Abstract:
ndarua County has enormous milk production potential and has a high amount of milk due to large population of dairy cows coupled with the huge milk market demand from within and without. Despite this potential, milk post-harvest losses have posed a major challenge to the dairy sector in the county. The objectives of the study were: to characterize the socio economic and milk handling attributes of milk producers, to estimate mean milk losses attributable to milk producers and transporters and to establish factors that contribute to the choice of a milk marketing channel and causes of losses among milk producers. A total of 188 milk producers were selected through proportionate to size sampling from each of the nine locations of the Sub-County. A census of 43 transporters was undertaken as well identified through a list provided by the two main milk processors in the sub county. Statistical analysis as well as quantitative analysis were done with the help of Microsoft Excel, STATA and SPSS ver 21. The findings reveal that the mean landholding size was 3.96 acres, and the mean age was 47 years. Mean milk production was 18 and 9 litres during the high season and low season respectively per day. Results of losses experienced indicated that milk losses were higher for milk producers sampled in the formal chain (84%) than in the informal chain (16%). The mean milk losses among transporters was 104 litres per transporter per month. It was further noted that milk transporters who used high speed means like use of motorbikes and vehicles experienced significantly higher losses than those using low speed means like walking, bicycles and donkey carts. The first step Heckman results indicated that gender of household head, total milk output, keeping of records and type of milk container significantly influenced the choice of milk marketing channel while the the major contributors of milk losses were gender of household head, total milk output, use of detergent to clean milk containers, type of milk container and keeping of production records. The study recommends that the policy implementers and dairy stakeholders should prioritise efforts to minimise post-harvest milk losses considering that the implications of these losses directly affect the economic wellbeing and livelihood of farmers. Milk marketing channels, both formal and informal, need to be re-evaluated based on returns and convenience with emphasis on proper post-harvest milk management and handling. Training and awareness creation on milk handling attributes among milk producers and transporters should be a priority especially for county governments. This will reduce on the losses and additional cost incurred by milk producers and transporters ultimately resulting to higher economic returns for the respective chain actors in the dairy value chain
