Many development projects prioritise high-return programme interventions that contribute to mitigate food insecurity, improve nutrition, and increase the incomes of the rural poor. Key to this is the nurturing of innovations and adaptive technologies and techniques that support these outcomes. Human population pressure, ensuing land demarcation, multi-parity and multiple births, and shorter generation interval have stimulated use of dairy goats in rural development efforts in Kenya. This has led to major good production intensification and scaling-up over the last few decades in the Kenyan dairy goat sector driven by the promise of health benefits from the dairy goat milk. Although some areas like central Kenya and Nyanza saw a major expansion, in other areas this has largely stagnated. The industry is struggling to sustain the progresses made by a number of projects. Thus, a review of the existing literature and project experiences related to dairy goat development in Kenya was performed with the aim of identifying gaps that may have contributed to the current situation. It was found that lack of supportive policy and regulatory environment with regards to milk standards and goat sales, unsustainable breeding strategies, uncoordinated breeding system, uncoordinated milk and goat marketing, lack of technical support, and inadequate stakeholder or industry player’s involvement have all contributed to this scenario. In order to bring about sustainable dairy goat development in the country, these factors need to be adequately addressed. The way these identified factors are addressed will determine the success and sustainability of the dairy goat projects. Value addition, promoting quality assurance supporting development of fodder management and feeds, developing breeding strategies and investment in genetics are encouraged.

Dairy production is important in Kenya for human nutrition, income generation, and as a source of direct and indirect employment along its value chain. Despite these benefits, smallholder dairy groups in the country have minimal participation in high value and niche markets for dairy products. In the current study, six value addition groups from two Counties (i.e., Uasin Gishu and Meru) were purposively selected, and simple random sampling employed to pick 274 respondents within the surveyed sites. These comprised 267 smallholder dairy farmers from five self-help groups, and seven members from a self-help group operated by disabled persons who collected milk from farmers within Uasin Gishu County and processed it for resale. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a Probit model. Results show that the decision by smallholder dairy farmers and dairy groups to upgrade and move to higher value dairy chains was significantly influenced by their knowledge of value addition activities and whether they participated in a value addition group. It is, therefore, recommended that for value addition to be promoted and upgraded, small-scale value addition groups need to be facilitated and upgraded in terms of education and training, standardization, registration and management. This will generate more market opportunities for milk produced, and decrease wastage from spoilage within the dairy chains. Keywords: Dairy chains, Probit model, Smallholder, Value addition, Kenya

Economic and biological values for milk yield (MY), milk butter fat (FY), daily gain (DG), weaning weight (WWT), mature live weight (MLW), calving interval (CI), pre-weaning survival rate (PreSR), post-weaning survival rate (PostSR), age at first calving (AFC), and productive life time (PLT) were estimated under fixed herd (FH) and pasture (FP) production circumstances assuming milk marketing based on volume, and volume and butter fat. Further, economic values were estimated involving risk using the Arrow Pratt coefficients at two levels. For the former economic values for the traits ranged from KSh. -17.246 to 100.536 while the biological values ranged between -1.29 to 0.791. Economic values with higher Arrow-Prat coefficient of absolute risk aversion (λ=0.02) were lower than those reported under λ=0.0001 indicating that the uncertainty of the future market is important and should be considered during the estimation of economic values. Genetic improvements targeting MY and growth traits would be recommended to production system with unlimited feed supply for profit maximization. However, since dairy production systems in the tropics are characterised by feed scarcity, fixing the herd and concentrating on genetically improved animals would result to more profitability than increasing animal populations.

