IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae15/211572.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cow or Goat? Population pressure and livestock keeping in Burundi

Author

Listed:
  • Desiere, Sam
  • Niragira, Sanctus
  • D'Haese, Marijke
  • Vellema, Wytse

Abstract

Livestock contributes significantly to peoples’ livelihoods in developing countries. Yet, most studies focus on dairy cattle, overlooking the fact that many smallholder farmers in mixed-cropping systems prefer to keep goats, sheep, pigs or poultry rather than cattle. For this paper we applied a multivariate probit model to a unique dataset from a national, representative, agricultural survey in Burundi, to estimate the determinants of livestock keeping. We found that wealthier households keep more livestock, but that population density and access to markets are also key determinants. Moreover, in densely populated regions, even the wealthiest households prefer smaller animals to cattle, as the pressure on land is high and access to pastures is limited. This has important policy implications as it raises questions as to whether the focus on dairy cattle, which has been adopted in most NGO and governmental development programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, is justified.

Suggested Citation

  • Desiere, Sam & Niragira, Sanctus & D'Haese, Marijke & Vellema, Wytse, 2015. "Cow or Goat? Population pressure and livestock keeping in Burundi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211572, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:211572
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.211572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/211572/files/Desiere-Cow%20or%20Goat%20Population%20pressure%20and%20livestock%20keeping-643.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.211572?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1996. "Income portfolios in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania: Choices and constraints," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 850-875.
    2. Tom Bundervoet, 2006. "Livestock, Activity Choices and Conflict: Evidence from Burundi," HiCN Working Papers 24, Households in Conflict Network.
    3. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February.
    4. Turner, Matthew D. & Williams, Timothy O., 2002. "Livestock Market Dynamics and Local Vulnerabilities in the Sahel," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 683-705, April.
    5. Henk A. J. Moll, 2005. "Costs and benefits of livestock systems and the role of market and nonmarket relationships," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(2), pages 181-193, March.
    6. Tilamun, Helina & Schmidt, Emily, 2012. "Spatial Analysis of Livestock Production Patterns in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 44, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Lorenzo Cappellari & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2003. "Multivariate probit regression using simulated maximum likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(3), pages 278-294, September.
    8. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus, 2014. "Is there a farm-size productivity relationship in African agriculture ? evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6770, The World Bank.
    9. M. H. Doran & A. R. C. Low & R. L. Kemp, 1979. "Cattle as a Store of Wealth in Swaziland: Implications for Livestock Development and Overgrazing in Eastern and Southern Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 61(1), pages 41-47.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Desiere, Sam & D'Haese, Marijke, 2015. "Boserup versus Malthis: does population pressure drive agricultural intensification? Evidence from Burundi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211571, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Duponchel, Marguerite, 2014. "Credit constraints, agricultural productivity, and rural nonfarm participation : evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6769, The World Bank.
    3. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    4. Christian Rogg, 2006. "Asset Portfolios in Africa: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Lay, Jann & M'Mukaria, George Michuki & Omar Mahmoud, Toman, 2007. "Boda-bodas rule: Non-agricultural activities and their inequality implications in Western Kenya," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 20, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    6. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. Tegebu, Fredu Nega & Mathijs, Erik & Deckers, Jozef A. & Tollens, Eric, 2009. "Rural livestock asset portfolio in northern Ethiopia: A microeconomic analysis of choice and accumulation," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 50039, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Jan Willem Gunning & Paul Collier, 1999. "Explaining African Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 64-111, March.
    9. Babulo, Bedru & Muys, Bart & Nega, Fredu & Tollens, Eric & Nyssen, Jan & Deckers, Jozef & Mathijs, Erik, 2008. "Household livelihood strategies and forest dependence in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 147-155, September.
    10. Christopher B. Barrett, 2005. "Rural poverty dynamics: development policy implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 45-60, January.
    11. Wouter Zant, 2023. "How costly is using livestock as a savings device?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 77-110, February.
    12. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bezuneh, Mesfin & Aboud, Abdillahi, 2001. "Income diversification, poverty traps and policy shocks in Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 367-384, August.
    13. Wouter Zant, 2020. "How Costly is using Livestock as a Saving Device? A Note on Meat Prices during Food Shortages," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-021/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 31 Jun 2020.
    14. Riithi, Alexander Njuguna & Irungu, Patrick & Munei , Kimpei, 2015. "Determinants Of Choice Of Alternative Livelihood Diversification Strategies In Solio Resettlement Scheme, Kenya," Dissertations and Theses 269714, University of Nairobi, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    15. Vellema, W. & Buritica Casanova, A. & Gonzalez, C. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "The effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-25.
    16. Linden McBride & Leah Bevis, 2019. "Working Paper 311 - Risk, Returns, and Welfare," Working Paper Series 2437, African Development Bank.
    17. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    18. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Micevska, Maja B., 2007. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in the Eastern Himalayas," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 22, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    19. Lay, Jann & Schüler, Dana, 2008. "Income Diversification and Poverty in a Growing Agricultural Economy: The Case of Ghana," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Zurich 2008 39, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    20. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Development; Livestock Production/Industries;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:211572. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.