Economic evaluation of the competitiveness and trade-offs of enterprises in the intensification of market oriented smallholder dairying in Central Kenya Highlands

Abstract

The study examines the nature of trade-offs that the smallholder farmers make while making decisions about the alternative enterprises. The purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate a framework for guiding choices on alternative agricultural enterprises and enterprise mixes in order to enable farmers to make more informed intensification strategies under varying levels of market access and resource availability. The study was carried out in three different regions of Central Kenya Highlands, namely Kiambu, Nakuru, Nyandarua. The results indicate that the labor-constrained farmers required much higher incentives for the adoption of more integrated approaches to dairy improvement than the less labor constrained farmers.