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Factors Affecting the Choice of Marketing Channel by Vegetable Farmers in Swaziland
Author(s) -
Bongiwe G. Xaba,
Micah B. Masuku
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
sustainable agriculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1927-0518
pISSN - 1927-050X
DOI - 10.5539/sar.v2n1p112
Subject(s) - multinomial logistic regression , production (economics) , marketing channel , agribusiness , business , marketing , descriptive statistics , agricultural economics , agricultural science , survey data collection , channel (broadcasting) , agriculture , economics , geography , statistics , environmental science , mathematics , archaeology , engineering , machine learning , computer science , electrical engineering , macroeconomics

Vegetables as a group of horticultural crops are important for their contribution as an income support to a large proportion of the rural households. However, enhancing vegetable farmers to reach markets and actively engage in the markets is a key challenge influencing vegetable production in Swaziland. The perishable nature of vegetables necessitates effective marketing channels. The aim of this paper was to investigate factors affecting farmers’ choice of marketing channels using survey data gathered during the 2011 production season. Data were collected from 100 randomly selected vegetable farmers. Descriptive and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used. The results indicated that age of the farmer, quantity of baby corn produced and level of education were significant predictors of the choice to sell vegetables to NAMBoard market channel instead of selling to other-wholesale market channel. The age of the farmer, distance from production area to market, membership in farmer organization and marketing agreement were significant determinants of the choice to use non-wholesale market channel over other-wholesale market channel. It is therefore important to promote collective action as an institutional vehicle for linking farmers to agribusiness supply chains. Farmers should establish networks since they aid in sharing knowledge, farmers can improve produce grades as required by market.

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