SECTION IV : GENDER AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC ISSUES IN DAIRY DEVELOPMENT

WOMEN IN DAIRY DEVELOPMENT IN ETHIOPIA: A CASE STUDY OF INTRODUCTION OF CROSSBRED DAIRY CATTLE INTO THE MIXED FARMING SYSTEM

Getachew Felleke²²

Abstract

The introduction of improved dairy production system in the traditional farming system is likely to have several effects. To measure these effects of the introduction of crossbred heifers as a source of milk in the mixed farming system, the Selale Peasant Dairy Development Pilot Project (SPDDPP)'s Monitoring and Evaluation section set up a study to assess the impact of introducing crossbred heifers as source of milk into the mixed farming system.

A change of production system always means a reallocation of available resources. The change is caused by one or several goals of social and/or economic nature. The reallocation of resources in order to reach a higher level of “satisfaction” is the basic vehicle for all economic thinking and acting.

Any change in resource use usually results in a set of impacts. The impact of technical innovation can be categorized as follows:

• First, a change in technology is always affecting the amount of different production assets used e.g. labour, capital etc. The change in the input used is then naturally affecting the result i.e. the output. For example change from cropping to milk production requires that land be taken from crop production and be used for the production of milk and/or meat and the output changes from grain to milk. These two input/output impacts are easily measurable and economic results can be evaluated against the produced amount, used resources and their prices.
• The third type of impact, is generally more difficult to measure. Changes that come as a result of the technological change and are not directly depending on them.

This study is trying to evaluate a set of impacts i.e. the changes in the women's situation due to introduction of specialized dairy production.

1.0 Introduction

The results in this report are mainly concerned with the work and the status of the farmers' wives on the farm. It should be remembered when reading this report that offer there are also other women on the farms, grown up children, older female relatives or female employees who are sharing the activities of the wife.

However, this study does not differentiate between the different duties of the women the farm. The labour utilization of the wife quite well reflects the women's duties on the farms.

1.1 The Objectives Of The Study Are:

1. To describe the traditional role of women in the project area especially with the emphasis on agriculture and livestock production.
2. To evaluate the impact to introducing cross-bred dairy production on women's role on the farm. The evaluated impacts are:
   • Impact on women's labour burden; and
   • Changes in women's economic position.

²² Dairy Rehabilitation and Development Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopia.

2.0 Description Of The Area

The awrajas of Jarso, Selale, and D. Libanos are found in North Shoa Administrative Region. All are characterized by a high potential of rainfed cereal and livestock production. The area for cereal production is estimated to be greater as compared with the pasture land. The main food crops are barley, wheat, teff, beans and peas. Livestock is considered to be the main asset of the farming community.

Food crop production is practised during two cropping seasons of the year. The two seasons are known as Meher and Belg.

Meher is the major cropping season of the year characterized by relatively high rainfall. In most areas Meher season starts in late June and lasts up to December. It is in this season that the farming community gets more than 85% of the gross annual agricultural production. It can be noticed that insufficiency in the amount of rain and erratic distribution of the Meher rain often has serious negative effects on the crop condition. This causes crop failure that results in the decrease in amount of rain and erratic distribution of the Meher rain often has serious negative effects on the crop condition. This causes crop failure that results the decreases in the amount of the farmers' annual income which leads to disastrous conditions.

With the small rains, Belg season starts in FEBRUARY and the production continues up to harvest in early June. In this season only some crop lands that have suitable soil characteristics are cultivated.

3.0 Women In The Society

3.1 Women's Rights

Women's rights in the society and in their own families have similarities in all visited villages.

In their families women feel that the have equal rights and responsibilities regarding the families properties like land, animals on the farm, house, grain, and other assets on the farm. Even though women own assets jointly with their husband and are participating in decisions concerning the use of assets the husband is the final decision maker in the case of different opinions.

In a situation of divorce, women have the right to ask for their share of animals on the farm, stored grain, pre-harvested grain, accumulated money, and other assets of the family. But, it is unusual for a woman to ask for a share of the house and farm land.

After divorce, the common practice is that the woman marries another husband usually in another village. Sometimes if the woman is not married again she can stay in the P.A. and claim part of the crop land. However, she gets much less than half of the families crop land.

