Abstract

The ability of small holder farmers to plant trees or expand traditional tree based system is limited to a number of factors. These factors are scarcity of resources, inadequate technical capacity and experience and market disincentives. Marketing of agro forestry produce is crucial for increasing the available money in the farming sector. Unfortunately, there is little information and experience on the dynamics of smallholder marketing in Kenya. The study was carried out in Sitatunga and Kaplamai locations of Kaplamai division, Trans Nzoia district to study the market dynamics and production challenges of avocado. Primary and secondary data was used; primary data was collected using questionnaires and observation. Published and unpublished materials formed sources of secondary data. Different players in avocado marketing were considered for study. The sample consisted of 30 farmers, 10 retailers and 10 consumers, selected using simple random sampling method. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical package. The results indicated that middlemen plays a vital role in marketing of avocado for small holder producers and that a lot of marketing challenges such as transportation facilities, low prices and lack of market information existed for marketing agents. From the results, recommendations were made to the SCC- Vi-Agro forestry Project Management to train farmers on market dynamics, record keeping, planting of improved avocado seedlings, networking, value addition, market information generation and dissemination.

Key words: Avocado, marketing, price determination.