Cassava commercialization is a concept that has been used by many development practitioners because of its possible strategic role in transforming livelihoods of smallholder farmers in subSaharan Africa, including Siaya and Kilifi Counties in Kenya. This concept can easily be implemented when the levels of commercialization is known. However, empirical evidence reveals little information on the levels of cassava commercialization amongst smallholder farmers in these counties. Thus effective policy interventions on cassava commercialization for these farmers are difficult to implement, since there is no proper understanding of their levels of cassava commercialization. Therefore the main objective of this paper was to characterize levels of cassava commercialization among smallholder farmers. Factors influencing cassava commercialization were also evaluated. The data was collected from 381 farm households in Siaya and Kilifi Counties (Kenya).This data was used to calculate the Household Commercialization Index (HCI) and Value Addition Indices (VAI) which were then integrated to form the Commercialization Index (CI). This integrated index formed the basis for categorizing the levels of commercialization. A multinomial regression model was used to evaluate factors that affect levels of commercialization. The results obtained revealed that majority of smallholder farmers' operate at low and medium categories with very few of them at high level. Distance to the market, cassava acreage, schooling years, gender and marketing costs were the key determinants of the levels of commercialization. In order to promote high level commercialization, the study recommends developing policies that enhance formal education among farmers, optimal usage of land and minimization of transportation costs through infrastructural development.

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The transformation of agricultural production from subsistence to commercially oriented outcomes is a topical matter in the rural and socio-economic development discourse. Cassava crop is being promoted for commercialization because of its tolerance to harsh climatic conditions experienced in arid and semi-arid areas. Furthermore, there is high potential for the tuber crop to improve household income. In Kenya, a number of interventions have been directed towards commercializing cassava. The effect of commercialization on household income has not been established. Distinct from other studies, this study estimated the effect of cassava commercialization on three different income measures namely per capita, annual and per acre revenue. A household survey was conducted in Kilifi County in Kenya where 200 respondents were randomly selected. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. A two-stage endogenous switching regression model was fitted to determine the effect of commercialization on the different income measures. The proportion of households that commercialized was 69% while the remaining 31% did not. The study found that majority of the households marketed low value-added cassava products. The results reveal that farmers who engaged in cassava commercialization enjoyed relatively more income than their counterparts. Off-farm income, age of the household head and distance to market had a negative significant influence in all the income estimates. Group membership was only significant for the per acre income while household size was negative and statistically significant in both per acre and per capita incomes. Findings point out the importance of promoting policies that will enhance cassava commercialization.

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