Contract Farming Resource Centre

Does contract farming improve smallholder income? The case of avocado farmers in Kenya

Year 2016

[Author: Mwambi, M.M., Oduol, J., Mshenga, P. and Saidi, M] Contract farming (CF) is seen as a tool for creating new market opportunities hence increasing incomes for smallholder farmers. Critics, however, argue that CF is likely to pass risks to small scale farmers, thus favouring large scale farmers at the expense of smallholder farmers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of CF on smallholder farmers’ income using a case study of avocado farmers in Kandara district in Kenya.