Determinants of Vulnerability to Expected Poverty among French Bean Farmers in Kenya

Abstract

Poverty is increasing in rural areas of Kenya. The study examined factors influencing vulnerability of French beans farmers to expected poverty using Vulnerability to Expected Poverty approach on 492 randomly selected respondents. The study found a mean vulnerability to expected poverty of 19.6% which is below vulnerability threshold of 50% indicating that majority of French bean farmers irrespective of Global-GAP certification status were invulnerable to expected poverty. However, majority of those who were expenditure (56.3 percent) and income poor (92.2 percent) are vulnerable to future poverty. Factors influencing vulnerability to expected poverty are asset value (P=0.000), net crop income (P=0.000), off-farm income (P=0.000), household size (P=0.000), age of household head (p = 0.088), gender of household head (P=0.001) and distance to market (P=0.000). French beans farmers should practice farm diversification and expand acreage under Global-GAP certified French beans in order to increase income and expenditure and hence alleviate future poverty.