Browsing by Author "Ngendabanka, Sikubwabo Sentoke"

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    Analysis of factors affecting profitability of marketing cattle and beef in Dar es Salaam region.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1998) Ngendabanka, Sikubwabo Sentoke
    The livestock sector employs more than 20 percent of Tanzanians. Tanzania is the third country in Africa by having more than 16 million herds of cattle. However, the sector's GDP contribution is 15 percent which is very negligible as compared to its potential. The poor contribution of the sector is either caused by poor production or poor marketing system or both. Over the years prior and post independence till today, the cattle and beef traders claimed of poor profitability of the business. This situation triggered the researcher to carry out a study to identify the factors influencing cattle and beef marketing profitability. To achieve this objective, five hypotheses have been advanced so as to study the situation. The hypotheses rested on five major factors. The first factor concerns sales volume. The second set of factors concerns cattle mortality, beef spoilage and shrinkage. The third factor concerns cattle and beef quality. The fourth factor concerns seasonal variation in weather and festivals and the fifth factor concerns marketing costs. Data were collected from a cross sectional sample of 43 respondents from the three Districts, namely, Kinondoni, Temeke and Ilala which composes the Dar es Salaam Region. Respondents were asked to indicate the perceived effectiveness of the factors on cattle and beef marketing profitability using a four point rating scale. The four point rating scale ranged from not important to extremely important. The cut off point for not rejecting the null hypotheses was a score of more than 50 percent in the combined score of the two higher points; that is very important and extremely important. In the final analysis, with the exception of cattle mortality, beef spoilage and shrinkage, the other four factors were found to influence cattle and beef marketing profitability. The respective scores were; sales volume 95 percent, mortality, spoilage and shrinkage 44 percent, cattle and beef quality 53 percent, with respect to seasonal variation in weather and festivals 51.2 percent perceived more profits during high cattle supply which is during rainy and cropping season and finally marketing costs scored 95 percent. However spoilage when considered alone proved to be an important factor scoring 86 percent while mortality and shrinkage scored 42 percent and 2.3 percent respectively. Seasonal variation has significant influence on cattle supply while festivals have no effect on the supply of cattle. Among the marketing costs, fees and taxes were more important, followed by transport costs and lastly labour costs. The research results complement with the reports of other studies done elsewhere.