Analysis of collective action and access to finance for women smallholder chicken farmers in Makueni county, Kenya.

Abstract

Collective action refers to the actions taken by a collection of people; acting based on a collective decision .The main purpose of this study was to analyze collective action and access to finance for smallholder women chicken farmers. The study was guided by two objectives; to determine the influence of social collateral on access to finance, to establish the relationship between access to capacity development and access to finance and to explore the financial intermediating role of table banking activities on access to finance. It was anchored on; Collective action theory and Theory of social learning. Pragmatism research philosophy and descriptive research design were adopted by the study. Target population was 2,090 groups in the three sub counties within Makueni County. A two-stage sampling technique was employed: Simple random for groups and purposive sampling for members from each group. A sample size of 418 farmer group members was selected for the study. The study adopted a mixed methods approach involving a quantitative survey and qualitative data in the form of KIIs, And FDGs. Logistic regression models were used to analyze quantitative Data with the aid of STATA version 16. Qualitative data was coded and analyzed with the aid of Nvivo version 16.Promotion of savings via group membership was found to be a statistically negative predictor of the perception of financial access. Findings revealed that social collateral indicators of trust and savings have a negative influence on access to finance (44.2%) (CI,-0.821,-0.028).Financial intermediation had a positive mediating effect on the influence of social collateral on access to finance. The study also revealed that individual access to training as an indicator of capacity development was a negative predictor of access to finance 17.9% (CI,-0.280-0.078). Financial intermediation mediated the effect of the relationship between social collateral indicator, access to capacity development and perception of access to finance. Training on financial management, vaccine administration and record keeping were some of the major benefits gained as demonstrated by women farmers through KIIs and FGDs.