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Abstract
The objective of this paper is to examine the sources of producer income instability for marketed
commodities in Kenya. Producer income instability can increase foreign exchange administrative costs, create
domestic budgetary problems, lead to inefficiencies in resource use, and even to political upheavals. Using a
variance decomposition methodology, demand was identified as the major contributor to export earnings instability
for ooffee, hides and skins, beans and peas, and canned pineapples. Supply was the major contributor of export
earnings instability for tea and pyrethrum extract. With respect to domestic producer income instability, supply was
the major culprit for most commodities. Supply was the major source of instability for tea, maize. wheat, and fluid
milk, while demand was the major source of instability for coffee. Producer income instability of export crops was
relatively constant over the study period (1%4-83), whereas income instability of domestic crops, and, hence, the
instability-minimizing share of exports, rose over the same period. Limitations of the study include the use of
aggregate data, selection of methodologies that ignore structure, and using only marketed commodities for analysis.