Determinants of the produced coffee volumes and choice of marketing channels among smallholder coffee farmers in Embu and Kirinyaga counties, Kenya

Kenya’s economy is largely agricultural-based, relying on the production and export of tea, horticultural crops and coffee in that order. Understanding the dynamics of coffee production and marketing is critical for value chain sustainability. This study evaluated the determinants of the produced coffee volumes and choice of coffee marketing channel(s) among the smallholder farmers in Embu and Kirinyaga Counties in the Central Highlands of Kenya. A multistage stratified sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 385 respondents from the smallholder coffee farmers in the target areas. The study adopted the Tobit regression model and Endogenous Switching Regression model to evaluate the determinants of produced volumes and the farmers’ choice of coffee marketing channels, respectively. Tobit model results revealed that the coffee volumes produced at the farm level were significantly influenced by the availability of off-farm income, total land size, coffee farm size and market information. Endogenous estimation results revealed that the farmer’s choice of marketing channels was influenced by membership in a cooperative society, produced coffee volumes, raw coffee quality and payable prices on coffee sold. These findings underscore the need for relevant stakeholders to exploit the opportunities in production and marketing functions to improve coffee productivity and quality, since this would enable them to select the best marketing channel and consequently reap the best coffee prices.