Economics of small-scale wheat production technologies for Kenya

This study transposes data from other countries (particularly Pakistan), where smallholder wheat technologies are already well established, to assess the likely profitability and comparative advantages of introducing labor-intensive technologies to boost wheat production among Kenyan smallholders. Focusing on Nakuru district, the study covers: (1) current mechanized wheat production; (2) alternative small-scale technologies for growing, harvesting, and threshing wheat; (3) the cost of different wheat and maize technologies for different field sizes, specifically, the time required for operations performed by machinery of different sizes, by bullocks, and by manual labor; and (4) farmer and national profitability of smallholder wheat technology. Results showed that labor-intensive wheat is more profitable than fully mechanized wheat only on fields under 4 hectares in size; further, the opportunity price of inputs suggest that more mechanized technologies are more profitable from the national perspective. A comparative advantage, therefore, generally exists in producing wheat on large farms with machinery-intensive technologies. The study also shows that smallholder wheat in Nakuru district offers little or no advantage over maize in terms of employment, income, or foreign exchange. Nevertheless, the low opportunity cost of labor suggests that the potential does exist for labor-intensive wheat production in Kenya.