Improving Kenya's Domestic Horticultural Production and Marketing

in that crop are first addressed (see Chapter 6 for more detail on citrus greening disease).
Broader income gains through such focused activities would be achieved through re-spending
of incomes by the relatively few direct beneficiaries.
Cabbage, tomato, avocado and onion fall between these two other groups in terms of
concentration of sales. Each is produced in at least six of our seven zones, and 5% of the
rural population accounts for 81-88% of sales.
The review also showed that the largest horticultural sellers are better off than other
households based on a wide range or indicators: they have more education, crop more land,
are more likely to use fertilizer, have higher assets and incomes, and are less likely to be
female-headed than other households. Interestingly, this group still earns a slightly higher
income share off the farm than they do through horticultural sales, though their off-farm
share is lower and horticultural sales share is higher than any other group. This pattern
suggests that these households are still relatively diversified in their income strategies, as is
typical of African smallholders. A potential implication is that, if marketing costs can be
reduced, farm level productivity increased, and market outlets be made more reliable, this
group of households may be able to specialize substantially more in horticulture and thus be
well poised to take advantage of expanding market opportunities.
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