The Impact of "Grow to Sell" Agricultural Extension on Smallholder Horticulture Farmers: Evidence from a Market- Oriented Approach in Kenya

Satoshi Shimizutani, Shimpei Taguchi, Eiji Yamada and Hiroyuki Yamada
Additional contact information
Shimpei Taguchi: JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development

No 2021-020, Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series from Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University

Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of a market-oriented agricultural extension program called Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) in Kenya. The SHEP approach prioritizes practical training for farmers to act as producers in a market by encouraging decentralized decision-making. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) over a two-year period, we find that, on average, SHEP increased horticultural income significantly by 70% and the positive effect was more pronounced in vulnerable households whose head of household is female, less educated or older. The effect is not relevant to horticultural experience prior to the intervention. Our findings suggest that a market-oriented agricultural extension can provide a pathway to improve the living standards of small-scale farmers through an increase in horticultural income.

Keywords: Agricultural extension; Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment Promotion (SHEP); Kenya; Randomized controlled trial (RCT); Impact evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2021-10-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ies.keio.ac.jp/upload/DP2021-020_EN.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:keo:dpaper:2021-020

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series from Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University ().