An assessment of attitude towards selling livestock among the pastoralists in ngorongoro district of...

The 5The 5thth

All Africa Conference on Animal AgricultureAll Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa: Challenges and opportunities October 25-28, 2010.

AN ASSESSMENT OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS SELLING LIVESTOCK AMONG THE PASTORALISTS IN

NGORONGORO DISTRICT OF TANZANIA

BY

M.E. Haule, G.H. Laswai, D.L. Mwaseba, A.E. Kimambo, J. Madsen, L.A. Mtenga and A.J. Mwilawa

INTRODUCTION Cattle in the pastoral system accounts for 14 percent of

the 19 million cattle population in Tanzania Contribution of livestock to the pastoral economy is low Pastoralists are facing challenges:

Restrictions of free mobile livestock systemConflicts between herders and farmersLong marketing chain with several actorsPoor record keeping systemsLow literacy levelsPoor enforcement of regulations

Introd...Pastoral system is undergoing unprecedented

changes e.g. engagement in income generating activities

other than traditional livestock keepingIt is likely that pastoralists sell livestock as

capital investment Limited information exits on the attitude and

purpose of pastoralists in selling livestockUseful for subsectoral planningWillingness of pastoralits to sell young steers

for feedlots?

Objectives

To determine the attitude and reasons for selling livestock by pastoralists

To identify factors that could influence such attitude

METHODOLOGY

The study was done in Ngorongoro District in Tanzania Data were collected through:

Questionnaire administered to 90 H/Hkey informant interviews Three focus group discussions each ≤ 20

people anddirect observations

Descriptive statistics were generated Tobit model was employed to determine the important

factors influencing the pastoralists attitudes

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: Distribution of respondents according to socio-economic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics Frequency PercentAge class (years)

21-40 51 56.641-60 31 34.5Above 60 8 8.9

Sex Male 70 77.8Female 20 22.2

Sex of the head of household

Male (Adult) 81 90.0Male (Child) 3 3.3Female (Adult) 6 6.7

Main source of income

Livestock 78 86.7Salary 7 7.8Petty businesses 5 5.6

Type of livestock

Gender Frequency Percent

Ownership Cattle Male – adult 79 87.8

Male – child 3 3.3Female – adult 8 8.9

Goats Male – adult 77 85.6Male – child 3 3.3Female – adult 9 10.0Don’t have cattle 1 1.1

Decision to sell Male - adult 76 84.4 Male - child 6 6.7

Female - adult 7 7.8 Husband and Wife 1 1.1

Table 2: Gender distribution of respondents to ownership and decision making on selling livestock

Table 3: Categories of livestock that pastoralists prefer to sell

Category of livestock Count Percent Cow

54 61.4

Heifers

20 22.7

Steers 79 89.8Calves

25 28.4

Goats

72 81.8* Counts were based on multiple responses on each category preferred

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10

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40

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70

80

90

100

Pe

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po

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Reasons for selling livestock

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Village market District markets Arusha town markets Kenya markets

Livestock markets

Percent of respondents

Selling cattle Selling goats

Figure 2: Markets which pastoralists in Ngorongoro district sell livestock

Table 4: Attitude towards selling cattle and goats among the pastoralists

Category Frequency Percent

Selling cattle

Selling goats

Positive 38 42.2

Neutral

Negative

19 21.1

33 36.7

Positive 41 45.6

Neutral 16 17.8

Negative 33 36.7

Table 5: Tobit model estimates for the factors influencing attitude towards selling livestock

Explanatory variable Coefficient STD Error t-statistic P- value

Sex of livestock owner 0.752 0.476 1.58 0.02*

Age of livestock owner -0.087 0.460 -0.19 0.46

Education level 0.127 1.060 0.12 0.90

Household size 0.858 0.554 1.55 0.03*

Herd size -0.070 0.036 -1.95 0.06

Distance to the market -0.052 0.024 -2.12 0.04*

Price of livestock 0.604 0.602 1.00 0.05*

Religion 0.140 0.425 0.33 0.34

Level of significance = 5%: Statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05), statistically not significant (P>0.05)

Conclusions

The mindset of pastoralists towards selling livestock is changing

Right policy on price of cattle and reliable markets could increase off takes

Promotion of feedlots could create reliable cattle markets

Primary livestock auction market in Ngorongoro district

Local cattle slaughtering and meat selling

The end

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