College of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Department of Agricultural Economics and Finance, Mwalimu Julius. K. Nyerere University of Agriculture and Technology, Musoma, Tanzania.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 1;16(4):e0248576. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248576. eCollection 2021.
Market participation among beef cattle farmers is key to ensuring better income, food security, and sustainable beef supply. Farmers in the traditional beef cattle sector, nevertheless, are well known for their low market participation. This study, thus, sought to examine factors that influenced market participation among beef cattle farmers in the Meatu district of Simiyu region, Tanzania. The study randomly selected a sample size of 393 farmers. The cross-sectional data collected through interviews and questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. The descriptive analyses showed that the average age of the interviewees was 53.73 years with a family size of 13.11. On average, the respondents had about 24.14 years of farming experience. Most of the respondents (67.9%) had primary education. Among the respondents, about 61.3%, 4.6%, and 32.6% had access to market information, farm credits, and veterinary services, respectively. The average cattle herd size was 53.46 heads. About 90.1% of farmers had participated in the markets by selling an average of 5 heads each, per year. This study has revealed low volume of sales, low education levels, and poor access to credits and veterinary services as the major factors that limit market participation. Furthermore, econometric results show that the key factors that significantly influenced farmers to increase the volume of beef cattle sales in the market at P < 0.05 included price, herd size, off-farm income, distance to market, age of the farmer, and cattle fattening. Moreover, membership in cooperatives, access to market information, and farming experience also had significant influence at P < 0.05. This study recommends establishment of strategic cooperatives to function not only as a communication channel for farm credits, price, market information, and training on commercial farming, but also to assist farmers in selection of profitable markets.
肉牛养殖户的市场参与度对于确保更好的收入、粮食安全和可持续的牛肉供应至关重要。然而，传统肉牛行业的养殖户以市场参与度低而闻名。因此，本研究旨在探讨坦桑尼亚西米尤地区梅图区肉牛养殖户市场参与的影响因素。该研究随机抽取了 393 名农民作为样本。通过访谈和问卷调查收集的横截面数据采用描述性统计和普通最小二乘法（OLS）回归模型进行分析。描述性分析显示，受访者的平均年龄为 53.73 岁，家庭规模为 13.11 人。平均而言，受访者的养殖经验约为 24.14 年。大多数受访者（67.9%）接受过小学教育。在受访者中，约 61.3%、4.6%和 32.6%分别能够获得市场信息、农场信贷和兽医服务。受访者的平均牛群规模为 53.46 头。约 90.1%的养殖户通过出售平均每年 5 头牛参与市场。本研究揭示了销售量低、受教育程度低以及信贷和兽医服务获取渠道差等因素是限制市场参与的主要因素。此外，计量经济学结果表明，显著影响农民增加市场牛肉销售量的关键因素包括价格、牛群规模、非农收入、到市场的距离、农民年龄和牛的育肥。此外，合作社成员资格、获得市场信息和养殖经验也具有显著影响。本研究建议建立战略合作社，不仅作为获取农场信贷、价格、市场信息和商业养殖培训的沟通渠道，还协助农民选择有利可图的市场。
