PERFORMANCE AND CONSTRAINTS OF INDIGENOUS CHICKEN REARING AMONG SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN MAU-NAROK WARD, NJORO SUB COUNTY, NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

The potential benefit of Indigenous Chicken (IC) in Kenya is highly under exploited. Indigenous chicken in the country produces 55 and 47 percent meat and eggs respectively. Earlier studies indicated an increasing demand for IC meat due to its tenderness and taste as well as change in eating habits among Kenyan population. However, although over 90 percent of small-scale farmers in Kenya reared IC, very few if any engage in IC rearing as a commercial enterprise for household income. Mau-Narok Divisions’ small-scale farmers are among those who predominantly rear IC and none of them ventured into the enterprise commercially. The reasons why commercial rearing of IC among most small-scale farmers was low despite their high demand in the market were not well documented. This study thus sought to determine the performance and constraints facing small-scale IC rearing farmers in Mau-Narok Division. The target population consisted of small-scale farmers who reared IC in Mau-Narok Division. A cross-sectional survey research design was used. Using the coefficient of variation method, a sample size of 120 respondents was randomly selected from a sampling frame of 10,479 households. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics used in data analysis were charts, percentages, frequencies, means, standard deviations among others. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis and all tests were computed at ?= 0.05. Study findings indicated that farmers used extensive, semi-intensive or intensive rearing systems. The number of birds kept across the three systems was very low making them uneconomical for commercialization and as a result majority of the farmers earned less than KShs. 10,000 from their enterprises per year. The worst constrain faced was disease and parasite attack followed by feed constraint then predators. This study recommends that agriculture extension agents need to step up training IC rearing farmers on modern technologies in disease control management. The government should also establish IC production villages to attract small-scale farmers into taking up the enterprise as a commercial venture.