Livestock Enterprise in Kinango Sub - County, Kenya: Challenges, Constraints and Opportunities.

Livestock production at the coast is undertaken in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) and it heavily relies on traditional breeds mostly carried out by small-scale farmers whose performance in terms of production, management, processing and marketing has not been encouraging. The falling production trends and the inefficient market outlets have adversely affected smallholder producers through reduced earnings. The sector is also faced with severe drought, high prevalence of pests and diseases, inferior local breeds, poor rural access roads, poor farmer-processor linkages and lack of affordable credit facilities. Pest and disease infections have severely affected the quality of livestock produce whereas price fluctuation especially of live animals has contributed to low earnings to livestock owners/traders. Nonetheless, the arid conditions of the region and the vast lands offer conducive conditions for commercialisation of livestock for wealth creation and improved economic conditions. Despite the existing natural resources, the coast region has a high incidence of absolute poverty with 62% of the population living below the poverty line while 59.46% and 44.78% are food and hard-core poor respectively (Welfare Monitoring Survey III, 1997). The Kenya government focuses on the livestock and meat industry strategic areas for self-sufficiency in basic foods. In addition to the achievement of broad food self-sufficiency, other sector objectives include employment creation, income and foreign exchange earnings and stimulation of off-farm income generating activities in the rural areas. These in turn will lead to reduction in poverty as highlighted by the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) whereby livestock production is ranked highly in its contribution to poverty reduction. Kinango district is part of the Arid and Semi Arid Lands that fall under the livestock-producing zone covering 80% of the total land area in the coast region. The district is endowed with land supporting livestock production most of which are operating below capacity. This has led to the under exploitation of natural resource base in the district hence low production in livestock which is the most important livelihood for the local communities. This trend has contributed significantly to the high poverty incidence, food insecurity malnourished populace and reduced incomes. The research employed a descriptive study design while undertaking the baseline study of livestock enterprises in Kinango, Kenya. The target population were livestock keepers and traders where thirty-five of them were selected using stratified random sampling. The views of the sample population were collected by administering a questionnaire, undertaking interviews and making observations and the information and data collected was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) the results of which are intended to inform the strategic approach by livestock farmers and the government in putting in place policies and measures aimed at promoting and commercialising livestock farming in Kinango. Keywords: Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, commercialisation of livestoc