An understanding of factors influencing smallholder farmers’ livestock ownership at the household level is vital in formulating pro-poor livestock production policies and technologies. Hence, this study examined factors that influence livestock ownership of smallholder farmers. The data was collected randomly from three purposively selected study areas in the OR Tambo District (King Sabata Dalindyebo, Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill local municipalities) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa using a cross-sectional survey of 650 households. A multivariate probit model (MPM) was used to estimate correlates of livestock species ownership at the household level. Results indicated that education, age, household income, marital status, religion, rainfall, gender, household size and employment status influence livestock species ownership at the household level. Therefore, efforts to promote livestock ownership and production should be guided by these significant explanatory variables in the study area. Interdependence among species was also noted (cattle and sheep; goats and pigs; sheep and pigs; cattle and goats; goats and sheep), suggesting complementarity among the different types of livestock species. This complementarity among the species can possibly be explained by functional diversity generic with multi-species livestock farming which is worth supporting to enhance biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, rural resource use efficiency and socio-economic sustainability at the household level.

The purpose of the article is to examine the rural small scale farmers’ smart mobile phone usage acceptance prognosticators for agricultural marketing information access in selected farming towns in Zimbabwe. Responses were collected from rural small scale farmers in Marondera, farming town in Zimbabwe using structured questionnaire with a 7 point Likert scale. The research study depicted that trust, social influence, perceived risk and relative advantage have positive influence on rural small scale farmers’ smart mobile phone usage acceptance for agricultural marketing information access adoption intention in Zimbabwe. The study has limitations which may affect the generalisability of the results since they can only be applied to the studied areas, all in Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe. Agricultural marketers are encouraged to focus more attentively on smart mobile phone acceptance determinants such as social influence, perceived risk and trust when devising mobile agricultural marketing strategies especially during uncertain times. The study adds to theoretical literature development by extending knowledge on the UTAUT2 theoretical framework since there is paucity of research that have directly applied the same model in agricultural marketing and general agribusiness. Practically, the study enhances the need for adoption of contemporary technologies to solve the current challenges facing farmers in the marginalised rural areas, not only in Africa, but also dotted around the world. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43545-022-00562-x.

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