Abstract:
Sunflower value chain represents one among the valuable vegetable oil subsectors worldwide. However, some constrains limit smallholder farmers to effectively participate in the value chain activities in order to generate household incomes and improve their livelihoods. Therefore, the study examined the socio-economic factors influencing smallholder farmers’ participation in sunflower value chain whereby a cross sectional research design and mixed methods approach laid the framework for collection and analysis of data. Data was sourced from 368 smallholder farmers selected by using a systematic sampling technique. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used for qualitative data collection while household survey questionnaire for quantitative data. Constant comparison technique was used to analyse qualitative data and binary logistic regression for quantitative data. Findings indicate that socio-economic factors including age, education level and possession of agriculture tools significantly (p < 0.05) influenced participation in sunflower value chain. The study concluded that socio-economic factors collectively other than singlehandedly have a significant influence towards participation in value chain. Since some findings had indications that males dominate productive resources unevenly, it is recommended that gender sensitive approaches should be used to circumvent the biased practices in order to increase participation in sunflower value chain activities.
