Effects of Integrated Cassava Value Chain Intervention on Socio Economic Development of Smallholder Farmers in Rongo District Kenya.

Abstract

Value chain development has become a key approach in both research and policy fields, with an increasing number of bilateral and multilateral aid organizations adopting it to guide their development interventions. AICAD/JICA-Project supported by the three East African States of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania together with Japan International Cooperation Agency, adopted this approach to improve the livelihoods of the farming communities living in Rongo District of Migori County. The communities used to grow a lot of cassava which was however, wiped out by African Cassava Mosaic Disease in 1980s. Although, farmers resorted to maize and sugarcane farming, the yields were low due to the poor soils, lack of finances to purchase adequate farm inputs and presence of striga weed; a parasitic plant that has devastating effect on the yield of cereal crops. The project was aimed at re-introducing cassava crop in the District and empowering the community on how to produce, process, utilize and market its products for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development. The study, was conducted to assess the effects of the project intervention on the socio-economic development of the farmers, involved a sample of 40 beneficiaries obtained through stratified proportionate random sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyze the collected data with the aid of SPSS computer programme. The results show that besides a significant increase in the average acreage under cassava ( from 0.4 acres to 0.98), the production, processing and marketing interventions had a positive and significant effects on the socioeconomic indicators among the small holders farmers