Agriculture Reference
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households. Access to information has been set as a dummy variable, where a household
with access to information takes the value of one and a household that has no access to
information takes a value of zero. Access to information was expected to influence market
participation positively; implying that households with access to information are more
likely to participate in marketing, making more use of formal markets. Another variable
that is closely linked to information availability is access to extension services (EXT) such
as access to farming advice and knowledge through extension officers. This variable was also
allocated dummy values where households with access to extension services took the value
of one and zero if otherwise.
According to Reardon and Barrett (2000), smallholder farmers have difficulties in meeting
market grades and standards, leading to exclusion of such farmers from participating in
mainstream agriculture. In this study, expertise on grades and standards (GRDS) was
recorded in order to investigate whether it influences marketing participation choices or
not. Households were asked if they were aware of market grades and standards, and whether
they had problems meeting such standards. The households with knowledge on grades and
standards, and had no problems meeting them were set to have expertise on grades and
standards. Such households took the value of one and those households with no expertise
on grades and standards were equated to zero. Households with expertise on grades and
standards are expected to use formal markets more than those without, thus an expected
positive relationship.
As cited by Kherallah and Kirsten (2001), collective action is important in agricultural
marketing because it contributes towards reduced transaction costs and it strengthens
farmers' bargaining and lobbying power. Collective action is measured by two main
variables in this study, which are organizational support services (ORGMEM), and groups
or individual participation (PART). Respondents were asked whether they belonged to an
organization or not and whether they sold output in groups or individually, the responses
were allocated dummy values. Both the variables are anticipated to impact positively on
market participation choice among the smallholder farmers.
The availability and condition of both road and market infrastructures are thought to
have an influence on marketing efficiency. Where the infrastructure is unavailable or poor,
farmers are discouraged from using it, thereby limiting market participation. Therefore,
the availability of good road and market infrastructures are expected to exert a positive
influence on market participation. Road infrastructure (RDINFR) is measured by the
adequacy of the road networks that are accessible to households and their conditions.
Market infrastructure (MKTINFR) is measured by the availability of infrastructure, such
as marketing stalls and their condition. Dummy values are used to define the variables,
where in both cases, one indicates good condition and zero indicates either unavailability
or poor condition.
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