Dairy Cattle Productivity after the Post Election Crisis in Uasin Gishu District of Kenya

The dairy sub sector is one of the most important of the agricultural sub sectors in Kenya, contributing to 5% of Kenya’s GDP. The estimated annual consumption of milk stands at 3.1 billion litres. Although there was a steady agricultural growth to about 6% between 2003 and 2007, other emerging challenges as high production costs have emerged. These were compounded by the post election crisis (PEC) after the disputed Presidential elections which saw the looting of property including livestock, leading to a decline in the sector. The objective of the study was to determine the dairy productivity after the PEC. The survey was done in four designated project areas namely, Turbo, Kapseret, Kessess and Ainabkoi. Primary data was collected by use of structured questionnaires from 194 systematically selected farmers. The data was then analyzed by use of the SPSS. The results show that 67.53% of the farmers had lactating cows; the average number being 1.2 cows. The numbers of all the livestock categories (lactating, dry, bulls and steers, and calves) reduced after the PEC. Despite a higher mean production of 10.67 lts/day for pure breeds, this was not significantly different from the average production of 7.38 lts/day among the crosses. This implied that the milk production potential of pure bred dairy cattle was yet to be exploited. It is recommended that development agencies focus on all production and management initiatives to enable farmers exploit existing potential.