Relationship between cost of sugarcane production and cost of maize production among farmers in Nyanza region in Kenya: Application of structural equation modeling

Abstract

Sugarcane is an essential crop globally due to its many dietary and commercial uses. In spite of the increased demand for sugarcane as an intermediate input for the production of animal feeds, bioethanol and food stuff, its significance on the livelihood of farmers in Kenya  is mixed. There are sections of farmers uprooting this cash crop in favour of maize, a staple food, as a means to enhance their food  security status. On the other hand, some policy pronouncement encourages the diversification of this cash crop by intercropping it with  other staple food crops. The study was anchored on the agricultural production theory. Based on the application of correlation research  design, this paper adopted the Structural Equation Modeling to analyze primary data collected from rural households in three Nyanza  region counties of Homabay, Kisumu and Migori to establish the relationship between sugarcane and maize production from their  corresponding cost of inputs (labor, land and capital). From the findings, as the cost of sugarcane production increases, the cost of maize  production also increases significantly, though inelastic. This implies that mechanization of farm activities can act to reduce production  costs. Enhancing sugarcane productivity will contribute significantly towards reducing production cost. Therefore, the government must closely monitor the spikes in cost of sugarcane production since this is bound to result in the cost of maize production also spiking exacerbating the problem of food insecurity. This paper therefore empirically contributes to understanding of the intertlinking  complexity between the production structure of a cash crop (sugarcane) and food crop (maize), given their importance in food security in  a developing economy.