Grass seed value chain analysis in the Southern Kenya range lands of Makueni and Kajiado counties

Fodder production has increasingly become important among pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Kenya. A number of pasture production technologies have been introduced to these communities not only to enhance availability of livestock feeds in dry periods but also to boost their income from sale of hay and grass seed. Only scanty information has been documented regarding production and marketing practices. This study was conducted in Makueni and Kajiado Counties located in the southern drylands of Kenya with the aim of mapping the grass seed value chain. The study shows that all the farmers who have adopted these technologies use own land. In addition, 93.90%, 90.8% and 67.86% use own labor, fencing materials (live fences) and seed, respectively. This dependence on locally/free available inputs indicates that commercialization of pasture and seed production is low in these districts. Of the farmers that produce pastures, 31.3% have embraced grass seed production. In the last one year (ending June 2016) farmers other than the few private commercial producers harvested an average of 127 bales of hay and 58.17 kgs of grass, of which 37.80% and 70.90% were sold, respectively. Pasture (hay) was mainly sold to consumers within the Counties, while grass seed was sold to neighboring farmers or NGOs through brokers, individual seed bulkers or farmer groups. The grass seed markets are still informal. There are no government regulations governing grass seed marketing activities except for seed quality regulations which only restrict seed marketing beyond the Counties. This study recommends legalization and development of properly enabling institutional structures that will let producers access government services on seed standardization and quality assurance. This will in turn allow them fetch high grass seed prices offered elsewhere. Legal structure and policies of this sector will too need to facilitate private investment towards providing lacking services like mechanized ploughing and harvesting.