu County