Description

Abstract: Following consultations and demonstration of the functioning of the Livestock Information Network and Knowledge System (LINKS) project ICT (information and communication technology) in reporting and disseminating livestock prices, stakeholders in livestock marketing adopted the LINKS protocol to develop a national livestock marketing information system (NLMIS) for Kenya. The result is a culmination of efforts of different stakeholders to give the country a unified system that provides information on prices of different livestock species that are traded in the key livestock markets. The overall objectives of the NLMIS is to increase market access for livestock producers and traders. The NLMIS allows users to bring down the costs of doing business by reducing reliance on brokers for information and to conduct market transactions on their behalf, as illustrated by the case of one Peneti Ole Parmuat, a Maasai herder and trader from Kajiado district of southern Kenya.