The research presented in this volume analyses the impact of market orientation on agricultural production and household food security; identifies determinants of farmer groups marketing; and investigates the effect of rural out-migration on agricultural intensification considering the case of banana and legume based systems in Central Africa. Based on a comprehensive field survey, the results show that market orientation enhances input use, yields, and food security by increasing rural households' dietary diversity. They also demonstrate that the quality of marketing performance increases with the age of the farmer groups, the strengths of their internal structures and the extent of member participation in product bulking. Under the given conditions, policies that promote market orientation particularly by improving road infrastructure, provision of market information, and extension services would address production, marketing and food insecurity challenges while smart input subsidy programs targeting poor households can create additional employment and discourage massive rural out-migration. Besides, a transition of farmer groups into formal business entities could considerably support their marketing performance and hence their production efficacy.
Justus Ochieng graduated from Egerton University, Kenya, with a BSc degree in Agricultural Economics in 2007 and an MSc degree in Agriculture and Applied Economics in 2010. Afterwards he worked as a research assistant with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). In 2011, he started his PhD studies at the Department of Development Economics, Migration and Agricultural Policy (DEMAP), University of Kassel, Germany with a grant from International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD). He presented his research at international conferences and published several papers in refereed journals. He obtained his PhD degree in 2014. Currently, he is working as a Research Fellow at Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development. His main research interests include agricultural value chain analysis, food security and poverty dynamics, and interactions between environmental degradation and rural development.