  We investigate the role of exclusive channels in semi-inclusive
electroproduction of pions and kaons. Using the QCD factorization theorem for
hard exclusive processes we evaluate the cross sections for exclusive
pseudoscalar and vector meson production in terms of generalized parton
distributions and meson distribution amplitudes. We investigate the
uncertainties arising from the modeling of the nonperturbative input
quantities. Combining these results with available experimental data, we
compare the cross sections for exclusive channels to that obtained from quark
fragmentation in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. We find that rho^0
production is the only exclusive channel with significant contributions to
semi-inclusive pion production at large z and moderate Q^2. The corresponding
contribution to kaon production from the decay of exclusively produced phi and
K^* is rather small.
