| dc.description.abstract | Most farmers pursue poultry farming on a small scale as a hobby rather than as a
business, thus they are unable to take advantage of the accompanying economic
benefits. This is especially true of indigenous poultry. The purpose of this research
was to establish the factors that influence commercial indigenous chicken production
in Mandera County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine
the effects of supplementary feeding, disease control, technical knowledge, market
availability and credit access on commercial indigenous poultry production in
Mandera County. The study's philosophical foundation was positivist. The study
targeted 3971 households in Mandera North, Banisa and Mandera west sub counties
in Mandera County, who constituted the population. A sample of 363 respondents,
one from each sampled household was selected to represent the population. Primary
and secondary data were used. Questionnaires, focus group discussions, and
interview schedules were used to gather the main data. Preliminary confirmatory
tests for reliability showed that the data collection tool was reliable with a Cranbach
Alpha coefficient above 0.7. for most variable constructs. To determine the strength
and nature of the independent variables impact on the dependent variable,
multivariate regression analysis was carried out. The response rate was at 94% where
344 respondents answered and returned the questionnaire out of 363. The correlation
results indicated that the independent variables; credit availability, disease control,
market availability, poultry feeding and technical advisory services were strongly
and positively correlated to indigenous poultry production as indicated by Pearson
Correlation coefficient values of 0.584, 0.612, 0.827, 0.661 and 0.796 respectively.
The results of ANOVA revealed that the F calculated value was 736.785, while F
critical was 2.76, at a 5% level meaning significant at that level. Tests of hypotheses
indicated that the independent variables were significant for poultry feeding
(p=0.000), credit availability(p=0.000), disease control (p=0.000), market availability
(p=0.000) and technical knowledge (p=0.000). Recommendations were made for
policy makers to create an enabling environment for private enterprise to thrive in
terms of improving on infrastructure and providing technically qualified support staff.
It was further recommended that commercial poultry producers would pool resources
to leverage on economies of scale and group dynamics in credit and market access | en_US |
