Factors influencing economic efficiency of milk production among small-scale dairy farms in Mukurweini, Nyeri County, Kenya.

Abstract

This paper highlights the factors likely to influence the economic efficiency of small-scale dairy farms in Mukurweini, Nyeri County, Kenya. A total of 91 small-scale dairy farms previously involved in a nutritional training in 2013 were administered with semi-structured questionnaires. Data collected were entered into SPSS and FRONTIER 4.1 was used to compute the technical, allocative and economic efficiency scores for each farm. The scores were then regressed against a set of variables using the Tobit model in STATA to determine the factors associated with the scores. The average age of the household members involved in dairy farming, household size, labour, cost of concentrates and size of land owned had a negative significant influence on economic efficiency. It was concluded that lowering costs, proper utilization of hired labour and intensive use of the available land for dairy farming would lead to an increase in economic efficiency. The study recommends subsidized prices for concentrates, intensive dairy farming, minimization of hired labour and organization of dairy training and workshops in order to increase the efficiency of milk production in small-scale farms in the study area and other parts of Kenya with similar agro-ecological and cultural conditions.