The dairy goat sector is one of the fastest growing livestock enterprises in Kenya because goat milk is becoming increasingly popular in the country. However, hardly any published studies exist that have utilized consumer purchase information to understand the factors that influence the purchase of goat milk. The current study analyzed consumer characteristics and factors that affected consumer behaviour in purchasing goat milk to serve as the basic data in formulating a marketing strategies for goat milk in Siaya County of Kenya. The research questions were approached in three phases. Firstly, the probability that a consumer purchases goat milk was estimated using a probit model framework. Secondly, a Heckman two-stage model was utilized to depict the relationship of dairy goat expenditures. Thirdly, the study examined the implications of the foregoing for a dairy goat breeding programme. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using comprehensive questionnaires. One thirty one (131) goat milk consumers were interviewed. The parameters of the present study are goat milk consumption, consumer characteristics and demographic factors that influenced the purchasing behaviour of goat milk. Family size, presence of children and elderly persons in the household, and household income influenced the purchasing of goat milk. Overall, income influenced the amount of goat milk to be purchased and, therefore, farmers should be encouraged and their capacity enhanced to target high income markets. Communication campaigns highlighting the benefits of goat milk to the children and the elderly persons could ensure enhanced success of marketing the milk. The findings imply that breeders of dairy goats should focus on improved yields, which will enhance returns from dairy goats. Demographic factors, along with agro-climatic and production constraints, are important to the overall success of dairy goat breeding programmes. Further, the breeding programme should identify the most promising breeds and eco-types under the prevailing production system for genetic selection and their multiplication under improved husbandry practices. Establishing a nucleus breeding scheme on private or government land to supply breeding stock can significantly contribute towards this goal. Generally, policy interventions are recommended to tackle demographic factors that influence the purchasing behaviour of goat milk and their implications for a dairy goat breeding programme. The findings of the present study will be useful to all actors in the dairy goat value chain. Keywords: Purchasing behaviour, Goat milk, Dairy goat breeding programme, Kenya

The key issue in this study was to technically compare, through stochastic simulation, different breeding programmes that vary in the level of interaction between breeders and producers. The breeding structures considered were: (i) a single closed nucleus providing seed-stock to village flocks, (ii) a group of commercial flocks running a co-operative (‘ram circle’) breeding programme with no nucleus, (iii) an interactive two-tier open nucleus breeding scheme, comprising a nucleus and a commercial tier - the best males are used within the nucleus while the remainder migrate to the commercial flocks, with no female migration, and (iv) as scheme iii but with female migration between tiers. For the latter two schemes, 100% of the nucleus animals are distributed over village flocks every 3 years. The nucleus is then replaced by a new batch of selected males and females from the village flocks obtained through ‘interactive cycling screening’, based on ‘picking the best phenotype’ in the commercial flocks. Single trait selection was considered, and based on estimated breeding value, using either best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) or the individual’s phenotype as a deviation from contemporaries in the same flock, year and season. The results showed that genetic merit increased slightly and inbreeding decreased significantly with increase in nucleus size. For instance, with BLUP selection and trait measurement on both sexes, and first record established at year 2, a nucleus size of 100 dams with 50 dams mated to each sire resulted in genetic merit of 0.118 units and an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.119 while that with 500 dams gave a response of 0.134 with an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.037. Running one closed nucleus had a 6-24% advantage over a ‘ram circle’ in terms of genetic gain. Decreasing the dam to sire ratio was a simple way to avoid inbreeding in breeding schemes of small size, with very little compromise towards genetic gain or even an increase in the longer term. Relative to a two-tier nucleus (scheme i), cyclic screening of commercial animals for use in the nucleus gave an almost optimum genetic response, while the villagers acquired superior breeding stock in return as an incentive to participate in genetic improvement. Participation of farmers offers them a sense of ownership of the breeding programme, and is likely to make it more sustainable in the long-term. This study provides insight into the advantages and disadvantages of designed breeding structures, especially the ‘interactive cyclic’ breeding schemes, which should be useful in deciding breeding programmes to adopt for sheep in developing countries in the tropics. Keywords : Sheep, Breeding Structures, Selection, Tropics

Dilemma exists in Kenya among various urban dwellers and policy makers on whether to promote or prohibit urban cattle keeping. This is due to the intricate nature of the tradeoffs between its benefits and associated environmental hazards. The current study, therefore, sought to assess environmental effects of urban cattle keeping in Nakuru Municipality in Nakuru County of Kenya. Through a cross-sectional survey, primary data was collected using sets of structured and semi-structured questionnaires, and focused group discussions. Stratified sampling was used, with simple random sampling within the strata applied. Fishers Exact Formula was then used to select the 186 cattle keepers that were interviewed. Chi-square and paired t-tests were performed to determine the existence of significant differences between observations. Results indicate that majority (90.3%) of the survey respondents disagreed that cattle waste had any environmental hazards. This was due to lack of awareness among urban cattle keepers on environmental hazards related to livestock keeping in confined areas and close proximity to human beings. Most (82.8%) of the survey respondents who practiced zero-grazing perceived bad odour/ air pollution as an environmental hazard. Similarly, those who grazed their cattle by the roadside or streets perceived bad odour /air pollution and littered streets as environmental hazards. Overall, the type of cattle rearing system was highly associated with environmental hazards. The number of cattle kept, however, was independent of the environmental hazard (P=0.191, ? 2 4 =6.109). The heaping of manure in the cattle pen was more likely to contaminate the environment than when given away or applied on the kitchen garden. There were differences in the rating of environmental hazards of cattle waste across levels of education attained by the respondents (P=0.191, ? 2 4 = 6.109). However, there were no differences between respondents who deposited cattle waste less than 10 meters away from the household and those who deposited it farther away. Generally, there was no proper cattle waste management procedures in Nakuru Municipality. It is recommended that cattle waste management be decentralized with active participation of organized urban cattle keepers and supported by the public. User pay principle should also be applied whereby urban cattle keepers pay a determined fee for cattle waste collection. This would assist in the sustainability of the decentralized service. The findings in the current study are useful for policy formulation on the management of cattle waste and associated environmental hazards in the Municipality and other areas with similar circumstances. Keywords : Environmental Hazards, Urban Cattle Keeping, Cattle waste, Nakuru, Kenya

