This study aimed at better understanding of the characteristics of feeding and breeding practices smallholder farmers adopt in intensifying their dairy production. Use of hired labour for fodder gathering, growing of fodder crops and purchase of feeds increased with increasing intensification, but Bos taurus breeds did not respond to increasing feeding intensification while Bos indicus cattle responded, calving at earlier age and yielding more milk. Overall, first calving occurred at 32 months, but days open prolonged to 250 days with milk yield of 4 litres per day of calving interval. A principal component analysis extracted six feeding and breeding components, explaining 71.79% of the total variations in feeding and breeding practices for dairy intensification. The six components were labelled: non-intensified feeding and breeding; breeding decisions based-intensification; high external resource based-intensification; moderate resource based-intensification; resource poor based-intensification; and moderate external resource based-intensification. These characteristics points to some 'evolutionary process' of intensification involving feeding and breeding decisions, depending on the risk-bearing capacity of the household. Intensification enhancing interventions for smallholders need be considered in the context of the household economy. Interventions on feeding and breeding have to be packaged together holistically if intensification is to enhance productivity. A selective intervention on only one of these is associated with low productivity levels, only contributing to sustaining family subsistence livelihoods.

The management of indigenous pigs in rural villages of Busia and Kakamega district, Western Kenya, is discussed. Data on husbandry practices, challenges and farmers knowledge on T. solium taeniosis / cysticercosis were gathered using questionnaires administered in face-to-face interviews. Pigs were examined for cysticercosis using the lingual palpation method. Data were managed in Stata®. Majority of the farmers were aged 30-50 years (44%), and were mostly women (69%). Years of pig keeping experience was higher in Kakamega (11.4±8.7) than it was in Busia (6.3±5.6) (P<0.05). Pork (31%) and beef (51%) were the most preferred meat types in the villages. Families owned an average of 0.94±0.81 hectares of land. The mean number of pigs owned per farm was 5.0 (±3.4), 1.8 (±1.2) and 1.5 (±0.9) for the pre-weaned, growing and adult pig categories, respectively. Constraints faced by the farmers included feeding (65%), diseases (46%), fewer breeding boars (60 %), poor profits (61%) and conflicts with neighbours (53%). Parasite control was poor. The majority of farmers (73%) had no pig house. These farmers either lacked skills to build the houses (11%; 23/209) or had no money to purchase construction materials (45%; 93/209). Tethering of pigs was frequent (>50%) during the planting (91%; 263 / 290), growing (90%; 263 / 290) and crop harvesting seasons (78%; 227 / 290). Prevalence of pig cysticercosis was 4.5%. Piglets were significantly cheaper in Busia (Ksh 509±57) than in Kakamega (Ksh 777±174) (P<0.05). Indigenous pig management in Western Kenya is reportedly poor. Improved knowledge coupled with changes in local husbandry practices would improve productivity, increase family incomes and safeguard the community from potential health risks associated with pig rearing.

Access to timely and reliable information on livestock production and marketing is important in addressing the production and marketing aspects of the sector alongside access to financial services. This study analyzes the intra-household disparities in access to information and financial services among rural households in selected districts in Kenya. Specifically, the study compares women’s access to information on livestock production and financial services with that of men. Results show that informal channels such as farmer to farmer interactions were the key sources of information for livestock production and marketing. More men in male headed households received more training and were exposed to greater and varied topics than women. Men borrowed more from formal credit providers such as banks and co-operatives while women mainly borrowed from their community groups and neighbors. Analysis of determinants of savings by women revealed that women’s age and education positively and significantly increase their probability to save.

Aquaculture, a sub-component within the fisheries sector is a vital economic activity and livelihood component of rural communities living beside rivers and river floodplains in East Africa. It provides a good alternative source of income and proteins for rural communities. This study aimed to characterize fish production and marketing practices in smallholder farming systems under a national Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) in the Eastern province of Kenya, and to determine the traits of economic importance to the farmers. Information was collated from 198 farmers, 13 traders and three key informants within Meru District of Eastern Province. The predominant species of fish reared was the Nile Tilapia, followed by the African Catfish and in some instances a combination of the two species were reared under polyculture. Good growth rate and survival of fish were noted to be the most important traits of economic importance to the farmers. Fish produced was mainly sold to the local community and within local markets. Traders, however, indicated that the demand for fish was much higher than the supply, hence also sourced fish from Lake Victoria in Nyanza for sale. It was also indicated that the taste of fish differed greatly depending on the source, with wild fish strains from Lake Victoria having a “sweeter” taste than the farmed strains. Strains of fish selected for improved growth and reproduction were not available for aquaculture. Feeds and feeding management of farmed fish was also a challenge. It was evident that there is a great need for supportive research on environmental impacts, productivity and quality of fish reared, and marketing of fish products within the riverine environments of Kenya. Key words: aquaculture, fish marketing, traits of economic importance

