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Keeping agro-ecologically highly productive cattle breeds remains critical to the transformation of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in developing countries from subsistence to commercial cattle production. A study was conducted to investigate the probability and potential for destocking, cattle commercialization and livelihood diversification in Kilosa district, Tanzania. Data were gathered from 132 households randomly selected from pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. Likert scale and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the perception of smallholder farmers towards destocking larger herds of local cattle breeds. The results revealed that both pastoralists and agro-pastoralists perceived destocking of local cattle and keeping of improved cattle breeds as a viable alternative. Further, a Multiple Linear Regression Model was used to analyse factors influencing commercialization. The number of cattle owned, land for grazing and age of household head were found to be statistically significant in influencing input commercialization at (P < 0.05). For output commercialization, the number of cattle owned, age of household head at (P < 0.05) and experience in cattle keeping at (P < 0.01) were found to be statistically significant. In addition, CBA approach was used to compare profitability of keeping improved and local cattle breeds. Keeping of improved cattle breeds for beef and milk was found to be more economically viable (with BCR of 1.60 and NPV of TZS 32 143 948.24) and average milk yield of 7.7 litres per cow per day than both keeping local cattle breeds, such as Boran (with BCR of 1.43 and NPV of TZS 23 705 381.59) and TSZ (with BCR of 1.35 and NPV of 18 741 230.18 TZS) with average milk yield of 1.9 litres per cow per day. The uptake and keeping of improved cattle breeds for sustainable and improved household income, food security and livelihoods of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities is highly recommended. |
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