Browsing by Author "Muthoga, Samuel"

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    Analysis of Technical Efficiency and Rice Output of Small-Scale Rice Farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya
    (Iosr Journal Of Economics And Finance (Iosr-Jef), 2025-02) Murimi, Henly; Muthoga, Samuel
    Background: The demand for rice in Kenya is growing, with yearly consumption increasing at a rate of 12 per cent per year. Kenya has thus put into place measures to reduce demand-supply gap. An initiative such as National Rice Development Strategy (N.R.D.S.) Phase 2 (2019–2030) has been implemented to accelerate rice production and close this gap. Despite these polices, rice output has grown slowly, while rice consumption has increased significantly faster than rice production. 949,000 metric tonnes of rice are consumed nationally yearly, compared to 180,000 metric tonnes produced. This research aimed to determine the technical efficiency of smallscale rice farmers in Kenya's Kirinyaga County and the effect inputs have on rice output. Materials and Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. This study targeted 6000 smallscale farmers engaged in small-scale rice growing in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme. To get 362 farmers, the sample size was calculated using Cochran's methodology. A layered, multi-phase random sampling approach was used to choose the respondents. A survey questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data for this investigation. The respondents were the small-scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County's Mwea Irrigation Scheme. This research used primary data, which was collected for the agricultural season of 2023. The assumptions of regression analysis were examined before running the regression, including homoscedasticity, multicollinearity and normality. Results: The mean of technical efficiency was found to be 87.8% and ranged between 39.9% and 98.3%. This implied that technical inefficiencies exist among the small scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County. The study found that the coefficients for fertilizer, farm size, labour and capital were positive and statistically significant revealing that and increase in the amount of fertilizer used, land size, labour and capital in rice production would result in an increase in rice output. Conclusion: The study concluded that the technical efficiencies of small scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County differs among the farmers. Further, the study concluded that small scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County do experience technical inefficiencies which account for loss in rice output. The study also concluded that fertilizer, farm size, labour and capital contributes to changes in rice output
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    Do Regional Economic Disparities Promote Regional Value Chains? A Case Study of East Africa Community Member States
    (2024-12) Kainga, Erastus; Muthoga, Samuel
    Economic differences impact regional value chain expansion. This study aims to examine how regional economic disparities (RED) affect the development of food and beverage value chains (RVCs) in the East Africa Community's (EAC) manufacturing sector. The dynamics of regional value chain promotion in EAC's manufacturing sector are examined using the New Economic Geography (NEG) model. Utilizing secondary data from five member states and the variables; taxes, labor, incomes of executives and laborers, intra- and extra-regional trade, and gross value added. To answer the research questions, regression analysis was used to shed light on (i) the effect of regional economic disparities on the promotion of regional value chains and (ii) the effect of prices on regional value chains. The results indicate that whereas laborers' pay and taxes have a negative and substantial impact on the promotion of RVCs, disparities have a positive and significant impact on price, intra- and extra-regional trade, executive salaries, and overall promotion of RVCs. This study will help EAC member states maximize their industrialization, economic development, and export performance. The results show that workers need to keep learning new skills to be competitive in the rapidly evolving industrial sector. The manufacturer's adoption of modern technology and its industrial location are also significant variables. Wages ultimately determine output, and countries with higher worker wages typically have higher levels of intraregional trade. For this reason, protectionist policies must be used for EAC states to increase intraregional trade.
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    Effects of Selected Macroeconomic Variables on Market Capitalization of Nairobi, Kenya
    (The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 2024) Anne, Avonde; Muthoga, Samuel
    This study examined the effects of selected macroeconomic variables on the market capitalization of the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya during the period 2010- 2022, based on the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) using quarterly data. The autoregressive distributed lag model technique was applied to test how market capitalization was affected by the macroeconomic variables. Gross domestic product, money supply, and inflation were stationary at the level while interest rate, market capitalization, and exchange rate became stationary at first difference. From the empirical results, no co-integration between market capitalization and exchange rate, money supply, interest rates, Gross domestic product, and inflation was found by use of bounds test. Money supply and inflation had a weak influence on market capitalization; interest rate, Gross Domestic Product, and first lag of the exchange rate were positive and affected market capitalization, while the exchange rate at the current level affected market capitalization negatively. It was concluded that macroeconomic variables affect market capitalization. The study recommends that the government need to put up relevant policies that increase gross domestic product. Policymakers need to consider macroeconomic variables during policy formulation on market capitalization.
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    The Nexus between the changes in Oil output in the United Arab Emirates and the Volatility of Petrol Prices in Kenya
    (ATCR Publishing, 2023-11) Rotich, Samson Kiptoo; Muthoga, Samuel
    The volatility of petroleum prices in Kenya compels an analysis into the fundamental causes of the recurrent fluctuations. Movements in oil production from important importing sources play a role in determining petroleum prices in importing countries. However, no clear model exists that explains how these changes in oil output affect the price of gasoline in Kenya. Additionally, there is no framework that explains how long these shocks last in the Kenyan market. The present situation has opened the door for a research project designed to comprehend the effects of changes in oil output from the United Arab Emirates on gasoline costs in Kenya. The two main goals of the study are to first determine how monthly oil output changes in the UAE affect Kenyan gasoline prices between 2017 and 2020, and then to determine how long the effects of oil production shocks from the UAE last in the Kenyan gasoline market. In order to determine whether monthly variations in oil output from the United Arab Emirates have an impact on Kenya's gasoline prices and whether oil production shocks from the United Arab Emirates have lasting effects on the Kenyan gasoline market, the research is set up as a hypothesis-driven investigation. The study made use of concepts from the Real Business Cycle theory and the conventional notion of market self-adjustments. The analysis relied on secondary data which were collected from various sources including OPEC, EIA, Central Bank of Kenya and World Bank’s websites. The data were processed using the R programming language. After analysis, a model was constructed, enabling the derivation of conclusions and subsequent recommendations.