A cross-sectional survey was done in two Districts in Western Kenya to determine the socio-economic characteristics and perceptions of the cattle types kept. This involved socio-economic profiles of households, herd structure, reasons for keeping specific types of cattle and production and marketing constraints together with desired policy interventions to address the constraints. A total of 210 farmers randomly selected were interviewed. The data was analysed using Statistical Analysis System program. The majority of farmers (84%) were males. The households surveyed had an average family size of 8 (± 4.7) members. The mean land holding was 7.8 acres, with 98% of them owning the land. Most of the farmers (64%) in the two districts were literate and were involved in farming (95%) as the primary livelihood. The majority (80%) of the households preferred keeping indigenous zebu cattle over the exotic cattle. The first three reasons for keeping zebu cattle were, in that order, work, especially ploughing (91%), milk (74%) and as a repository for wealth (32%), which accounted for about 62% of the respondents. Diseases (86%), inadequate and low quality feed (12%) and high cost of drugs (2%) were the major constraints to livestock productivity. The farmers also identified lack of market (48%), poor infrastructure (39%) and misuse by the middlemen traders (12%) as main marketing constraints. The survey showed that there is need for the effective implementation of policies on adequate financial aid and regulation of farm input prices to the farmers as well as improved livestock extension services to enhance the production of ruminant livestock.

A study using participatory epidemiology (PE) methodologies was conducted in West Pokot and Baringo districts, Northern Rift Valley, Kenya to assess the status of East Coast Fever (ECF) and obtain livestock keepers’ perceptions of how the disease impacts on their livelihoods. A total of 658 livestock keepers comprising of 480 men and 178 women were invited to participate in community meetings held in twenty two purposively selected locations each in West Pokot and Baringo. Fifty six percent of the livestock keepers were from West Pokot while the remaining 54 percent were from Baringo District. Nearly all the households in both communities depended on cattle keeping as the major source of livelihood. The activity was ranked as priority enterprise by 96.2% and 93.3% of the groups in West Pokot and Baringo district respectively. Cattle diseases were identified as the main constraint affecting production and in particular, ECF and trypanosomosis were reported as the most important compared to other diseases. The informants were relatively consistent in estimating the impact of cattle diseases on derived benefits. There was good agreement among the various groups with coefficient of concordance (W) values ranging between 0.43 and 0.60 (p < 0:05 – p < 0.01). East Coast fever was found to have the greatest impact. Based on the findings from this study, there is need for stakeholders in the livestock industry to develop control strategies for ECF control that are supportive to the production system in a particular the region.

Smallholder dairy farmers in developing countries face many feed constraints such as inadequate feed quality and quantity, poor storage facilities for feed conservation as well as insufficient water. However, feeding of livestock continues to pose many problems due to lack of information on composition and utilization of locally available feed resources. These problems are aggravated by lack of access to and high cost of feed inputs. The use of cheap and readily available local feed resources has great potential to increase livestock productivity. The East African Dairy Development project in Kenya, through use of various participatory rapid appraisal tools conducted a rapid appraisal study of three project areas. The objective was to assess feeds and feeding practices in smallholder dairy systems, identify feed resources available year round and where the gaps are as well as to determine what practices are available for improving production and utilization of feed resources in order to raise smallholder dairy production. Established opportunities for improvement include on-farm production and utilization of fodder, efficient storage, processing and utilization of crop residues, pasture improvement, appropriate water harvesting technologies, formulation of feed rations amongst small scale farmers, small scale feed conservation as well as development of fodder markets. Given the complex farming system within which smallholder farmers operate, changes are needed in both the technologies used for improving feeds and feeding systems and in the institutional and policy arrangements surrounding feed supply. In addition, technical interventions need to be developed in a participatory manner along with farmers and other stakeholders within the system to make them relevant and sustainable.

The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with occurrence of trypanosomosis in the first generation (F1) crossbreds between trypanotolerant Orma Boran and trypanosusceptible Teso zebu cattle in a trypanosomosis endemic area in Teso District, western Kenya. The offspring were screened for trypanosomosis and other haemoparasites using parasitological methods. Packed cell volume (PCV), body weights and tsetse density (FTD) were also determined. Factors considered in the analysis included sex, age, body weight and season of the year. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were used for multivariable analysis to account for clustering of observations at the animal level and estimate outcome variance parameters. The overall trypanosomosis prevalence was 2.3% (n=477) probably corresponding to low FTD in the area (<1fly/trap/day). The risk of trypanosomosis infection was higher in dry than wet season (OR = 5.4) and in older than younger offspring (OR = 1.1). The variance parameters obtained indicated that variation of trypanosomosis prevalence lay only at the animal level. Intercurrent haemoparasites detected included Anaplasma marginale, Theileria and Babesia species. Overall, the results suggested that when the tsetse density is very low, control of trypanosomosis in the Orma-Teso zebu offspring in western Kenya require targeting of individual affected animals in the dry seasons.

A cross-sectional survey was carried out to characterize the pig production systems in four districts along the Kenya-Uganda border. Information was collected by administering structured questionnaires to 645 households in 32 randomly selected clusters. The study showed that the majority of the farmers owned very small pig herds (2.4±0.1) which were mainly tethered. Their main objective for pig keeping was income generation. Decisions on pig purchases were predominantly made by either women or by women and men in collaboration while day to day care of the animals was performed by women. Disease especially African swine fever (ASF) was considered to be the biggest risk to pig investment, while feeding was the biggest production constraint. Studies that look into cheaper locally available feed options should be undertaken to enable the farmers solve the feed constraint. Sensitization of farmers to adopt biosecurity measures would reduce disease risk especially ASF risk.