Driver’s of Entrepreneurial Opportunities Exploitation by Tree Farmers in Kenya: The Case of Improved Eucalyptus Trees Growing in Lari District

Abstract

The introduction of improved Eucalyptus trees varieties to Kenya in 1997 from Mondi Forests in South Africa by Tree Biotechnology Project (TBP) has rekindled tree-planting culture. Millions of seedlings have been distributed across the country. By administering questionnaires to a sample of 385 tree farmers in Lari District of Kiambu County, the study sort to empirically test the critical factors influencing the planting of improved Eucalyptus trees. The study revealed 63.6% of the farmers indicated the improved eucalyptus tree enterprises had complied with quality highly while 66.2% of them indicate that the improved eucalyptus tree seedlings enterprises had complied fairly with environmental safety.Covariance Matrix shows that although theoretically the factor scores should be entirely uncorrelated, the covariance is not zero, which is a consequence of the scores being estimated rather than calculated exactly. Hence there were factors that had no influence on the farmers’ planting improved eucalyptus tree varieties in Lari District. The driver’s of opportunity exploitation from this research, included risk aversion, opportunity for product differentiation, degree of control over production processes, skills to make it work and availability of ready market. These drivers are critical in any entrepreneurial process and underscore the premises that the trees farmers in pursuing the opportunity of improved tree varieties they were entrepreneurial. Policy interventions that can enhance these driver’s would result in accelerated planting of more improved trees varieties.