Effect of collective marketing on mango income among smallholder farmers in Mwala sub-county, Machakos County,Kenya

Veronica Wavinya Maingi, Magret Ngigi & Raphael Gitau

Abstract
The mango subsector is a major source of income for farmers in Kenya. However, due to marketing imperfections, smallholder mango farmers do may not be receiving a fair return on their income. This study examined the effect of collective marketing on mango income for 226 smallholder farmers in Mwala sub-county. The study employed an endogenous switching regression model to account for selection bias from observed and unobserved farmer attributes. The results reveal that participation in collective marketing significantly boosts mango income. In the counterfactual cases, participants in collective marketing would have realised USD 68.24 less income from mango if they had not participated. In contrast, non-participants would have earned about USD 167.63 more income if they had participated. The econometric results show that the gender, number of mango trees, farm size and access to market information significantly influence mango incomes. The study recommends encouraging more farmers to participate in collective marketing to increase their incomes from mango production.