Introduction

Two facts are immediately confronted when one considers the economic situation and development prospects of Subsaharan Africa. First, it is one of the poorest regions of the world, with a per capita annual income of only $329 in 1979. Secondly, Subsaharan Africa’s population is the youngest and fastest growing of any region in the world. The livestock industry has recorded one of the most unsatisfactory performances of any subsector of the African economies. Despite developmental priority having officially been given to agriculture, urban-rural developmental inequities have grown, and Kenya’s domestic terms of trade have turned increasingly against agriculture and in favor of industry. Kenya’s economic stagnation and agricultural decline in particular, is reflected in the recent history of the nation’s livestock industry. A country’s eco-climatic conditions provide the fundamental opportunity set for its agricultural activities, particularly for systems which utilize low levels of purchased inputs.