Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan Economy. However, agriculture has experienced low productivity over the years. Poor access to agricultural finance has been identified as a contributing factor to low crop productivity. Kenyan agriculture has undergone some fundamental changes which have...

This paper investigates sources and determinants of agricultural growth in Africa, concentrating on the growth path during the last three decades. The analysis employs the broader framework provided by empirical growth literature and recent developments in Total Factor Productivity (TFP)...

This paper assessed the effects of transactions costs—relative to price and non-price factors—on smallholder marketed surplus and input use in Kenya. A selectivity model was used that accounts not only for the effects of fixed and variable transactions costs but also for the role of assets,...

This paper determines the degree or extent of farmer’s risk aversion that affects sustainable maize production in Northern Nigeria. Using a ridge regression analysis, a measure of risk aversion was derived for each individual farmer in a model of safety-first behaviour from a cross-sectional...

Today, development and dissemination of new technologies constitute an important strategy for agricultural intensification, poverty reduction and food security in developing countries. Rice is an important source of farmers’ income and foreign currencies in developing countries. Although women...

Guided by the frame work of a household model under credit market failure, this paper aims at investigating the impact of access to credit on the adoption of hybrid maize among households that vary in their credit constraints. The data used in the study is from Malawi collected by the...

This study uses survey data to examine the role of access to credit on cocoa production, in West African cocoa production countries under conditions of agricultural policy liberalization. The study specifies and estimates econometric models to simulate the counterfactual of what cocoa production...

The need for increase in fish production in order to improve protein intake by Nigerians led to this study. The study analyzed information needs of backyard fish farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study investigated the socio-economic characteristics of backyard fish farmers,...

Pests and diseases caused by bacteria, nematodes, fungi and viruses cause significant losses to tomato in West Africa. This study, carried-out within the framework of the IPM-CRSP implemented jointly by IITA, IER and Virginia Tech. and State University, assesses farmers’ perceptions on tomato...

The maize industry in South Africa has a long history of government intervention, fuelled by the two Marketing Acts (of 1937 and 1968). After the introduction of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (Act 47 of 1996), farmers were exposed to international maize prices, i.e. to the forces of...