The Impact Of Dairy Production On Rural Livelihoods In Hai District, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region in order to determine the impact of milk production on rural livelihood. Specifically the study aimed to (i) determine levels of milk production among small scale dairy farmers (ii) explore market outlets of milk produced by dairy cattle keepers and (iii) assess impact of milk production on livelihoods. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected from household survey in the study area using structured questionnaires. The collected secondary data included records of milk production, marketing and consumption. These were obtained from the District Livestock Development Office and from dairy cooperative office. Data were coded, entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 computer program. Descriptive statistics particularly frequencies and percentages were deployed in the analysis. Results of the study as per objective shows that, annual milk production ranged from a minimum of 600 litres per cow per year to a maximum of 3600 liters per cow per year. Furthermore, the result revealed that 37.1% of the respondents sold their milk to restaurant owners where 35.3% sold their milk to the dairy cooperative milk collection centers. Others sold their milk to milk vendor (19%), schools (6%) and 1.7% of them sold milk to other outlets including kiosk. Moreover, the study also showed that dairy production contributed directly to food security through consumption of milk and use of milk income to purchase food and household assets. It is therefore recommended that deliberate efforts should be made to promote small scale dairy cattle production. Furthermore, it is recommended that reliable market be provided to milk producer in order to encourage the smallholder farmers to increase milk production.