ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Urban Agriculture
Diverse Strategies of Urban Dairy Intensification: Insights from Multivariate Typology Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
- 2Kuhne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany
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Urban dairy systems are increasingly significant for sub-Saharan Africa's food and nutritional security, yet remain under-characterized in terms of production diversity and intensification pathways. This study develops a context-specific typology of urban dairy producers by using Factor Analysis for Mixed Data (FAMD) to reduce mixed variables into principal components, followed by Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components (HCPC) to develop distinct clusters. Through a structured survey of 304 urban dairy farmers, data were collected on six domains: feeding strategies, breed diversity, farm structural characteristics, genetic improvement and biosecurity practices, technology use and market orientation, and extension support services. Data analysis resulted in three statistically distinct clusters: (1) Intensive Weak Market Integrated Systems, characterized by exotic breeds, use of commercial feeds, but limited participation within the formal milk channels. (2) Semi-intensive ICT-enabled market-integrated systems, with moderate input use, improved breeds, and the highest digital integration and engagement in formal milk channels. (3) Extensive Urban Dairy Farming Systems consisting of larger indigenous herds with limited access to extension services and low input use. Results reveal diverse and non-linear intensification pathways whereby having improved breeds and increased investment in input use does not directly translate into formal market involvement. These findings emphasize the need for typology-based interventions tailored to the distinct characteristics and constraints of each cluster. This is important in enhancing the effectiveness of urban dairy development programs while promoting climate resilience, sustainability, and food security within rapidly urbanizing dairy value chains.
Keywords: clustering, Factor Analysis for Mixed Data, Farm typology, Intensification, Urban agriculture
Received: 05 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kahwai, Mburu, Transchel, Iraki and Mburu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jane Kahwai
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