In the case of divorce the husband as a rule has the right to the children. However, the children are sometimes divided between husband and wife with a separate agreement.

Legally and theoretically, women are given equal rights to vote and participate in political ASCE well as economic decision making e.g. in P.A.'s and S.C.'s. They can also be elected for leadership in the P.A. of S.C. Even though women possess these right no women is found in the leadership of a P.A. of a S.C. in the study area.

The lack of women's participation in the communal leadership is due to the following reasons. First, the prevailing backward tradition that binds women not to participate in public leadership. Secondly, the women's time is limited by household and farming activities and lastly women are usually less literate than men.

3.2 Women's Obligations

Like in most rural farming societies, the interviewed women in the three awrajas have many duties both in their own families as well as in the community. Duties exclusively undertaken by women are cooking, taking care of children, dehullilng and grinding of grains and spices, fetching water, milk processing, barn management, dung cake preparation, milking, preparing concentrates for milking cows and calves, marketing, spinning and basketry. They are normally assisted by female children above the age of twelve when not going to schools or other adult female relative on the farm or unrelated ladies on annual payment basis.

However, women are not only restricted to household work and cattle management but also participate in the crop production activities such as soil burning, weeding, harvesting (mostly pulses), transporting harvested crops to threshing fields and preparing threshing ground.

In the community, women have also to participate in collective works of farming activities in which women take part. Wedding, child birth, funerals, religious get togethers and celebrations are the most important social affairs in which every woman should participate. If any family in the community is in one of those conditions, the family will be accompanied by the people living in the surrounding areas.

The social security provided by the society for woman who lives alone is quite limited. To some extent they are protected by the society and helped whenever there is a need. However, if a woman who lives alone becomes weak as a result of old age or sickness, relative and/or neighbours are usually obliged to help her.

At times she has to find paid labour that can work on her farm and assist her at home. If she fails to Get one of the above, she has to be able to find a farmer who agrees to cultivate her crop land on share basis.

4.0 Women's Participation In Farming Activities

4.1 Crop Production

For Meher production season, June - December, farmers are fully occupied by their crop production activities, expect land preparation that is done during March - May.

As all women responded that this time is also the hardest time for them, they share the work in the field and in addition they have to perform the household work. During this time of the year, house work is done early in the morning, late in the afternoon and in the evenings after field work.

After Meher season is completed, Belg production starts in February with small rains and lasts up to June. Only some of the farmers in Selale and D/Libanos awrajas that have suitable land for Belg season can cultivate in Belg season. in this production season mostly barley and lentils are produced. Women's participation for Belg crop production is insignificant, but, they sometimes help when lentil is harvested. The reasons mentioned by farmers are that:

1. The area of production is relatively small as compared with the area used in Meher season so that there is less demand for additional labour.
2. some activities are omitted, e.g. weeding is not done. Farmers have two reasons for this. They said that in their experience no competitive weeds can dominate the CROP in the Belg season. The other reason is that some weeds in the Belg fields protect the young crops from exposure to wind threat that may result in wilting, therefore no weeding is necessary.

As compared with the other times of the year, the Belg season is women's slack period. Spinning and weaving of baskets is mainly carried out by women during this period.

Ploughing, cereal harvest, threshing, winnowing, grain transport to the store and hay preparation are considered as the duty of the husband who in most instances is assisted by adult male children and/or hired labour (adult males).

In the production of food crops in the Meher season there is no activity that does not involve women's labour except ploughing, harvesting of cereals and threshing. When men are harvesting or threshing, women help their husbands indirectly, i.e. if the husband prefers to do it collectively, in a group. The wife has to prepare food and local beverages for the helpers.

Table 1: Average Time Spent By Women In Crop Production

5.0 Religious Holidays

In the study, almost all the people are Orthodox Christians, other than the annual holidays and celebrations, it was found that among the 30 days of each month some the days are considered to be religious holidays. The most common religious holidays lie on the 5th, 7th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 21st, 29th days of each month and every Saturdays and Sundays.

