Cross-Border Bean Market Performance in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda

Abstract

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is an important grain legume in East Africa, providing food and income to rural households. Smallholder farmers in Kenya and Uganda have widely adopted improved varieties. The demand for common bean in Kenya outstrips domestic supply – hence the need for imports. There is significant border trade on common bean between Kenya and Uganda. This study assesses the efficiency of this trade and evaluates the performance of common bean marketing as well as the associated transport system. Purposive, multistage and systematic random sampling methods were used to select the 210 respondents for the study. SPSS was used for data analysis. Results indicate huge inefficiency in common bean marketing in Kenya and Uganda due to poor road infrastructure and high transaction costs (mostly due to transport costs). Primary market traders incurred a significantly higher cost than terminal market traders. Generally, Ugandan traders operated at relatively higher efficiency than Kenyan traders. However, all the traders made profits far in excess of their common bean transfer costs. The study recommends regional market, infrastructural, and institutional development as well as the abolition of illegal fees in order to improve bean market efficiency in the study area and similar environments.