Assessing the influence of knowledge of type and numbers of livestock exchange in stock friends’ concept as a strategy in poverty alleviation; case of Ngomeni Community of Mwingi District in Kenya

Abstract

One of the challenge-facing Kenya is high levels of poverty. Different ways of poverty alleviation are applied among them is stock friends strategy. The strategy is ineffective among the Ngomeni community of Mwingi District. It is postulated that there is poor understanding of the right types and numbers of livestock for the exchange; and the rate of adoption of the strategy. A socio-ecological survey of 233 households sampled and complemented by Key Informant interviews was conducted. Descriptive and regression analyses using SPSS were used to determine the associations and influences of the factors (independent variable) on poverty levels of the community (dependent variable). The degree of community knowledge of type and numbers of stock used in the stock exchange (β value of -0.449 that explained 25.5% variation) and adoption of the stock exchange strategy were found to be key and could be addressed using stock friend’s concept.