Abstract

This study assessed various market and non-market factors that might have a considerable bearing on farmers’ adoption of improved beef cattle breeds in dry areas of Kenya. A binomial (binary) logit model was applied to analyse survey data from a multistage area sample of beef cattle farmers. Results showed that about 53% of farmers in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya have adopted improved beef cattle. The main factors that were found to have significant influence on farmers’ probability of adoption of improved beef cattle are peri-urban location, sale of cattle to abattoirs rather than in open air markets, and practise of agro-pastoral or ranch production systems. On the contrary, practice of nomadic production system, possession of experience in cattle production and larger farms did not have a favourable influence on adoption of improved cattle breeds. These findings offer important insights to development policy on provision of requisite services and institutional support in order to enhance the adoption of improved cattle breeds for better livelihoods in the typically resource-constrained arid and semi-arid areas.

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