The Nexus Between Technology Integration and Financial Performance of Dairy Cooperatives in Mt. Kenya Region, Kenya

The Kenya dairy sector plays a critical role in the economy whereby it is a source of livelihood for at least 1.2 million people. The dairy sector by-products are also crucial to food and nutritional security. The sector's success is largely driven by the formal value chain comprising processors, dairy cooperatives, and cottage industries. Despite the positive contribution of the dairy sector, its potential remains largely underutilized. To further leverage the potential of the dairy sector, stakeholders must support the dairy cooperatives that play a vital role in supporting the majority of the 75% small-scale dairy farmers through market access, provision of inputs, capacity building, and technology integration. Technology integration is particularly critical for dairy cooperatives since it addresses key challenges, they face subsequently enhancing efficiency, and competitiveness, ultimately improving their overall performance. Technology integration is the most critical support for dairy cooperatives as it addresses key challenges facing the entities, improves their efficiency, and enhances competitiveness subsequently boosting their performance. The study considers technology a crucial resource that could enhance the dairy cooperatives' use of assets. Return on Assets (ROA) was used to measure the financial performance of these cooperatives. To obtain the study sample, the study employed a multi-stage sampling approach, first purposively selecting the Mt. Kenya region, then excluding four bulk processors, and lastly randomly selecting dairy cooperatives from the remaining. The study applied the multivariate regression analysis approach on cross-sectional data to analyze the effect of financial technologies, communication technologies, and product technologies on ROA in the Mt. Kenya region, Kenya. Financial technologies were found to have a positive effect of 1.215 percentage points on ROA (p=0.000). Communications technologies were found to have a positive effect of 0.733 percentage points on ROA (p=0.016). Product technologies were found to have a positive effect of 0.964 percentage points on ROA (p=0.000). These results indicate that financial, communication, and product technologies had a statistically significant effect on ROA at the 5% level. To further technology integration and ensure a sustained increase in ROA for dairy cooperatives, stakeholders should implement measures such as capacity building and tax concessions in technology infrastructure. Keywords: Dairy cooperatives, financial technologies, communication technologies, product technologies, return on assets (ROA).