Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana

Farm level cross sectional data of 556 randomly selected livestock producers were used to investigate the competitiveness of smallholder beef farmers in Botswana. The results show the presence of inefficiency, with about 74% of the variation in actual profit from maximum profit (profit frontier) bet...

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Main Authors: Bahta, Sirak T., Malope, P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52341
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author Bahta, Sirak T.
Malope, P.
author_browse Bahta, Sirak T.
Malope, P.
author_facet Bahta, Sirak T.
Malope, P.
author_sort Bahta, Sirak T.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Farm level cross sectional data of 556 randomly selected livestock producers were used to investigate the competitiveness of smallholder beef farmers in Botswana. The results show the presence of inefficiency, with about 74% of the variation in actual profit from maximum profit (profit frontier) between farms mainly arising from differences in farmers’ practices rather than random variability. Further the mean profit efficiency level of 0.58 suggests that there is a substantial scope to improve beef profitability in Botswana. Significant profit efficiency drivers include, among others, education, distance to market, herd size, access to information and access to income from crop production. Considering the importance of livestock sector for wealth creation and poverty eradication in the rural areas where poverty is more pronounced, there is a need for appropriate development strategies and policies directed towards addressing these factors. In particular there is need to invest in market infrastructure in order to improve market access, hence profit efficiency of smallholder livestock farmers.
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spelling CGSpace523412023-12-08T19:36:04Z Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana Bahta, Sirak T. Malope, P. livestock Farm level cross sectional data of 556 randomly selected livestock producers were used to investigate the competitiveness of smallholder beef farmers in Botswana. The results show the presence of inefficiency, with about 74% of the variation in actual profit from maximum profit (profit frontier) between farms mainly arising from differences in farmers’ practices rather than random variability. Further the mean profit efficiency level of 0.58 suggests that there is a substantial scope to improve beef profitability in Botswana. Significant profit efficiency drivers include, among others, education, distance to market, herd size, access to information and access to income from crop production. Considering the importance of livestock sector for wealth creation and poverty eradication in the rural areas where poverty is more pronounced, there is a need for appropriate development strategies and policies directed towards addressing these factors. In particular there is need to invest in market infrastructure in order to improve market access, hence profit efficiency of smallholder livestock farmers. 2014-12 2015-01-09T13:10:32Z 2015-01-09T13:10:32Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52341 en Open Access Elsevier Bahta, S. and Malope, P. 2014. Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana. Food Policy 49(2):408-417.
spellingShingle livestock
Bahta, Sirak T.
Malope, P.
Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title_full Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title_fullStr Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title_full_unstemmed Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title_short Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana
title_sort measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy an application to botswana
topic livestock
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52341
work_keys_str_mv AT bahtasirakt measurementofcompetitivenessinsmallholderlivestocksystemsandemergingpolicyadvocacyanapplicationtobotswana
AT malopep measurementofcompetitivenessinsmallholderlivestocksystemsandemergingpolicyadvocacyanapplicationtobotswana