Globally, livestock farming is vital to the growth of economies. In the drylands of Africa, the scarcity of water and pasture significantly impacts livestock productivity and marketing, making local markets dominated by foreign stocks, products, and entrepreneurs. This study seeks to examine the effects of competition and market access factors on the performance of Turkana’s secondary livestock markets. The strategic questions formulated to investigate the research problem were: what are the characteristics of livestock production and marketing in Turkana? what competition and market access challenges are outstanding in Turkana’s livestock production and marketing context? and how does competitive rivalry affect the performance of livestock enterprises and market performance in Turkana? From a sampling frame of 180, 168 livestock traders (primary participants) were statistically sampled from Kakuma, Lokichar, and Kalemngo’rok markets. In addition, 24 government and civil society livestock development experts were purposefully selected as secondary study participants. Study results show that competitive rivalry significantly affects livestock production and marketing in Turkana, making them unprogressive. Competition and market access are crucial aspects of livestock development, and identifying and managing their constituent features can aid in structuring, organizing, and commercializing livestock production. The influence of competition and market access factors on livestock development in Turkana is exacerbated by limited legislation and regulatory frameworks, limited research, the use of informal livestock marketing systems, inequalities in livestock production, insecurity, limited capital, rivalry in markets, the exploitation of low-capital traders, and climate change effects. Recommendations for application and future research emphasize the need for holistic programming of livestock developments in Turkana, with a focus on stakeholder capacity development, the use of systems-based approaches in programming, knowledge and technology transfer, legislation, and increasing competition and market access capabilities of local traders in the local and external markets.
Ekiru Francis Anno, John Samali Eipa, Josephine Namongo Emase. Impact of Competition and Market Access Factors on the Performance of Secondary Livestock Markets in Turkana, Kenya, International Journal of Business and Economics Research. Volume 12, Issue 3, June 2023, pp. 87-98. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20231203.12