Analysis of Drivers of Postharvest Losses Along the Mango Value Chain in Embu and Machakos Counties of Kenya

The study was conducted to model the drivers of PHLs along the Mango value chain. Three levels of the chain were examined: farm, wholesale, and retail levels. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The sampling method was multistage in nature, where the counties were purposively selected. Nairobi was selected since it is the major market for fruits in Kenya. Snowballing was used to identify traders in Nairobi where 48 wholesalers were interviewed. A referral to 60 retailers and 13 brokers was made from the wholesalers. 12 retailers did not respond to the survey and thus a total of 48 retailers were fully interviewed. Key informant interviews with the brokers (7 from Embu, and 6 from Machakos) was undertaken, and later lists with names of the farmers were developed and used as the sampling frame. A random sample of 35 farmers from each county was selected and interviewed. From the farm, mapping was done to the local market where Uhuru and Marikiti markets of Machakos and Embu counties respectively were selected. A total of 26 wholesalers were fully interviewed (11 from Embu and 15 from Machakos), and a total of 50 retailers were interviewed from both markets (25 each market)