Influence of infrastructure development on milk sales volumes in Chesumei sub county, Nandi county Kenya

Abstract

Agriculture, in Kenya, is the backbone of the economy. Its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product is much higher than other contributors of the economy such as tourism. According to Muriuki (n.d.) agriculture is subdivided into sub-sections. One of the sections is livestock production which entails the dairy industry. Unlike in the past, smallholder production of milk is now becoming commercial or market oriented. As a result of the changed market orientation of milk, responsible stakeholders have gone ahead to develop what is called collection centers. Like any other economic activity, dairy farming is dependent on infrastructure. A geographical study of Chesumei Sub County, Nandi County reveals that infrastructure is found both in the rural and urban areas. The infrastructure was affected by rains and bad weather conditions. Therefore, when it is raining they hinder transportation because of the state they are in. So, the main reason for this research was to examine the specific influence of infrastructure on milk sales volume by dairy farmers. The research obtained its data from questionnaires which were administered by the researcher and interview assisted by a research assistant. Descriptive research design and snowball techniques were used in the research. The study targeted a population of 1000 who are the dairy farmers in the area of study and to whom the sample size was chosen from. A simple random technique was used to choose the subjects participating in the study, by administering 286 questionnaires. Target population for the study was farmers in Chesumei Sub County with a target of 1000respoedents. The sampling procedure used was snow balling arriving at a sample size of 286 respondents. Non probability method was used during the data collection method. The researcher used questionnaires to collect the data from the field which had both open ended and closed ended questions. A pilot study was done to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. This was done by obtaining the Cronbachs alpha of the study. Data was analyzed using SPSS to obtain the descriptive data such as frequencies, and percentages of the respondents. Inferential statistics was also used to obtain the influence of various variables on sales of milks as per the conceptual framework. Descriptive analysis allows the researcher to retrieve percentages and counts participant‘s views on the influence of rural roads access on milk delivery to collection centers in Chesumei Sub County, Nandi County Kenya. The findings of the study were presented in table and conclusion was drawn from them. The study indicated that transportation, telecommunication, energy and water and sanitation did influence the amount of milk sales during the study and came up with the recommendations that farmers be sensitized in order to understand the importance of these factors and the solutions from themselves, County Government and National Government.