Farm Gate Dairy Milk Marketing Channel Choice in Kericho County, Kenya

Abstract

This study examined the factors that determined dairy farmer households' choice of a commercial milk marketing channel in Kericho County, Kenya. Multistage cluster sampling technique was employed in collecting data from 432 dairy farmers and survey data was analyzed using multivariate probit regression model. Marginal effect results revealed that a unit change in household's pasture farm size and partnership in lobbying for better milk price increased the probability of selling milk only to commercial milk buyer by one and 19 percentage points respectively. The number of cows milked per day and milk storage/cooling raised the probability of selling raw milk to commercial buyers by 2.3 and 16.1 percentage points respectively. Commercial milk buyers valued security in raw milk supply which came from trusted relationships and from contracts with the dairy milk seller households. To increase the choices of commercial dairy milk marketing channels and hence the switching power of the dairy farmer households in Kericho County and by extension, Kenya as a whole, this study recommends strengthening the capacity of dairy farmer households by up scaling their technical knowhow and by enlarging their herd sizes. Further, the study recommends group formation, partnership development and increased financial investments in livestock milk markets by national and county governments.