The production of cashew in Kenya has majorly been practised in the coastal region particularly in Lamu (6,273 Km2), Kilifi (12,246 Km2) and Kwale (8,270 Km2) by small-scale farmers who have been growing the traditional cashew nut. Over the past few years, farmers in the coastal region have neglected their cashew trees and opted for other crops especially coconut and maize. However, in the last few years, there has been a growing interest to restore cashew nut production in Kenya to her glory days.
From the 18th of July 2021 and for four weeks, two students from the Cooperative Research group, accompanied by Jana Mazancová and Jiri Hejkrlík, were involved in data collection in Coastal Kenya, specifically in Kilifi county. The visit aimed to carry out an impact assessment of the training and extension service carried out by Ten Senses Africa on the formation of farmer groups and cashew marketing cooperatives among farmers in the region. This was with the hope of discovering how farmer groups and networks contribute to information access in the region and finding out under what conditions cashew farmers would establish or join cashew marketing cooperatives.
The survey data collection was carried out using semi-structured interviews with cashew farmers (n = 29). Other data collection methods involved focus group discussions (FGD) with women groups (n = 6) and direct observation of participants during discussions, and semi-structured personal interviews with field officers (n = 4) from TSA. Meetings were also arranged with key informants from the district agricultural office (county agricultural director), Pwani University (Registrar, Research and Extension coordinator), and the Cooperative University Kenya (Cooperative Development, Research, and Innovation coordinator; Research and Extension coordinator). The arrangements for quantitative data collection, which will happened in January 2022 with 400 cahshew farmers, were made.
This research also afforded the students hands-on field experience which will be valuable for future research and studies.
