dc.description.abstract | Dairy farming remains the economic backbone of livestock farmers in high potential
areas. Milk and dairy products forms a vital source of nutrition, livelihoods (food security
and poverty alleviation) opportunities for farmers and other stakeholders. However, in
many farms, milk productivity per animal is low compared to other parts of the world
despite the technological advances in animal breeding and value addition. This has
created both economic and nutritional challenges while the demand and value for dairy
products is projected to increase in the world. Thus, the purpose of the study was to
examine the factors influencing performance of dairy farming projects in Cherangany,
Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: determine how
institutional factors influence performance of dairy farming projects in Cherangany,
Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya, examine how socio-economic factors influence performance
of dairy farming projects in Cherangany, Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya, establish how
dairying profitability influence performance of dairy farming projects in Cherangany,
Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya and ascertain how dairy production influence performance
of dairy farming projects in Cherangany sub-county, Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. It
adopted descriptive research design with a target population of 388 persons comprised of
the 348 small scale dairy farmers, 10 officials from Kenya Dairy Board and 30 officials
from the Ministry of Agriculture. The sample size of 198 persons was determined from a
target population of 348 using the Krejcie & Morgan Table (1970). The data was
collected using questionnaires and interviews guides. Reliability of the instruments was
determined through a pilot study where Cronbach alpha coefficients of 0.721, 0.771, .821
and 0.736 were obtained for the instruments on institutional management, socioeconomic,
profitability and dairy production respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed
using descriptive statistics, and presented in graph and tables, while qualitative data from
interviews was organized into themes and sub-themes. The study established that
institutional management factors, socio-economic factors, profitability and dairy
production influence the performance of the dairy farming projects. The study therefore
recommended that for sustainable millennium development goals, the policy makers, the
government and other agricultural stakeholders should consider factors such as
institutional management factors, socio-economic, profitability and dairy production to
enhance performance of dairy farming. | en_US |