Indigenous beef cattle market performance in selected Villages in Simiyu and Dodoma regions, Tanzania

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Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

Despite the high livestock population (dominated by cattle) the contribution of subsector to the Tanzanian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is very low. The low contribution of the livestock sector to the country’s GDP can possibly be linked to poor market performance. This study is therefore an attempt to examine the indigenous beef cattle market performance in selected villages in Simiyu and Dodoma regions in order to find out what could be done to improve beef cattle market performance. The study used cross sectional design. Data were collected from 192 indigenous beef cattle actors (beef cattle keepers, traders and butcheries) through semi-structured questionnaires and checklist. The data collected were summarized using Stata and Microsoft Excel. Moreover, the study adopted Structure- Conduct- Performance (S-C-P) model to analyze the performance of indigenous beef cattle market in the study area. The study employed gross margin analysis to measure profitability of value market actors. Furthermore, the multiple linear regression analysis were used to determine the factors affecting gross margin of beef cattle keepers. The results show that traders involved in beef cattle fattening generates the highest gross margin (54.05%) followed by the vertically integrated-butcheries (46.21%) and beef cattle keepers generated the lowest gross margin (13.66%). Further, the study findings show that herd size and herding costs had statistically significant (p < 0.01) influence on gross margin. In conclusion, the indigenous beef cattle market in the study area performed poorly due to inadequate extension services, difficulties in securing credit/loans, high marketing costs and information asymmetry. To improve the market performance and indigenous beef cattle subsector, it is recommended that extension workers have to organise farmers into formal groups and trains them on the use of the beef cattle fattening technique and beef quality control measures. The department of livestock development in the districts; it is recommended to make market information available, enable actors to secure credits/loans, reduction of market charges and tax so that to reduce costs.

Description

Masters Thesis

Keywords

Beef cattle, Indigenous, Simiyu, Dodoma, Tanzania

Citation