Livestock Production Constraints and Opportunities and its Determinant in Assosa District, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was carried out in 4 selected kebeles of Assosa district with the objectives of identifying the major constraints and opportunities of livestock production and analyzing the determinants of livestock production of smallholder farmers’ in the study area. A total of 99 household heads were selected through random sampling techniques. Both primary and secondary sources of data collection was applied. The primary data was collected through interviewing the selected farmers and field observation supported with secondary data sources. The collected data was analyzed by descriptive and cobb-douglas econometric model. Both SPSS and STATA software were used. The result of the study showed that the average age of sampled farmers was 47.34%. 7.1% and 92.9% of farm household head were female and male headed households, respectively with mean educational schooling of 4.25 years. The study revealed that the average grazing land size was 1.62 hectares with mean 1.64 km and 2.44 km of distance traveled by livestock to water source and sampled household head to the livestock market, respectively. the major livestock constraints identified in the study area were: disease, shortage of grazing land, lack of capital and improved breed, water scarcity during the dry season and lack of artificial insemination, respectively with the livestock production opportunities of availability of veterinary supply, input access, mixed crop production system, access to credit service and feed availability. The econometric result showed that from the hypothesized 14 explanatory variables, only 6 variables (labor, Extension contact service, capital, grazing land, veterinary service, breeding type) were found to be statistically significant at 1 and 5% significance level in affecting household livestock production. The study recommends that provision of extension service, supply of improved breed and capital along with a combined effort expansion is needed to increase livestock production.

Keywords: Assosa district, livestock, Cobb-Douglass