The aim of the current simulation study was to maximize the amount (kg) of high value meat arising from surplus males and females per kilogram of the goat population and, maximize weight gains to turnoff age. Subsequently, the study aimed to decrease turnoff age, maximization of reproduction rates and minimization of the mature weight of does in the low-input livestock production system in Kenya. Three crossbreeding systems and a synthetic breed development were evaluated, namely; (a) straight breeding system that utilized pure Small East African goat (SEAG) where parental lines were maintained to generate the desired terminal crosses, (b) three-breed crossbreeding system that utilized SEAG as pure breed, Galla goat (GG) as the first cross sire breed, and Improved Boer goat (IBG) as the terminal sire, (c) two-breed rotational crossbreeding system where the SEAG and IBG were purebreds, and (d) synthetic breed development system utilizing SEAG x IBG. The HotCross crossbreeding simulation software was used to assess the predicted performance of the different goat breed crosses under conditions of agro ecological zones (AEZ) V and VI. A model was developed to compare these crossbreeding systems, and showed the optimum numbers required in each stage of a cross to maximize production. In the AEZ V, it was found that the three-breed terminal system gave 18.2 kg (76%) improvement over straightbreds per doe mated per year. The multi-breed composite realized 20.4 kg (86%) improvement over pure SEAG. In the AEZ VI, it was found that the three-breed terminal system gave 10 kg (64%) improvement over straightbreds per doe mated per year. The multi-breed composite realized 14.6 kg (94%) improvement straightbreds per doe mated per year. The two-breed rotation was worse than the multi-breed composite in both environments. This implies that in low-input livestock production system, a multi-breed composite may be the crossbreeding system of choice, so long as supportive infrastructure is put in place. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Trade unions play a key role in enhancing employee welfare and performance in organizations. In Kenya, the Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU) is a trade union for academic staff in all the public universities, with a Chapter in every university and whose objects include ensuring better welfare for its members. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study examined the contribution of the UASU to employee welfare and the extent of its effects on employee performance. The study was undertaken at UASU Egerton University Chapter, Njoro, Kenya. A representative group of 82 respondents was obtained by simple random sampling from a sample frame of the 435 general members of the UASU. The respondents provided information regarding the contribution of the activities of the UASU to employee welfare and their influence on employee performance. Results indicated that the UASU had different but positive impacts on the variables affecting employee welfare and, consequently, employee performance. In descending order of importance, maternity, pension, housing and medical schemes were some of the benefits from the activities of the UASU. However, availability of recreational facilities received least attention from the UASU. The UASU should, therefore, be maintained and strengthened to further improve on quality delivery of products and services in the University by its members. Keywords : Employee welfare; Employee performance; UASU; Egerton University, Kenya

Economic values for production traits (milk yield, MY, g; 12-month live weight, yLW, kg; consumable meat percentage, CM, %) and functional traits (mature doe live weight, DoLW, kg; mature buck live weight, LWb, kg; kidding frequency, KF; pre-weaning survival rate, PrSR, %; post-weaning survival rate, PoSR,%; doe survival rate, DoSR, %; and residual feed intake, RFI, kg) were estimated using profit functions for the Small East African goat. The scenario evaluated was a fixed flock size, and the resultant economic values (Kes per doe per year) were 34.46 (MY), 62.35 (yLW), 40.69 (CM), 0.15 (DoLW), 2.84 (LWb), 8.69 (KF), 17.38 (PrSR), 16.60 (PoSR), 16.69 (DoSR) and −3.00 (RFI). Similarly, the economic values decreased by −14.7 % (MY), −2.7 % (yLW), −23.9 % (CM), −6.6 % (DoLW), −98 % (LWb), −8.6 % (KF), −8.2 % (PrSR), −8.9 % (PoSR), −8.1 % (DoSR) and 0 % (RFI) when they were risk rated. The economic values for production and functional traits, except RFI, were positive, which implies that genetic improvement of these traits would have a positive effect on the profitability in the pastoral production systems. The application of an Arrow-Pratt coefficient of absolute risk aversion (λ) at the level of 0.02 resulted in a decrease on the estimated economic values, implying that livestock keepers who were risk averse were willing to accept lower expected returns. The results indicate that there would be improvement in traits of economic importance, and, therefore, easy-to-manage genetic improvement programmes should be established.

