| dc.description.abstract | A socio-economic survey was conducted in three districts;- Kirinyaga, Rachuonyo and
Nakuru within the Kenya highlands in February to May 2004. The objective of the study
was to assess demand for breeding services of smallholder dairy farmers. The major
constraints experienced by the respondents in this study were lack of adequate
improved breeding facilities and the relatively high prices charged by the inseminators
for the local and imported semen. Other constraints included the long distance to
inseminators and service centres. Cost and availability of AI services were rated as
major constraints by 51% and 47% respectively of the respondents. If resource-poor
households are to continue to benefit from dairy production, a better understanding is
required of the population, herd structures and dynamics in the smallholder sub-sector
including the breeding (reproductive management and replacement) strategies of the
smallholders. The majority of the smallholder dairy farms has few hectares and rear a
small herd of less than ten heads of cattle. This calls for the need to intensify the
farming system so as to obtain maximum yields. Before liberalization, the government of
Kenya was solely involved in the management of Artificial Insemination (AI) services.
However operational inefficiencies and budgetary constraints undermined service
provision and AI services began to decline. In 1992, the sector was liberalized and the
private sector stepped in to boost the AI service provision. However, with continued
government involvement, tne - private sectors' performance has shown a downward
trend in the past decade that needs to be studied to suggest policy recommendations.
Investigations into what factors smallholder farmers put into consideration when
choosing breeding bulls were also carried out. As ~ould be expected, farmers preferred
bulls that are of high genetic quality (superior breeds), large body size and above all
that are available. It was also found out that, faced with the problem of low quality bulls
for breeding farmers had no room for choice and still used the low quality bulls that were
easy to access | en |
