Quality beef supply chain efficiency and consumption in Arusha and Dar es Salaam cities, Tanzania

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Date

2015

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Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

This study investigated efficiency along quality beef supply chain and consumption of quality beef in Arusha and Dar-es-Salaam cities, Tanzania. Specifically the study investigated: (i) efficiency of supplying quality beef (QB) (ii) consumption pattern for QB (iii) consumers' preferences for QB and (iv) consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for QB. Added cost/kilogram and returns/shilling were used to indicate efficiency of QB supply. Almost Ideal Demand Systems was used to analyze consumption pattern of QB while Principal Component Analysis and Contingent Valuation Method were used to determine beef consumers’ preferences and WTP for QB respectively. Data were collected using questionnaires administered to two cattle fattening companies, three auction markets, 10 wholesale meat traders, 106 butchermen. six beef processors, 11 supermarkets, 34 tourist hotels, one beef importer and 278 households. Results showed that the cost of processing QB was almost 9 and 1.5 times the cost of producing and retailing QB, respectively. Electricity accounted for 84% and 73% of added cost for processing and distribution of QB respectively. Returns/shilling was highest (83%) and lowest (12%) at retailing and production nodes respectively. Only 9.5% of sampled households consumed QB amounted to 32.1kg/person/year priced at 14 250Tsh/kg. The average consumption of QB in tourist hotels amounted to 449kg/month/hotel priced at 25 608Tsh/kg. ‘Freshness’ and ‘less fat content’ were mainly preferred by household consumers; while cleanliness, safety and tenderness were mostly proffered by tourist hotels. Expensiveness, unfreshness and the misconception that QB was preserved using chemicals were major reasons limiting WTP for QB. To promote production and consumption of QB this study recommends that: (i) Investors should venture in local QB supply because it is profitable. However, efforts should be made to use low cost alternative energy sources such as biogas and solar power to make the venture more profitable (ii) Tanzania Meat Board and other stakeholders in the beef industry should promote marketing of QB through introduction of meat consumption week,advertising, training in schools and participation in trade fairs and (iii) Linkages of major importers of QB with local QB producers should be made with proper taxation of imported beef to make locally produced QB more competitive.

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Keywords

Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Beef supply, Qality beef

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