Table 2 shows the number of holidays in the 12 months of a year in communities under 4 service cooperatives. On the religious holidays farm activities like ploughing, weeding and harvesting are forbidden and women are also not involved in grinding, pounding, spinning and basketry.

Table 2: Religious Holidays In Some Service Cooperatives

6.0 Women's Role In Cattle Management

In the management of dairy cows and processing dairy products, most of the work is covered by women. Milking, and barn cleaning exclusively, feeding, heat detection, health care are partially undertaken and followed up by women. Table 3 describes the duties of men and women in cattle management.

6.1 Milking And Barn Management

Milking and barn cleaning are the duties exclusively performed by wives. Sometimes they are assisted by children or other females in the family. Depending on the number of milking cows, women in different farms on average spend 0.5 – 2.5 hours a day milking cows and this is usually done in the morning and evening.

Table 3: Duties Of Men And Women In Cattle Management

Time spent on barn cleaning varies from 0.5–2.0 hours per day depending on the number of animals each family possesses. It is common that on each farm there are separate bans for cross-bred, animals, local cattle, equine and sheep. Like any other construction work, construction and maintenance of the barn is the duty of the husband and other males on the farm.

6.2 Feed Preparation And Feeding

The husband, the spouse and the herder are normally the people who are responsible for feeding the cattle. The purchasing and transportation of feeds such as noug cake, minerals, hay, etc. is the responsibility of the husband. He is also responsible for the preparation of sufficient stock of hay harvested from owned or bought hay land.

Green feed (green oats and vetch or grass) is collected either by the husband or by the herder for overnight stall feeding or for the day time when the season is favourable to get green feeds. In their absence the wife however, has to collect green feeds.

The preparation and mixing of concentrates feeding of the animals is normally done by the wife or by the other females in the family. Preparation of concentrates includes roasting grains, grinding and mixing. The reason for feeding roasted grains is not known. After roasting the grain it is ground either at home or taken to a mill. The mixing of grain with nog cake is done. For all the animals on the farm the feeding balance is controlled and followed up by both the husband and wife.

6.3 Heat Detection And Health Care

In the study area it was found that on all the farms no particular person was responsible for heat detection and health conditions of the animals. As the respondents indicated that these conditions can be first recognised by any person who observes the animals carefully.

However, every moringing the woman is always the first to go to the barn. During the rest of the day the animals are out grazing in the fields. During the grazing hours the herder is the person who is observing the animals. So the person who is able to observe the changes in the characteristics of the animals is either the woman or the herder. In the absence of the herder the husband takes the animals out and keeps them grazing around the field where he works. In this case he becomes able to recognise the changes in the characteristics of animals.

After either heat or health problems have been observed, it is mostly the husband who calls veterinarians or take the animals to the place where they get proper treatment. In the absence of him, the spouse take the responsibility.

6.4 Calf Feeding

In the project area particularly contact farmers use different systems of calf feeding for local and cross-bred animal.

For local breeds, women leave the calf to suckle before and after milking during each milking time. Sometimes the woman lets the calf suckle between one milking time in order to initiate the cow to let down the milk.

The amount it suckles is unknown. It can suckle until the woman thinks that it has had enough. This continues until the calf becomes able to fully depend on other feeds, the average in known to be seven months of age.

The feeding of the cross-bred calf is the responsibility of the farmers' wives (see Table 4). For cross-bred calves, bucket feeding is used. According to the recommendation the calf starts to be fed with 2.5 litres of milk per day. The amount decreases as the calf gets older. Average weaning age for cross-bred calves is about six months although the project recommendation is three months.

Table 4: Average Time Consumption For Each Activity

7.0 Income Sources Of Women From Dairying

Women in the surveyed “awarjas” manufacture a number of dairy products that can be used for family consumption as well as means of income generating. Women in the traditional farming system have also their own incomes which they are able to use independently fro their own and the family's needs. In the process of producing these products they are not assisted by any improved means of production, rather traditional technologies that are inherited from their ancestors are utilized.

Most traditional methods of production are highly time consuming and tiresome for women. Although the system they use has these effects, farmers' wives continued with it because improved technologies have not been widely introduced to the farming community.

