Assessment Of Livestock Farmers’ Preferences For Integration Of Community-Owned Resource Persons And Interrelationships In Animal Trypanosomiasis Management Methods In Kwale County, Kenya

Abstract

Animal trypanosomiasis is a major constraint to livestock production and a threat to food security in most parts of sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). Smallholder cattle producers are particularly affected because access to veterinary services is limited in most cases. While efforts have been made to control the spread and prevalence of the disease in Kenya, the disease continues to cause losses to livestock producers. These losses include reduced meat and milk off-take, weight loss, reduced traction power of oxen, increase in calf mortality and overall cost of livestock management. Subsequently, with the current insufficient veterinary services in the country, farmers in endemic areas resort to presumptive and indiscriminate drug administration thus increasing the risks of drug resistance. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and other partners have recently proposed the integration of communities into trypanosomiasis control methods and programs in Kenya through creating a pool of community-owned resource persons (CORPs) to address the weak extension and veterinary system, facilitate transfer of new control technologies within communities and ensure continuity of donor-funded African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) management programs. However, the desired attributes of the CORPs by farmers are not known. Further, it is envisaged that successful integration of CORPs rests on the substitutability and (or) complementarity of the current AAT management methods, which is also not established in the existing literature. To address these gaps, this study applied a multivariate probit (MVP) technique to establish the interrelationships in the existing multiple AAT management methods and choice experiment (CE) to determine the farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for CORPs’ attributes using insights from 5 focus group discussions (FGDs) and survey data from 308 randomly selected cattle keeping households in Kwale County, Kenya. The random parameter logit (RPL) was used to analyze the xiii CE data. Results showed that farmers are currently using a combination of various methods to manage the disease. The MVP analysis revealed that the multiple AAT management methods used by farmers are complementary and not substitutes. Further, households’ socio-economic and institutional factors had varied effects on their choice of multiple AAT management methods. With regard to the integration of CORPs in AAT management programs, the RPL analysis indicated heterogeneous and high preferences for CORP attributes. Results show that farmers had a significant positive preference for relatively younger and male over older and female CORPs. Similarly, the respondents preferred CORPs who are resourceful in the community and whose recruitment is done in a participatory process involving the community. However, there was a higher preference for CORPs trained by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development partners such as ICIPE over those trained by the county government. The findings showed that farmers were willing to pay significant amounts of money for these attributes. Further, an analysis of compensating surplus (CS) revealed that different segments of the farmers were significantly willing to pay premiums ranging from 14 percent to 48 percent of their average monthly incomes for the integration of CORPs in AAT management programs. The results from this study instill hope in sustainable AAT management in Kenya and other parts of SSA through promoting the adoption of multiple complementary AAT management methods. The results also provide key insights for integrating local communities in sustainable AAT management programs based on the desirable attributes of the CORPs. Keywords: Animal trypanosomiasis, integrated management, CORPs, livestock, Kenya.