Smallholder Livestock Keepers ’ Breeding Choices and Its Implication on Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries: Empirical Evidence from Tanzania

AbstractThe livestock sector in developing countries is characterized by poverty and outdated methods of rearing animals; thus, any initiatives to reverse the situation must focus on improving the breeding types of animals and making the process affordable across the entire livestock keeping societies. Therefore, this study examines determinants of smallholder livestock keepers ’ breeding choices and their implications on poverty reduction in Tanzania. It employed multinomial logit and probit models to examine breeding choices and their effects on poverty reduction, respectively. Findings showed that the sector is male dominated and largely conducted in rural areas, of w hich breeding choices are dominated by traditional breeds (56.34%), while improved beef and dairy breeds formed 40.51% and 3.06% of entire livestock, respectively. Moreover, the multinomial logit model results showed that residence, zone, education, and per capita income are significant determinants of livestock breeding choices among smallholder livestock keepers. Probit model results showed that improved beef and dairy breeds significantly reduce poverty compared to traditional breeds. The study recommends developing countries to have clear strategies of improving animal breeds by introducin g local breeding improvement programs in all public ranching sites. This should go hand in hand with the improvement of local veterinary centers to reduce animal fatalities and enabling livestock keepers to access med...

Source: Global Social Welfare - October 22, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research