Intensification and Competitiveness of Smallholder Dairy Production Systems in the Greater Nairobi Milk Shed

From the Summary
The dairy production systems in Kenya are very diversified in terms of races of cattle raised, of intensity of use of the intrants (particularly ground and work) and of the feeding systems of the cattle. The liberalisation of the dairy sector of 1992 encouraged the production of milk while allowing the cooperative dairies and private dairies to play a more significant role in the marketing of the dairy products. Changes in the systems of production and marketing are thus awaited but not documented until now.

A study undertaken jointly by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) aims to characterise the dairy systems of production in Nairobi's basin of collection in order to identify the constraints and the appropriate development of this sector. A survey was carried out during April-March 1998 into a random sample of 1389 households in eight districts of Kenya. This first characterisation of the dairy systems after liberalisation highlights the strong variability of the strategies of production present in the zones covered by the investigation, as well as the increasing competitiveness of the less intensive systems of production.

Another characteristic of the study is the joint use of the system of geographical analysis (Geographical Information System) and of data collected on the level of the exploitation. The charts representing various measurements of intensification of dairy production make it possible to visualise the geographical distribution of the various systems of production. A synthetic indicator of intensification was also built: the quantity of milk produced per unit of land. This indicator is then compared with indicators of the level of competitiveness on the level of the exploitation, the current cash flow and the output of family work. The data show that the relation between intensification and competitiveness is not simple as on the level of the exploitation and by cow, the most intensive systems have the most raised levels of cash-flow and output of family work, whereas per quantity of produced milk, in fact the least intensive systems appear most competitive.