Open AccessUnconditional factor demands and supply response for livestock products: A farm-level analysis of the Southern Rangelands of Kenya
Author(s) -
Philip Ifeakachukwu Nwosa,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
african journal of agricultural and resource economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.166
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 2521-9871
pISSN - 1993-3738
DOI - 10.53936/afjare.2021.16(3).17
Subject(s) - livestock , production (economics) , profit (economics) , agricultural economics , economics , rangeland , supply and demand , agricultural science , feeder cattle , productivity , microeconomics , agroforestry , biology , geography , forestry , economic growth
This paper evaluates output supply and input factor demands for livestock products in the Southern rangelands of Kenya. A flexible translog profit function that permits the application of the primal approach to the output supply and factor demand analysis was estimated using household-level data. The results indicate that the own-price elasticities of supply for cattle, sheep and goats were all positive. The own-price elasticities for the supply of sheep and goat products were elastic, while the own-price elasticities for the supply of cattle products wasinelastic. Cross-price and scale elasticities were found to be within the inelastic range in all cases, with goat production complementing both cattle and sheep production. All factor input demand elasticities for cattle, sheep and goats had the expected negative sign and were inelastic. These results offer a valuable opportunity for the development of pro-pastoral price policies that reduce factor market imperfections and thus enhance livestock productivity in the rangelands of Kenya.