Abstract:
Cattle play an important socio-economic role in the livelihood of communal farmers in Namibia. This study examines the socio-economic determinants of adoption of improved livestock management practices among communal livestock farmers in Zambezi region, Namibia. The main objective of the study was to explore the effect adoption of GIZ introduced livestock management practices on cattle production in the Zambezi region, the specific objectives were to conduct situational analysis of the livestock management practices in Zambezi region and examine factors influencing adoption of the newly introduced livestock management practices. Data for the study were obtained from a survey of a sample of 86 communal livestock farmers who are benefiting from the Farmer Support Project (FSP) in the Zambezi region. Descriptive statistics and a multi-logistic regression model were employed to analyse the data. Most respondents (48%) had secondary education, which is a significant factor in determining probability of adoption of improved agricultural management practices. 35% of the respondent‟s herd sizes ranged between 11 to 30 cattle, which was the highest and herd composition were mainly consisting of cows (34%), heifers (22%) and oxen (26%). The results revealed that about eight out of thirteen livestock management practices disseminated to farmers were adopted and in practice. Castration, tick control, branding and vaccination were the most adopted technologies. Multi-logistic regression model analysis indicated that probability of adoption of livestock management technologies increased with education, financial assistance, advice, total cattle owned, total cattle sales and experience. The study presented a very low off-take rate of 1.5%. Oxen older than 36 months were the most sold and the second most sold were cows 56% and 29% respectively. The findings imply that in order to increase adoption of improved technologies, access to education, financial assistance, and training in animal management practices should be enhanced. The empirical results showed that education, financial assistance, advice and total cattle owned were significant at 5%, 5%, 10%, and 10% respectively.
