Pastoral Livestock Marketing: A Case Study of Marsabit County, Kenya

The study aimed to evaluate the current status of livestock marketing in Marsabit County. A survey was conducted in six markets using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires to gather data. The Market committees interviewed were purposefully selected while traders sampled were identified using simple systematic random sampling. The data was analyzed using SPSS Version 25. Descriptive statistics, cross tabulation, and means comparison was analyzed based on markets location. This study revealed that pastoral markets suffer from several inefficiencies such as low purchasing power, recurring droughts that made livestock a risky business, low levels of education and limited business skills among the traders, and lack of banking and credit facilities. The role of the youth is pivotal in the steering the future of livestock production and trade in the ASAL. Thus the study recommends capacity building of traders to enhance their business skills, linking of traders with banking, loaning institutions, modern abattoir for export markets and innovative ways of mitigating drought related risks. Keywords: pastoralists, livestock marketing, traders, market inefficiencies. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-6-07 Publication date:March 31st 201