Economic Analysis of Consumer Demand for Indigenous Chicken Eggs in Kenya

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Date
2018Author
Ndenga, Charles
Kabuage, Lucy W.
Bet, Eric K.
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The World health organization recommends a daily protein requirement of 55 grams per person to avert health and
nutritional related problems. This requirement is hardly met in majority of developing countries’ households
especially in the sub Saharan African. Indigenous chicken eggs have potential to position themselves as a major
source of proteins in these households due to their low prices compared to other sources of proteins. However,
average per capita egg consumption in Kenya has remained low compared to the world average. Consequently, no
research has been done to determine factors that influence egg consumption in Kenya. It is on the basis of this
research gap that this study is conducted with three specific objectives; to characterize indigenous chicken egg
consumers, to estimate the level of preferences in different egg types and to determine factors influencing
household demand for indigenous chicken eggs in the counties of Makueni and Nairobi in Kenya. A total of 174
respondents were sampled in across sectional survey design using a multistage sampling technique. The data was
collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, non parametric
Kendall coefficient of concordant test and multiple regression models in STATA 11.0 version. Results showed
that there was a significant agreement (p<0.01) among consumers in the ranking of indigenous chicken eggs as
the most important compared to all other eggs available in the market. Gender, age, education, price, income and
household size had a significant effect (p<0.01) on demand for indigenous chicken eggs. All variables estimated
had the expected sign. Policy should focus on these factors in order to increase both consumption levels and
competitiveness of the egg value chain