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Abstract:
The dairy sector in Kenya has not benefitted from the massive opportunities that could be reaped from exploiting the market for value added dairy products at national and regional levels. Dairy products rate highly as the most nutritious and wholesome food products and therefore present huge opportunities for growth based on increasing urban food demand and a rising middle class that is increasingly demanding processed and ready to consume, healthy and nutritious products. This empirical investigation used quantitative and qualitative analysis and found that Small Scale Milk Vendors(SSMVs)in Kiambu, County, Kenya, had added value to milk at varying degrees though most of the milk was still sold in raw form and had adopted various methods to influence customer uptake of the dairy products. Access to markets for diversified products had a positive linear relationship on dairy enterprise performance. The study recommends that the government of Kenya and key actors in the dairy sector in an effort to boost the economy and create employment have a major role to play in helping the SSMVs find markets for their value added dairy products. The study proposes that an intervention for SSMVs in the dairy sector in Kenya based on innovative models anchored on establishing informal and formal networks should be explored as an option to increasing market access for their value added dairy products. This will help in disposal of seasonal surpluses; reduce losses along the dairy chain and increase productivity and incomes of the SSMVs and the government.
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