Globally, University education is known to be essential for social, economic and political transformation of society. This recognition has caused heavy investment in this sector in Africa and Kenya in particular. However, this rapid expansion has brought many challenges in service delivery and customer satisfaction by universities. Among these is employee capacity that can add value to the strategic intent of the universities in the face of intense competition in the university training services value chain. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study evaluated the role of employee capacity and the strategic positioning of newly chartered public universities, with specific reference to Laikipia University in Kenya. Results indicate that employee capacity was crucial for sustainable competitive advantage of the University. It was apparent that the University had a workforce that had fairly good capacity to contribute to its strategic intent through their cooperation, commitment and involvement in the activities of the University. However, the University needs to invest more in building the capacity of its entire human resource to elevate the current position and to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Employees need to be empowered through increased opportunities for scholarships, training and mentoring activities. This would require training and development needs assessment and methods to be effective in boosting employee capacity. Moreover, employee motivation through better remuneration, and appreciation and recognition of efforts of employees would be desireable to enhance chances of strategic positioning of the Universty. This study contributes to information on employee capacity and its role in strategic positioning of newly chartered public universities that university managers and policy makers would need to employ to achieve sustainable competitive advantage among universities in the country.

Although most of the milk consumed in Kenya comes from cows, goat's milk is becoming increasingly popular despite the often negative public perception as evidenced in the literature. Studies on consumer willingness to pay for goat’s milk have revealed that consumers were more willing to pay a premium price to obtain the milk. However, there is inadequate information on consumers’ attitudes towards consumption of goat’s milk, factors associated with this attitude and their implication on a dairy goat breeding programme. By assessing consumer perception, the current study examined consumers’ attitude towards goat’s milk in Siaya County of Kenya, the factors that influenced the decision, and their implications on a dairy goat breeding programme. A snowballing sampling technique was used to select a sample of 84 survey respondents in the County. Primary data was collected using interviews with the help of sets of structured and semi-structured questionnaires. A 5-point Likert continuum scale was used to analyze and rank perceptions of consumers, with one (1) as strongly disagreed and five (5) as strongly agreed. The results showed that consumers’ perception towards goat’s milk was positive. There was a relationship between perception towards goat’s milk and socio-economic factors like age and education. From the findings, it was also evident that the price of goat’s milk and its relative scarcity were barriers to its consumption. This implies that a dairy goat breeding programme is likely to be successful in the study area and in areas with similar production circumstances. Policy interventions are, therefore, recommended to educate consumers on quality attributes of goat’s milk and provision of high value genotypes of dairy goats to farmers in the County to increase the volume of milk supply from the goats and, due to economies of scale, subsequently lower the cost of production and stabilize the market price of goat’s milk. Keywords : Attitude, Consumer perception, Goat’s milk, Breeding programme, Kenya

