Title: An economic analysis of gender roles in soya bean value addition and marketing in Kenya: a case of smallholder farms in Western Kenya

Authors: Dave Nyongesa; Robert Bellarmine Mabele; Christine Kanee Mutoni; Anthony Obutiatia Esilaba

Addresses: Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Food Crops Research Institute, Kabete Research Centre, Socio-Economics and Policy Development Unit, P.O. Box 14733-00800 (Westlands), Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Economics, College of Social Sciences (CoSS), University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35045, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ' Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Biotechnology Research Institute, Kabete Biotechnology Research Centre, P.O. Box 42269-00101 (Jamia Starehe), Nairobi, Kenya ' Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Environment and Natural Resource Systems Research Programme, P.O. Box 57811-00200 (City Square), Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract: The study investigated the economics of productive gender roles in smallholder soya bean value-addition (processing) in Western Kenya. Multistage sampling technique was applied. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 370 interviewees using a semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire in 2011/2012. Data analyses encompassed gender, descriptive and inferential statistics/stochastic frontier modelling. Results showed women dominated (74.0%) the soya bean value-adding activities; men (17.0%); women and men (4.0%); women and children (4.0%) and children alone (1.0%). The value-adding firms/farms were technically-inefficient with a mean of 46.0% and efficiencies of 8.0%-24.0% due to many negatively-signed and statistically-significant coefficients (p < 0.05). The values-added/kilogram ranged from KES 30-290 and were profitable amidst constraints faced. Most factors/costs that significantly affected profitability/returns to soya bean value-adding were significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) at either 1%/5%/10%. County governments/other stakeholders' interventions would positively impact processors' efficiency for increased profitability.

Keywords: soya bean; gender; value-addition; smallholder; cost; efficiency; Western Kenya; marketing; soy-products; interviewees.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2018.097463

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2018 Vol.14 No.3, pp.237 - 259

Received: 11 Sep 2017
Accepted: 12 Aug 2018
Published online: 23 Jan 2019 *

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