Comparison of Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Factors Influencing Participation in Milk Processing among Smallholder Dairy Farmers in Mbooni and Kilome Sub-Counties, Kenya

Dairy farming plays an important role in the socioeconomic status of rural smallholder farmersand supports the welfare of poor households. In Makueni County, smallholder farmers continue to adopt exotic dairy cattle breeds hence milk productivity in the county continues to increase gradually as cows of the local breed are steadily decreasing. The increasing milk productivity necessitated the establishment of the Kikimamilk processing plant to enable farmers fetch better prices for their milk through value additionin form of milk processing. The plant has been serving farmers for the last 51 years. Inorder to develop appropriate interventions to enhance on farmers? willingness to participate, it is important to first understand the characteristics of dairy farmers in this region, prevailing production practices, factors influencing participation in milk processing and suggestions for improvement as it is important in providing the basis for addressing the challenges that the farmers might be facing. This study was thus carried out in Mbooni and Kilome Sub-Counties,Kenya, with the main objective of analyzing and documenting key information characterizing the socio-demographics of smallholder dairy farmers, factors influencing participation in milk processing and their suggestions for improvement in the area. Data was collected from 200 smallholder dairy farmers sampled using multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the probit model.The resultsindicate that participants were significantly different from the non-participants with respect to the breeding method used, price received per litre of milk, primary occupation of the household head, number of lactating cows owned per household, farm size, age of the household head, experience in dairy farming, total annual milk income and total annual variable costs incurred.Factors which positively and significantly influenced participation in milk processing were the age of the household head and experience of the household head in dairy farming. However, sex, education and primary occupation were found to negatively and significantly influence participation. This study recommends introduction of a structured trading system and revising the terms of payment to help enhance on willingness to participate in milk processing.