Has Kenyan Farmers' Access To Markets And Services Improved? Panel Survey Evidence, 1997-2007

Abstract

Introduction

Smallholder farmers’ access to markets and agricultural support services has been a major concern for Kenyan policy makers since independence. Agricultural policies have often been conceived as a necessary response to weak market access. It is commonly perceived that private traders and input suppliers tend to locate and confine their business close to towns and market hubs where infrastructure is relatively well developed. Consequently, farmers residing in the more remote rural areas are largely cut off from markets and services, with obviously adverse implications for farm productivity growth and poverty reduction.