IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea15/205464.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Micro and meso-level issues affecting potato production and marketing in the tropical highlands of Sub-Saharan Africa: The known and the unknowns

Author

Listed:
  • Okello, Julius J.
  • Kwikiriza, Norman
  • Kakuhenire, Rogers
  • Parker, Monica
  • Schulte-Geldermann, Elmar
  • Pambo, Kennedy

Abstract

This study uses ecological system theory to examine the micro and meso level factors that affect and are affected potato production in Sub-Sahara Africa. It focuses on gender, environmental factors, food security. The data and information used were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The study finds that gender use within the households is changing. It also finds that dwindling land sizes and soil fertility are encouraging the migration potato plots to fragile margins while increased pest and disease pressure is encouraging greater reliance on pesticide -- resulting into increased incidences of pesticide poisoning, all of which have definite effects on the environment and sustainability of potato production and agriculture in general. It concludes that farm household (micro-level) decisions on potato production are driving and being driven by the environmental/ physical (meso) level ecology. The study discusses the implications of its findings for policy and sustainability of agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Okello, Julius J. & Kwikiriza, Norman & Kakuhenire, Rogers & Parker, Monica & Schulte-Geldermann, Elmar & Pambo, Kennedy, 2015. "Micro and meso-level issues affecting potato production and marketing in the tropical highlands of Sub-Saharan Africa: The known and the unknowns," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205464, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:205464
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.205464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/205464/files/AAEA_Micro%20and%20meso%20issues%20paper_27may2015_rev.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.205464?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill, 2005. "Selling at the Farmgate or Traveling to Market," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 717-734.
    2. Doss, Cheryl R., 2001. "Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2075-2092, December.
    3. Ullrich, Antje & Volk, Martin, 2009. "Application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to predict the impact of alternative management practices on water quality and quantity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(8), pages 1207-1217, August.
    4. Baidu-Forson, J., 1999. "Factors influencing adoption of land-enhancing technology in the Sahel: lessons from a case study in Niger," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 231-239, May.
    5. Marenya, Paswel P. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2007. "Household-level determinants of adoption of improved natural resources management practices among smallholder farmers in western Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 515-536, August.
    6. Solomon Asfaw & Dagmar Mithöfer & Hermann Waibel, 2010. "Agrifood supply chain, private‐sector standards, and farmers' health: evidence from Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 251-263, May.
    7. Patrick Hitayezu & Julius Juma Okello & Christopher Obel-Gor, 2014. "Farm households' participation in rural non-farm employment in post-war Rwanda: Drivers and policy implications," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 452-474, May.
    8. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Adeoti, Adetola I. & Salau, Sheu, 2011. "Measuring the effect of transaction costs for investment in irrigation pumps: Application of the unobserved stochastic threshold model to the case of Nigeria," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, September.
    9. Kabunga, Nassul S. & Dubois, Thomas & Qaim, Matin, 2014. "Impact of tissue culture banana technology on farm household income and food security in Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 25-34.
    10. Doss, Cheryl R. & Morris, Michael L., 2001. "How does gender affect the adoption of agricultural innovations?: The case of improved maize technology in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 27-39, June.
    11. Plummer, Ryan & Armitage, Derek, 2007. "A resilience-based framework for evaluating adaptive co-management: Linking ecology, economics and society in a complex world," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 62-74, February.
    12. Shiferaw, Bekele A. & Obare, Gideon A. & Geoffrey, Muricho & Silim, Said, 2009. "Leveraging institutions for collective action to improve markets for smallholder producers in less-favored areas," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 3(01), pages 1-18, March.
    13. White, Douglas S. & Labarta, Ricardo A. & Leguia, Efrain J., 2005. "Technology adoption by resource-poor farmers: considering the implications of peak-season labor costs," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 183-201, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Momanyi, Denis & Lagat, Prof. Job K. & Ayuya, Dr. Oscar I., 2016. "Analysis of the Marketing Behaviour of African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among Smallholder Farmers in Nyamira County, Kenya," MPRA Paper 69202, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Jan 2016.
