Influence of Entrepreneurial Competencies On Commercialization of Livestock Farming in Narok County, Kenya

Abstract

The county has a very large population that owns large number of livestock but they still remain poor in terms of accessing health services, taking their children to school and access to other basic needs which this study attributes to poor commercialization of their domestic animal farm products for wealth maximization. The aim of this research was to establish the influence of entrepreneurial competencies on the commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County. The research specifically focused on the influence of entrepreneur skill acquisition, market orientation knowledge, entrepreneur risk management knowledge and entrepreneur environment awareness knowledge on commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County, in Kenya. The study also sought to examine the moderating effect of government strategy on the livestock subsector in respect to commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County, Kenya. Descriptive research was adopted based on to its reliability and systematic description of a population. The population of the study included all farmers that practice livestock farming in Narok County. The study targeted households of smallholder livestock farmers. Narok County has 150,415 households comprising 721,992 individuals involved in livestock farming. The sample size was determined by use of Cochran's formula, with sample size of 384 households being used. The study adopted mixed sampling design, stratified and random sampling so as to settle on the specific households for inclusion in the study. Primary data was collected from the field through structured self- administered questionnaires. The study adopted drop and pick methodology during data collection. Data analysis was done through both inferential and descriptive statistics using SPSS v24. Inferential statistics that include Pearson correlation and Multivariate binary logistics regression analysis. Results indicated that entrepreneurial skills (B = 1.14, exp B = 3.128, P=0.002) positively and significantly influenced commercialization of livestock farming; market orientation knowledge(B = 0.843, exp-B = 2.323, P=0.003) positively and significantly influenced commercialization of livestock farming; entrepreneur risk management knowledge (B = -0.8, expB = 0.449, p=0.02) has a negative and significant effect commercialization of livestock farming; entrepreneur environment awareness knowledge had a negative and significant effect commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County (B = -1.64, expB = 5.156, P=0.01). This implies that entrepreneur environment awareness knowledge has significant effect on commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County, Kenya; and government strategy moderates the impact of entrepreneurial competencies on commercialization of livestock farming in Narok County. This study recommends households involved in livestock farming to ensure that they effectively manage finances for farming activities, develop business plans for farming enterprises, regularly attend training sessions where farmers are taught entrepreneurship, and make sure to cultivate entrepreneurial abilities that allow farmers to effectively manage livestock farming. Similarly, to improve commercialization of livestock farming, there is need for those involved in livestock farming to equip themselves with market orientation knowledge by developing awareness of all needs of consumers of livestock products and products livestock that originate from the agricultural operations. There is also need to have sufficient market knowledge of livestock and its connected items, access information on the livestock market as well be prepared to take advantage of any market opportunities.