INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS VALUE ADDITION STRATEGIES ON THE GROWTH OF RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A STUDY OF SELECTED COUNTIES IN WESTERN KENYA.

Promotion of Women\'s economic empowerment is widely viewed in literature as the force behind poverty reduction and economic growth. Majority of donor support is directed at promoting food security in rural areas of counties. Farmer Support projects in Kenya are aimed at growth of women small enterprises. However, emphasis on female entrepreneurship growth appear sparse. Rural agriculture is highly feminized but women?s contribution in economic indices is not visible. Economic survey, Kenya (2007), showed for example that out of the 160,000 tons of sorghum produced nationally, animal feeds account for 10%, seeds 1.9%, milling 23%, food 53.6% and the rest is wastage after production. This study aimed at determining the influence of value addition strategies of agricultural products? on growth of rural women entrepreneurship. The study was guided by the following objectives: to investigate the agricultural products? processing strategies that promote rural women entrepreneurship in western Kenya; to establish the agricultural products? packaging strategies for food products that promote rural women entrepreneurship in western Kenya; The study targeted 1,625 rural women entrepreneurs from Homa bay, Vihiga, Siaya and Kisii counties respectively out of which 487 were selected as the sample size. Key respondents were purposively selected and comprised of 5 staff from the department of agriculture, 2 from Agriculture Strategy Development Support programme (ASDSP) and 1 from a non-governmental organization. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaires, while interview schedules observation schedules and focus group discussions were used to collect qualitative data. Data was analyzed using computer aided software and presented in descriptive and inferential statistics. The finding was that 90.3% of the rural women mainly use sorting and cleaning as a processing method among a range of other methods, technology is used by 40.6 % to add value, processed products fetch an average of 10,000kshs monthly for 88.4% of the rural women entreperenuers involved in processing agricultural products, 83.7% process based on customer taste and preferences while 71% use knowledge from others to add value. The analysis revealed highly significant (p < 0.05) positive relationship between agricultural products processing strategies and growth of rural women entrepreneurship in western Kenya. On packaging, 92.4% use polythene bags and this increases their profits as indicated by 92.0% of the rural women entreperenuers, however the cost of packaging is high for 91% %. The source of the packaging is other companies for 96.9% rural women entreperenuers and only5.2% design their own packaging. Trainings on packaging knowledge added value for 96.7% of rural women entreperenuers. The analysis revealed highly significant (p < 0.05) positive relationship between packaging strategies and growth of rural women entrepreneurship. The study concludes that processing and packaging are value addition strategies that influence growth of rural women entrepreneurship. The study recommends that technology friendly to rural women entreperenuers should be availed to them to enhance value addition strategies. Rural women should also be supported to develop more environment friendly packages to further add value to their products. Future studies should establish the influence of social media on growth of rural women entrepreneurship.