LAUSR

ABSTRACT Market participation provides opportunities to farmers to benefit from trade by selling surplus produce and purchasing needed goods and services. Benefits and challenges to market participation faced by leafy vegetable farmers include lack of information about the markets and high transportation and transaction costs, among others, which do not allow leafy vegetable farmers to efficiently participate in markets. The study examined transaction costs involved in market participation by leafy vegetable farmers. Seventy leafy vegetable growers were randomly sampled. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a probit regression model. Most farmers were male (55.7%), between 41 and 50 years (40.0%), and married (88.6%). A majority of farmers (56.2%) had access to communication assets, 70.5% were not involved in group marketing, 76.8% source information from neighboring farmers, and 50.8% require information on buyer characteristics. Gender, years of experience in leafy vegetable production, being involved in group marketing, land ownership, and farm size all determine probability of market participation among leafy vegetable farmers.