Institutional factors influencing the sustainability of donor-funded dairy agricultural projects a case of Siyoi, west Pokot county, Kenya.

Abstract

Sustainability of Donor funded projects has become critical in the management of projects by the community due to institutional factors characteristics. The purpose of this studywas to investigate the institutional factors and the sustainability of Agricultural Donor Funded Dairy Projects in Siyoi Ward,West Pokot sub-county, West Pokot County, Kenya. The study specifically focused on the following objectives; to establish how managerial capacities, community participation, technology adoption and how extension services influencedsustainability of DFDP. The study was anchored on outcomes and systems theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design with a target population of 330of the local households, countygovernment officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Pastoral Economy, the Director in charge of Livestock, Director Veterinary services, Funding Agency Officialsand the Project manager (KCSAP), beneficiaries and the community members, Dairy Farmers Association and a church representative from the Siyoi Dairy farmers and the Church community. A stratified sampling method was usedto select the respondents. The sample size was determined by applying the Yamane formula, which were 180 sampling units. Stratified and purposive sampling was used to identify sampling units from the sampling frame. Questionnaires and interviews guides were used as tools of data collection. A pilot study was conducted to pretest the instruments and to determine validity and reliability of the research instrument. Qualitative data was collected by holding face to face interviews with respondents. Quantitative data was collected by administering questionnaire. The SPSS version 22 software was used to analyze the data from questionnaires while thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. In the findings, 83.1%, 83.9%, 81.8% and 78.6% of the respondents stated that managerial capacity, community participation, technology adoption and extension services largely influenced sustainability of DFDP. Further, managerial capacity, community participation, technology adoption and extension services were statistically significant as the p-value, 0.000 was less than the level of significant adopted by the study, 0.05. There was an association of 0.977, 0.657, 0.616, and 0.491 between community participation, managerial capacity, technology adoption and extension services and sustainability of DFDP. Over 72.0% of the respondents elucidated that it took over two years after adoption of modern technology for it to have a meaningful impact on sustainability of DFDP. Further, 89.6% of the respondents supported the fact that the management of dairy association was ineffective and this could be explained by the low level of education. Following the above findings, the study recommends that community participation in project management be enhanced through training by the County Government Agricultural Extension Officers