Farmer risk preferences and farm sustainability

Description

Data from 867 randomly selected farm households was collected using a face to face survey method. The study area comprised three counties of Kitui, Makueni and Machakos in the arid and semi-arid region of south-eastern Kenya. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to implement the survey in practice. In addition, a field experiment to elicit risk preferences was conducted on all respondents.

Steps to reproduce

A multistage sampling procedure was used to implement the survey, beginning with the purposive selection of south-eastern Kenya due to its highly diversified production systems and exposure to significant production risks from erratic weather and recurrent droughts. The Lower Midland 5 agroecological zone was further purposively chosen because of its reliance on rain-fed agriculture and prevalence of mixed farming systems, making it suitable for analyzing adaptive responses to shocks. Wards and villages were then selected using probability proportionate to size, and farm households were sampled through systematic random sampling from lists compiled with the help of local administrators. A total of 867 households participated after accounting for non-response and data issues. Ethical approval was obtained from NACOSTI, and informed consent was secured from all participants. To elicit farmers’ risk preferences and loss aversion, a field experiment based on a modified Eckel and Grossman (2002) task was conducted, involving incentivized choices between gain-only and mixed gain–loss gambles to capture true risk-taking behavior.

Institutions

• University of Nairobi

  Nairobi County, Nairobi

Categories

Funders

• African Center of Excellence on Sustainable Operations for Resource Management and Food Supply (SCO) in sponsorship with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• LEARN Logistics by the Kühne Foundation
• The SHM Foundation

Licence