Provision Of Livestock Extension Services In Peri-Urban Areas: A Case Of Kitunda Ward, Ilala Municipality, Dar-Es-Salaam Region

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate factors influencing the provision of

extension services to livestock keepers in Kitunda Ward; a peri-urban area in Ilala

Municipality, Dar-es-salaam Region. Specifically, the study attempted to; assess

private as well as the public livestock extension agents (LEAs) in the provision of

Livestock Extension Service (LES) in Kitunda, examine the type of services and

information, professional and technical advice provided by LEAs to the livestock

keepers, identify the ways and techniques that LEAs used to disseminate LES

information and, lastly, to analyze the perceptions of livestock producers about the

quality of LES rendered to them by the public as compared to the private service

providers. A sample of 135 respondents was obtained in this cross-sectional survey,

including 30 who kept dairy cattle, 30 kept pigs, 60 kept chicken of which 30 kept

broilers and 30 layers as well as 15 LEAs, both private and public. A structured,

self-administered questionnaire was designed and used to collect data. The

researcher quantitatively used cross tabulation, percentage and frequencies to

analyse data Results. Findings were elastic and varied significantly (p0.05). Unreliable

livestock extension services was a major problem reported by 64 (53.3%) of the

respondents, that hindered the development of livestock production in Kitunda.

Apparently, LES would improve if private LEAs, input suppliers and expert

ii

livestock keepers were more effective, qualified and assisted with subsidised

equipment.