Analysis of bean commercialization and food sufficiency trade-off: A case of smallholder farmers in Rwanda

Abstract

Commercialization of agriculture provides farm households with a means to alleviate poverty and food insecurity in rural areas. This is due to the fact that commercialization increases farm household income and widens the ability to attain food diversity. In Rwanda, common bean is grown by a large proportion of the rural population for both domestic and market purposes. Based on the nutritional and agronomic attributes, there is rising national and regional demand for common bean. Since many households in Rwanda produce beans for consumption as well as for the market, this poses a tradeoff at the household level as to what proportion of bean produce to consume and market. There was need therefore, to determine factors influencing commercialization of common bean and its effects on household food sufficiency. The study used secondary data from 252 respondents chosen from five districts across the country. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Double Hurdle model using SPSS 18 and STATA12 statistical packages. The results revealed that 41% of the farmers engaged in common bean commercialization where majority sold less than 100 kilograms. There were no significant effects of common bean commercialization on food self-sufficiency among farm households in different levels of commercialization. The study found out that age, number of livelihoods a household head engages in and quantity of beans produced influenced the decision to commercialize at 1% significance level. Further, level of satisfaction with market information and type of common beans influenced decision to commercialize common beans at 5%. The m study revealed that quantity of beans produced, number of livelihoods of a household head, price per kilogram, distance to the market, duration of bean storage and group membership positively influenced the level of bean commercialization. On the other hand, number of crops a household cultivated and higher monthly income had negative influence on commercialization. The study recommends that stakeholders explore measures to improve skills of farmers to engage in other livelihood activities, increased beans production, collective action among farmers and effective flow of market information. Through these measures, smallholder farmers would offset pressure mainly piled on available food stock while farmers acquire enough agricultural income to ensure food sufficiency among households.