Economic Analysis Of Indigenous Small Ruminant Breeds In The Pastoral System: A Case Of Sheep And Goats In Marsabit District, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Small ruminants provide very important genetic resources that can be exploited for

continued improvements of the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in the pastoral production

system, particularly in the developing country situation, Kenya being one of them. Though

important, the motivation of livestock keepers to hold and maintain particular AnGr in conditions

of decreasing animal genetic resource base is imperfectly understood. Consequently, in an

endeavour to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor small ruminant livestock keepers, it is

important to understand the underlying drive that motivates livestock keepers to keep and

maintain particular AnGR. This can be achieved if producer responses in production that lead to

either loss or conservation of these resources are sufficiently known. This study contributes to

the existing knowledge gap by analysing the status of small ruminant breeds in the pastoral

production system in Marsabit district of Kenya. Primary data, collected from livestock keepers

using structured questionnaires, revealed that small ruminants contribute enormously towards

livestock keepers’ livelihoods, especially the poor, and subsequently, to conservation of the

resource. The results obtained from multinomial logit models derived from stated choice data

collected from 314 respondents in the semi-arid Marsabit district of Kenya reveal that disease

resistance is the most highly valued trait whose resultant augmentation results into a welfare

improvement of up to KShs.3082 and 1480 in goats and sheep, respectively. In goats, drought

tolerance and milk traits were found to be implicitly valued for up to KShs.2695 and 1163

respectively, while in sheep, drought tolerance and fat deposition traits were found to be

implicitly valued at KShs.973 and 748 respectively. The study further revealed that improvement

in milk trait in does, body size and disease resistance traits in bucks, and drought tolerance trait

in both does and bucks will collectively improve the producers’ welfare hence should be given

priority. However, improvement in the reproduction and production (“overall body condition/

meatiness” trait) potential of goats will be worthwhile only if issues concerning access to pasture

and water resources are addressed prior and simultaneously. The results further point out that for

livestock stakeholders to effectively improve the livelihoods of poor livestock-keepers,

development strategies for improving the management and/ or utilisation of small ruminant

genetic resources in terms of drought tolerance in sheep, should not only be tailor made to target

regions that are frequently devastated by drought but should also precede other strategies or efforts that would first lead to the improvement of producers’ economic status