| dc.description.abstract | The primary objectives of the study were to identify major
factors that affect livestock marketing as perceived by the
livestock traders. It also sought to rank the factors in order of
importance.
In order to achieve these objectives, all those individuals
engaged in livestock trade in the study area (Maikona and North-
Horr administrative divisions) were considered as the population of
interest. A convenience sampling technique was utilized to select
a sample of sixty livestock traders for the interview. The
instrument fpr data collection was a structured questionnaire. The
questionnaire was in two parts. Part A was concerned with the
current nature of livestock marketing. Part B was designed with the
intention of identifying the most critical factors in livestock
marketing. The data collected was analysed by means of summary
statistics like percentages and proportions for part A. Part B was
analysed through use of factor analysis, with the help of
statgraphic computer pac~age.
The results of the study showed that a number of factors
affect livestock marketing. The final varimax rotated factors
matrix revealed eight categories of factors as significant.
However, on the basis of the aggregate average for each category,
only four of the eight categories were found to be important. Among .
the factors that featured as critical in the livestock marketing
are; high transportation costs{ meaD.score=4.57), lack of reliable
market information (mean score=4. 26), lack of trucks to carry
livestock to various markets (mean score=4.26), inadequate capital
to do the business comfortably (mean score=4.19) , lack of credit
facilities to support traders (mean score=4. 19) ,lack of formal
business training (mean score=4.15) , and poor quality roads
(mean score=4.15)
On the basis of these findings, the areas of concentration for
the government, and other organizations, like NGOs should be, to
improve the infrastructure In the district, extension of loan
facilities to livestock traders, and to strengthen education
system, including the adult literacy section.
The study was limited by time and financial resources. Also
there was difjiculty in translating some words in the questionnaire
into the local vernacular of the respondents. Areas for further
research on the same (livestock marketing), can be to extend
similar study to other parts of the district. Since this study
focused mainly on livestock marketing, similar study with emphasis
on marketing of livestock products like meat, milk, hide and skin
can also be done in Maikona and North-Horr divisions or elsewhere.
The government and Non-g9vernmental Organizations' officers may
hold different opinions and attitudes and the same study can be
extended to this group of people.
Since the reliability coefficient resulting from the scale
score was 0.6042 (60.42%), the scale used for the study is quite
reliable. Thus the findings of the study is reliable to the extent . that policy makers in the livestock sector can rely upon. | en |
