An analysis of marketing of African indigenous vegetables among Agro-pastoral Maasai of Narok and Kajiado Counties

Abstract

The Maasai of Narok and Kajiado counties have started embracing agro-pastoralism as a livelihood diversification strategy. Among the crop enterprises they have incorporated are African Indigenous Vegetables in abid to take advantage of their resilience to the changing environment. However, for African Indigenous Vegetables to be beneficial, it requires efficient marketing. A marketing analysis of African Indigenous Vegetables was conducted in Narok and Kajiado counties to determine the most preferred marketing outlets, the characteristics of the different actors in the marketing and the marketing margins of key marketing outlets of the African Indigenous Vegetables. The study also established the factors influencing the choice of African Indigenous Vegetables marketing outlets among the agro-pastoral Maasai. Data was collected from 200 respondents using structured questionnaires. Purposive sampling method was used to select the sub counties and locations while a list from the extension offices was obtained and systematic sampling technique used to select the households for the data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the most preferred marketing outlets as well as the characteristics of the different actors in the marketing of African Indigenous Vegetables. Market margin analysis was used to determine the marketing margins of key marketing outlets while a multinomial logistic regression model was used to establish the factors influencing the choice of marketing outlets of African Indigenous Vegetables. The descriptive results indicated that the most preferred marketing outlet in the studied areas is the local open-air market (55%) and the identified marketing actors have no specialization in terms of training in their marketing roles. Females were found to be predominant in marketing OF African Indigenous Vegetables. The marketing margin of African Indigenous Vegetables varied between the key marketing outlets due to price and marketing cost variation. The results for marketing margin also show that the local open air market is the most profitable marketing outlet for the commonly grown African Indigenous Vegetables. The results of the logistic regression model revealed that the choice of marketing outlet of the sampled agro-pastoral Maasai is influenced by quantity of African Indigenous Vegetables sold, distance to the agricultural market, sex of the household, education level, household size, levels of value addition, farming experience in agro-pastoralism, off-farm income and marketing costs. In view of the research findings, it is imperative to enhance African Indigenous Vegetables marketing in the studied areas to contribute to improved livelihoods among the agro-pastoral Maasai communities.