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INFLUENCE OF UTILIZING ANIMAL HUSBANDRY INFORMATION FROM MOBILE PHONES ON MILK YIELD AMONG SMALLHOLDER DAIRY FARMERS IN NJORO SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Josephat Smollo, Adijah M. Ali-Olubandwa, Catherine M. Ng’endo

Abstract


Dairy cattle farming in Kenya contribute 3.5% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and provide income, employment and food to 1.6 million smallholder dairy farmers. The major constraint in the dairy industry in Njoro Sub-County is inadequate utilization of animal husbandry information by smallholder dairy farmers with one of the consequences being low milk yield. Over 80 per cent of the smallholder dairy farmers and all the livestock extension officers in Njoro Sub-County own mobile phones. This creates an opportunity for smallholder dairy farmers to utilize animal husbandry information from mobile phones which remains under-exploited. The purpose of this study therefore, was to determine the influence of utilizing animal husbandry information from mobile phones on milk yield among smallholder dairy farmers in Njoro Sub-County, Kenya.  An ex post facto research was carried out to collect data from a sample of 106 smallholder dairy farmers selected by probability sampling from Njoro Division. A researcher administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Validity of the instruments was examined by supervisors and piloting was done in Mauche Division to determine the reliability of the tool. The null hypothesis was tested using Pearson’s Correlation at 1% level of significance. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant correlation between utilizing animal husbandry information and milk yield among smallholder dairy farmers. The study therefore recommended that for increased milk production to be realized in Njoro Sub-County, deliberate efforts should be made to improve utilization of animal husbandry information from mobile phones.

Keywords


Influence, utilizing, animal husbandry information, mobile phones, smallholder dairy farmers, milk yield, cellular based extension services

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