Farm-level factors affecting dairy goat artificial insemination in Kenya

  • A. Jesang Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
  • A.N. Kipyegon Clinical Studies Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nairobi
  • H.M. Mutembei Clinical Studies Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nairobi
  • E.O. Mugube Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization

Abstract

Goats are considered climate smart livestock due to their adaptive nature to adverse climatic conditions. They also play a critical role in the economy of most rural communities in Africa. In Kenya there are about 15 million goats out of which about 400,000 are dairy goats. Goat farming system is faced with a myriad of problems, including uncontrolled breeding methods, feeding mainly based on browsing thus unbalanced, and low uptake of reproductive technologies. This study was carried out to determine factors affecting the uptake of goat artificial insemination in Kenya. A baseline survey was carried out in 200 goat rearing households in Mukurwe-ini sub-County in Nyeri County using a structured questionnaire. Data was stored in MS Excel and analyzed using R software version 4.03. Both descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and Pearson chi-square test were used. Results show that a majority (98%) of farmers used natural mating. Farmers were willing to pay for artificial insemination services at (P<0.05), but 71.4% though willing to pay, still perceived artificial insemination as expensive. It is recommended that the government should subsidize artificial insemination services.

Published
2022-06-03
How to Cite
Jesang, A., Kipyegon, A., Mutembei, H., & Mugube, E. (2022). Farm-level factors affecting dairy goat artificial insemination in Kenya. East African Agricultural and Forestry Journal, 85(1 & 2), 12. Retrieved from https://www.kalro.org/www.eaafj.or.ke/index.php/path/article/view/525