The Impact of State Marketing Board Operations on Smallholder Behavior and Incomes: The Case of Kenya

Despite the resurgence of parastatal marketing boards and strategic grain reserves over the last decade in eastern and southern Africa, there is little empirical evidence about how their activities affect smallholder input use and cropping decisions. This paper uses panel survey data from 1997-2007 on Kenyan smallholders to investigate the effect of Kenya’s National Cereal Produce Board (NCPB) activities on farm-gate maize price expectations, output supply, and factor demand.