Profitability of supplementary feeding of indigenous cattle in dry areas of Tanzania
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Abstract
By 2050, global food consumption is expected to rise by 60% compared
to the 2005–2007 level. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the population increase may
be as much as 250% by the same period. Hence, there is an urgent need to increase
food production and introduce productivity-enhancing measures in SSA agricul-
ture, including the livestock sector, which is the main focus of this article. The cur-
rent productivity of the Tanzanian livestock sector is low due to seasonal variations
in the availability and quality of pasture and other feeds. The cattle gain weight
during the rainy season and lose weight in the subsequent dry season. Additionally,
pastoralists face challenges due to the conversion of grazing areas into cropland,
overgrazing, and the increasingly frequent droughts. Although the optimum age for
slaughter is 3.5–4.5 years, farmers in Tanzania slaughter their cows at 5–6 years.
This article argues that this may be an unhelpful economical management practice.
To study the effects of improved feeding on economic performance, we collected
data on on-farm supplementation experiments with indigenous Zebu cattle, in col-
laboration with pastoral communities and a large-scale commercial wheat farm in
Hanang, Tanzania. The study compared the income and costs associated with tradi-
tional cattle keeping (TS) for 6 years at slaughter, with that of two levels of concen-
trate supplementation, low (LSS) and medium (MSS), allowing for slaughtering at
4.5 and 3.5 years, respectively. Adjusted net margins for the three systems were 199,
911 and 978 USD, respectively. Our results strongly suggest that farmers should supplement the feeding of their young stock regularly, in times when the animals
cannot sustain themselves on grazing alone. The primary explanations for the rec-
ommendation were that supplementation would lead to increased production of
meat and reduced variable costs, that is, feeds and drugs. Our study was limited to
steers. Future studies should include supplementation of cows to obtain annual calv-
ing and use of crop by-products instead of concentrates.
Description
Book chapter
Keywords
Agriculture, Climate, Natural resources, Africa