Urban livestock production has recorded significant growth in East Africa since the 1970’s. However, proximity to cattle creates potential to public health hazards due to poor hygiene caused by the presence of dung, and flies and parasites that transmit zoonotic diseases. These environmental problems from urban cattle farming threaten both human life and natural ecosystems. The objective of the current study was to assess the patterns of cattle keeping in Nakuru Municipality in Kenya, and identify cattle waste disposal mechanisms in relation to environmental pollution. Through a cross-sectional survey, primary data was collected using sets of structured and semi-structured questionnaires and focused group discussions. To select respondents to be interviewed, stratified sampling was used followed by simple random sampling within the strata. Fishers Exact Formula was then applied to get the 186 cattle keepers that were interviewed. Subsequently, descriptive statistics was used to describe the results, and Chi-square and paired t- tests performed to determine the existence of differences between observations. Results indicate that almost all cattle (80% of the respondents) were found either on owners’ and landlords’ plots. The number of cattle kept on “own land” differed (P<0.005) from that reared on “tenant/ rental” land (t 183 =7.95, P=0.000). Majority of the cattle were grazed on roadsides/ streets, some under zero-grazing and the rest (10.3%) under semi zero-grazing. Differences existed between various production systems, i.e., zero-grazing vs semi zero-grazing (t 77 =2.280, P=0.012) and roadside/ street grazing vs semi zero-grazing (t 165 =3.50, P=0.001). Much (52.2%) of the cattle waste was used as manure for crops, and the rest (10.2%) dumped on the streets, and dustbins, pits and compounds (10.2%).Use of waste as manure on crops differed from giving it away to neighbours, 26.9%, (t 145 =3.137, P=0.001).Generally, land was a limiting factor that made the cattle keepers opt for free-range grazing system, which exposed the Municipality to cattle waste. Use of manure on crops as the major method of waste disposal was inadequate as a means of disposal, resulting in exposure of the Municipality to a serious problem of cattle waste. The findings of this study provide information that the Municipal authorities, policy makers and cattle keepers would need in terms of managing the menace of cattle waste in the Municipality. Keywords : Environmental Pollution, Cattle Waste, Urban Cattle Keeping

To be successful, initiatives to improve smallholder fish production should directly address the needs and objectives of the farmers while promoting national use of available fish genetic resources. This study aimed at providing a better understanding of smallholder fish farming systems, the fish types reared, general management, constraints and needs of fish farmers in western Kenya, and discusses their relevance to the improvement of fish farming. A cross-sectional survey employing sets of structured and semi-structured questionnaires, focused group discussions and participant observation were used to collect information from 102 farmers in three selected Counties. On a scale of most to least important, most farmers ranked cattle as first, followed by fish, goats/ sheep, poultry and bee keeping, respectively. Fish were kept mainly for sale whenever cash was needed and for household consumption. Farmers owning Oreochromis niloticus fish were predominant (56.8%) relative to those owning mixed species (Clarias gariepinus, Oreochromis esculentus and Oreochromis variabilis) at 37.3%. Some farmers (5.9%) had no information on the specific species they owned and confused the other Tilapiines with O. niloticus. A range of traits; mothering ability, growth rate, size, survival, hatchability, feed conversion efficiency, adaptability and resistance to parasites were considered equally important and were ranked very highly by the fish farmers. Growth and size ranked as the most important traits. Most farmers purchased their foundation (66.7%) and replacement (61.8%) stocks. No farmer across the Counties reported any incidence of disease outbreak. However, about 93.1% of the farmers reported a strong parasite problem. Predators also seriously affected farmers, where birds (88.2%) and frogs (71.6%) had a major effect. Lack of feeds, finances, skills and fingerlings were ranked, in ascending order, as the most important problems. Generally, initiatives to improve management practices are an overriding priority in smallholder fish production. Improved management will lead to increased productivity in the short-term and foster participation of farmers in the development of long-term fish improvement strategies.

This study estimated economic values (EVs) for disease resistance traits for dairy/crossbred goats in Kenya. The traits mean somatic cell count (SCC, cells/μl) and faecal worm egg count (FEC, epg) were taken as indicator traits for the most prevalent diseases in the smallholder farms i.e., mastitis and helminthiosis, respectively. Economic weights were objectively assigned to these indicator traits in a selection index such that the overall gains in the breeding objective traits were maximised. Four options for calculating EVs for SCC and FEC were considered. Option 1, response from single trait selection was set equivalent to index response for the trait. Option 2, response from single trait selection was set equivalent to maximum gains achievable. Option 3, level of FEC/SCC was set to zero; and option 4, response in FEC/SCC was set to the minimum gains achievable. In all the options, EVs with/without risk for breeding objective traits 12-month live weight (LW-kg); ADG, average post-weaning daily gain (ADG-g); DMY, average daily milk yield (DMY-kg) were used. For each production trait selected for improvement, a less positive response in the traits FEC and SCC would be desirable. Maximum negative EVs were achieved at a point where the response in SCC was set at zero (option 3) while EVs for SCC were zero when response for DMY was maximised (option 2). In addition, considerable differences in EVs for SCC were obtained when EVs with/without risk were used. Similar results were also observed for FEC when LW was the objective of improvement. However, more positive EVs for FEC were estimated relative to ADG and DMY. The results confirm that there is a scope to incorporate disease resistance traits in a breeding program with objective of reducing disease incidences and the costs of disease control.