Factors Affecting the Choice of Marketing Channels among Smallholder Mango Farmers in Elgeyo-Marakwet County

Mango is the main occupation of most of the small-scale farmers residing in the lowlands in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. Currently, its production in the County has been declining due to marketing inefficiency. The following objectives guided the study: to map the mango marketing channels and to determine the factors affecting mango marketing channels among smallholder mango farmers in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The study was guided by the theory of the firm and the theory of planned behaviour. Descriptive survey and analytical research designs were applied in the study. A closed- and open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. Using a sample size of 106 small-scale mango farmers from a target population of 2872 mango farmers, descriptive statistics and a Multinomial logistic regression model were used to map the marketing channels available and determine the factors affecting the choices of those marketing channels, respectively. STATA software was used in data analysis. The analysis of mango marketing channels revealed that a majority of farmers, about 58.8%, sold their produce through a longer chain involving wholesalers, agents, and retailers before reaching consumers. A smaller proportion, 25.5%, sold through retailers who then supplied consumers, while only 15.7% of the farmers sold directly to consumers. The results of the multinomial logistic regression model indicated that age, income level, education level, transaction cost, and collective action (group membership) were statistically significant at 5% level, with coefficients of 0.05 (p<0.001) for age, 0.12 (p<0.001) for income level, 0.25 (p<0.001) for education level, -0.19 (p<0.001) for transaction cost, and 0.36 (p<0.001) for collective action, respectively. The study findings may be of great importance to the Government, smallholder farmers, and researchers since the recommendations from the study may be used to identify the sources of market inefficiency and the necessary interventions to increase farmers' access to lucrative markets and hence an increase in household incomes.