    2. Seebens, Holger, 2008. "One size fits all? Female Headed Households, Income Risk, and Access to Resources," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43609, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Tomonori Yokouchi & Kazuki Saito, 2016. "Factors affecting farmers’ adoption of NERICA upland rice varieties: the case of a seed producing village in central Benin," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 197-209, February.
    4. Ariane Zingiro & Julius Okello & Paul Guthiga, 2014. "Assessment of adoption and impact of rainwater harvesting technologies on rural farm household income: the case of rainwater harvesting ponds in Rwanda," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1281-1298, December.
    5. Aslihan Arslan & Kristin Floress & Christine Lamanna & Leslie Lipper & Solomon Asfaw & Todd Rosenstock, 2020. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 63 - The adoption of improved agricultural technologies - A meta-analysis for Africa," IFAD Research Series 304758, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    6. Tomonori Yokouchi & Kazuki Saito, 2016. "Factors affecting farmers’ adoption of NERICA upland rice varieties: the case of a seed producing village in central Benin," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 197-209, February.
    7. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Linking Smallholders to Markets: Determinants and Impacts of Farmer Collective Action in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1255-1268.
    8. Chiputwa, Brian & Spielman, David J. & Qaim, Matin, 2015. "Food Standards, Certification, and Poverty among Coffee Farmers in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 400-412.
    9. Margaret A. McEwan & Moses S. Matui & Sarah Mayanja & Sam Namanda & Kwame Ogero, 2023. "Gender dynamics in seed systems: female makeover or male takeover of specialized sweetpotato seed production, in Lake Zone Tanzania?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(3), pages 693-710, June.
    10. Beatrice W. Muriithi & Kassie Menale & Gracious Diiro & Geoffrey Muricho, 2018. "Does gender matter in the adoption of push-pull pest management and other sustainable agricultural practices? Evidence from Western Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 253-272, April.
    11. Ngokkuen, Chuthaporn & Grote, Ulrike, 2012. "Geographical Indication for Jasmine Rice: Applying a Logit Model to Predict Adoption Behavior of Thai Farm Households," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 51(2), pages 1-29, May.
    12. Fisher, Monica & Kandiwa, Vongai, 2014. "Can agricultural input subsidies reduce the gender gap in modern maize adoption? Evidence from Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 101-111.
    13. Rieko Shibata & Sarah Cardey & Peter Dorward, 2020. "Gendered Intra‐Household Decision‐Making Dynamics in Agricultural Innovation Processes: Assets, Norms and Bargaining Power," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1101-1125, October.
    14. Willy, Daniel Kyalo & Holm-Müller, Karin, 2013. "Social influence and collective action effects on farm level soil conservation effort in rural Kenya," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 94-103.
    15. Van Campenhout, Bjorn, 2016. "Risk and Sustainable Crop Intensification," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246917, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    16. Julius Juma Okello & Yuan Zhou & Norman Kwikiriza & Sylvester Ochieng Ogutu & Ian Barker & Elmar Schulte-Geldermann & Elly Atieno & Justin Taj Ahmed, 2016. "Determinants of the Use of Certified Seed Potato among Smallholder Farmers: The Case of Potato Growers in Central and Eastern Kenya," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-12, October.
    17. Meinzen-Dick, R., 2010. "Engendering agricultural research," IWMI Working Papers H043604, International Water Management Institute.
      • Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Quisumbing, Agnes & Behrman, Julia & Biermayr-Jenzano, Patricia & Wilde, Vicki & Noordeloos, Marco & Ragasa, Catherine & Beintema, Nienke, 2010. "Engendering agricultural research," IFPRI discussion papers 973, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Kenneth W. Sibiko & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Weather index insurance, agricultural input use, and crop productivity in Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 151-167, February.
    19. Gebremariam, Gebrelibanos & Tesfaye, Wondimagegn, 2018. "The heterogeneous effect of shocks on agricultural innovations adoption: Microeconometric evidence from rural Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 154-161.
    20. Kassie, Menale & Ndiritu, Simon Wagura & Stage, Jesper, 2014. "What Determines Gender Inequality in Household Food Security in Kenya? Application of Exogenous Switching Treatment Regression," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 153-171.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:205464. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.