Smallholder Dairy Technologies: Adoption on the Kenya coast

This paper is based on the predecessor to the Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP) project - the Kenya Coast Smallholder Dairy Technologies. It highlights the constraint of cattle production in the coast due to inadequate year round feed supplies and high risk of disease (particularly East Coast Fever and Trypanosomiasis). A study carried out in the area determined the factors that influence adoption of dairy technologies (i.e. ownership of crossbred or grade dairy animal, the planting of forages and the use of infection-and-treatment method of immunisation to protect dairy cattle against East Coast Fever).

The study confirmed that adoption of dairy cattle increases household cash income. Dairy income in adopter-households is many times larger than non-adopting households. The percentage of adopters was observed to be fairly evenly spread across all income categories, indicating that adoption of dairy cattle is accessible to many households, not just the wealthier ones. Improved dairying also generates more employment on average.

Nevertheless, adoption of the dairy cow and associated feeding and disease control technologies is not currently increasing rapidly at the coast, despite strong demand for dairy products in the region.