Exploring Factors Influencing Market Engagement and Marketing Channel Selection among Smallholder Macadamia Farmers in Embu West Sub County, Kenya

This study delves into market participation and marketing channel preferences among smallholder Macadamia farmers in Embu West Sub County, Kenya. Employing a stratified multistage sampling procedure and multinomial logit regression analysis, the research reveals that despite offering lower prices, brokers remain the favored marketing channel. Several factors, including age, farming experience, consideration of macadamia quality, information flow, farm size, distance to market, payment period, and education level, significantly influence farmers' channel choice. The findings underscore the importance of policy interventions emphasizing non-price incentives, such as enhanced extension services and dissemination of macadamia marketing information, to encourage participation in more lucrative markets.