Assessing the Influence of Rural Infrastructure on Market Access for Small Scale Green Gram Farmers in Tharaka North Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Green gram (Vigna radiata) is an important drought-tolerant crop that contributes to food security and income generation among small-scale farmers in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). However, farmers in these regions face persistent challenges in accessing profitable markets. Although rural infrastructure such as roads, storage facilities, and transport services is widely recognized for reducing transaction costs and improving market integration, limited empirical evidence exists on its specific influence on market access in Kenyan ASAL contexts. This study examined the effect of rural infrastructure on market access among green gram farmers in Tharaka North Sub County using a cross-sectional survey of 387 randomly selected households. Market access was measured as a composite index and categorized into low, moderate, and high levels based on frequency of sales, distance to market, and price realization. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to estimate the effects of road type, road passability, transport availability, storage access, distance to market, land size, household size, and mobile phone ownership. The results show that distance to market is the strongest determinant of market access, reducing the likelihood of moderate access by 8.5% (RRR = 0.915, p < .001) and high access by 16.6% (RRR = 0.834, p < .001) per additional kilometer. Storage access within 5 km significantly increases the likelihood of moderate market access (RRR = 1.709, p = .024), while better road type relative to dirt roads enhances the likelihood of high market access (RRR = 1.620, p = .022). Mobile phone ownership more than doubles the likelihood of high market access (RRR = 2.078, p = .013), and land size significantly improves both moderate and high access levels. Road passability and transport availability are not statistically significant. The study concludes that market access in Tharaka North is primarily shaped by spatial and infrastructural constraints, particularly distance and road quality, complemented by storage access, digital connectivity, and farm size. Policy efforts should prioritize improving feeder road networks and expanding decentralized storage facilities to enhance smallholder market integration in semi-arid regions.