Why Goat Farming in Northern Communal Areas of Namibia Is not Commercialised: The Case of Ogongo Constituency

Abstract

In Namibia, goat products are not found in the formal markets include retail shops. This is despite several attempts by the government of Namibia to promote goat products in the formal sector. At household level however, goat meat is a delicacy. This study therefore seeks to provide possible reasons for the unavailability of goat products in Northern Namibia focussing on the supply side of the goat market. A structured survey questionnaire was employed among 75 goat farmers in Ogongo Constituency, Omusati Region in North Central Namibia. The data sought included production, offtake and marketing of goats as well as challenges faced. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data and multiple linear regression was employed to determine the factors influencing offtake rate. The offtake rate (percent of goats sold) was estimated as 2.8% from the data, which is very low. The offtake rate was significantly influenced by age of the head of household (p<0.01), education level of the household head (p<0.01) and marital status (p<0.01). On the other hand, goat production was affected by other challenges such as unavailability of marketing infrastructure, diseases, grazing shortages, and frequent droughts. The implications of these findings on policy include provision of incentives to farmers to sale as well as providing marketing infrastructure. Thus the study recommends the sensitization of communal farmers on economic potential of selling goats to alleviate poverty and to improve livelihoods through income generation.

The Effect of Gender on the Commercialisation of Goat Production in the Semi-arid Area of Msinga, South Africa

“…A higher percentage of married farmers sold goats when compared with single, widowed and cohabiting farmers. These results are in line with the studies by Togarepi et al (2018), who found that goat sales are more inclined to take place in married farmers than in single and in widowed farmers as this is attributed to collective decision-making and increased household needs for income by married farmers.…”

“…Elder sons in female-headed households may be the rightful owners of goats but may not have the enthusiasm of goat farming or see the need for selling. However, these results do not concur with the findings by Togarepi et al (2018) and Musemwa et al (2010), who found that the sale of cattle and goats was predominantly by pensioners and females who sold livestock to complement their income from remittances and government grants. This, however, corresponds with findings by Homann et al .…”

“…Farmers mentioned that the auction trading system lacked transparency and they did not understand it. Similar to observations by Togarepi et al (2018) in their studies, the farmers obtained lower prices at auctions because they did not understand the market requirements as they would bring in goats that were not well prepared as per requirements of the market (such as the old and diseased). This was worsened by the low education levels and exposure of farmers who would not be able to use available information in making the right marketing decisions.…”

“…The men may use the income as they wish, and in some cases not to the benefit of the household per se . A few studies on goat marketing have focused on the limits to its commercialisation and the challenges resulting from unorganised marketing of goats (Miller and Lu, 2019; Togarepi et al, 2018). However, little is known about the effect of gender on commercialisation of goat farming enterprises.…”

“…In South Africa, there are low off-take rates of goats but with a higher demand for purchases. As a result, goats are imported from Namibia to meet market demands (Togarepi et al, 2018). There is a potential to increase local production because the market already exists.…”