The effect of collective action on performance and marketing of passion fruit among smallholder farmers in Nandi County, Kenya

In Kenya, over 80 percent of smallholder farmers are engaged in the cultivation of horticultural crops. Passion fruit is one of the high value horticultural crops produced by smallholder farmers because of high returns. The enterprise is gaining inroads in the predominantly cereal growing areas of North Rift. Its production has not been intensified since farmers grow few vines, but they are now forming passion fruit producer and marketing groups. However, the contribution of collective action in production and marketing of passion fruits is not clear, and this formed the basis of the study. The study was conducted in Nandi County with the following objectives: to determine the factors that influence participation and commitment in producer and marketing groups; to determine the effect of collective action on enterprise performance, and to establish the effect of household, technical and institutional factors on the choice of the marketing channel among smallholder passion fruit farmers. Primary data was collected using multistage sampling techniques to arrive at a sample of 141 respondents. Data was analysed using excel for descriptive statistics and gross margin analysis, while STATA was adopted in analysing double hurdle and multinomial logit models. From the findings, selling price, membership in other groups, training on passion fruit enterprise management and distance to the nearest output market positively influenced smallholder farmers’ participation and commitment to collective action, whereas the education level and age of the producer had a negative effect. Further, participation in collective action positively influenced passion fruit enterprise performance. Multinomial logit results on the choice of marketing channel indicated that farmers sold their produce through various channels. Channel choice was influenced by the gender of the producer, payment period, perception of being exploited and selling price. From the findings, it is evident that collective action could improve enterprise performance, which in turn would lead to increased farm revenue and household income. Hence, it is recommended that stakeholders should promote collective action in developing input and output markets for smallholder farmers. Further, it is recommended that policies that strengthen frameworks that guide group membership, and the construction of output markets should be put in place to support collective action and collective marketing among passion fruit farmers.