Effect of use of tsetse repellant collar technology on the farm performance and household welfare of small-scale livestock farmers in Kenya

Abstract

Tsetse-transmitted Animal African Trypanosomosis (AAT) is a disease of economic importance to livestock development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The disease is widely managed using trypanocides that are expensive for smallholders and associated with health risks due to drug residues in animal products and drug resistance. Developed recently by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and partners, the novel Tsetse repellent collar technology (TRCT) provides an effective alternative control measure that targets the tsetse fly vector of AAT. This study assessed the impact of TRCT on household welfare and food security by using ex-post non-experimental data obtained from 632 cattle-keeping households in the Shimba Hills region of Kwale County, Kenya. Using an endogenous switching regression model, we found that the use of TRCT increased the market value of cattle by about 36%, and decreased household poverty levels (headcount ratio) by 8.5% points. In addition, the technology reduced the household food insecurity coping strategy index and hunger scale among adopting farmers by 36% and 24% respectively. These results contribute to reshaping our understanding of the impact of TRCT on household welfare to inform the implementation and upscaling of this agriculture-nutrition intervention.