Using the traditional mean the major products that women produce are butter, cheese, tela, arakie, baskets, spinning and dung cakes. Women's own incomes ae obtained from sales of these products and grain, chicken, eggs are used additionally. All these products are sold in the local markets except arakie which is sold at home.

For the production of butter a clay or calabash jar is used. The sour milk is poured into it and the jar is covered. The amount of sour milk processed at time was found to vary from 5 – 12 litres. Seventy - seven percent (77%) of the interviewees process butter by shaking and rolling the jar on the floor to and fro.

A second technology is used by 23% of the respondents branched stick is used to stir the milk. The branched tip of the stick is immersed in the milk while the other part is rotated between their palms in order to stir the milk. When the butter is ready they separate the butter from the skim milk and the butter is accumulated in a bowl.

There is little or no significant difference in the time taken between the use of the two technologies. The time taken for milk processing ranges from one to three hours depending on the temperature of the milk and the amount of milk they process. The suitable churning temperature is between 17 – 18 degrees centigrade.

The remaining part of the milk is poured into a clay pot which is covered and put on a warm stove for time until they get the cheese separated form the other portion. Burning flame is never used for the production of cheese.

According to the data collected from thirty farms, the frequency of milk processing into butter and cheese ranges from two to thirty times per month with an average of eleven times per month. The churning frequency depends on the daily milk production of the farm and the fresh milk market. The milk processing frequency per month in the awrajas showed significant difference. In Selela, Debre Libanos and Jarso it is about seven, eleven, and seventeen times per month, respectively.

The difference in the frequency of milk processing among farm has three main reasons:

1. First is the farmer's level of understanding as to select which type of dairy product is profitable in the present market price.
2. The other reason that most arises from the women's side is shortage of time. Even though most farmers claim that it is more profitable to sell butter than selling fresh milk, shortage of time to process butter was often given as a reason to sell fresh milk, (0.50 cents/litre of fresh mils as compared to 13–15 birr/kg of butter than can be obtained from 14–16 litres of milk).
3. The third reason is the distance form the villages to the milk collection centres. It was compared with frequency of milk processing and found out that dairy farms more than 5 km away from milk collection centres process butter on the average every second day. Farmers closer than 5 km make butter about twice a week. The difference is statistically significant.

The average frequency of selling butter is three time per month with an average amount of about 0.6 kg butter each time. 47% of the total milk produced is converted to butter of this 57% is used for sale.

In the process of making cheese 53% of the skim milk is converted to cheese and this 23% ised for sale. Cheese is sold on the average twice a month. The average amount sol at a time is estimated to be 0.5kg.

When there is shortage of milk products women can sell grain up to 5 kg. The average frequency of selling grains is estimated to be once a month. Women can also use the income obtained from the sales of the grain collected from the fields after harvesting is over. 50% of the interviewed farmers' wives use chicken and eggs as income sources. Tela and arakie are the local beverages produced by women. Tela is a local beer that only fermentation takes place in the preparation where as Arakie involves distillation after fermentation. Only two women, one in Jarso and the other in Selale, produce arakie for sale. Others produce tela or arakie for home consumption. The two women claimed that the profit obtained from selling arakie replaces other incomes when there is shortage of other income generating products.

Most of the women produce baskets of different shapes for their use at home. Only one woman produces it also for sale. She said that it is a good source of income if time is available to produce it. Women mostly use their slack period of the year to do baskets and spinning, i.e. February - June for most of them.

Using dung cake for sale is not customary among the study farmers. Two women have been found to sell dung cakes. One woman sold it last summer for 150 birr and the other one sales whenever she faces shortage of money.

Even though several dung cake hips are accumulated on some farms no one in those households is interested in supplying dung cakes to the market. The main reason for this is that the respondents are wives of project contact farmers, which have been found to be slightly better off farmers than average. Selling of dung is considered as an income for only the poorest families. Women understand that they can gain money from it but they did not like to be considered as a poor family in the society. If the accumulation continues for several years they share it with their relatives who have shortages of fuel material.

The money obtained from selling these products is primarily used for home consumption. If some amount remains they can use it for their own purpose. e.g. for buying cosmetics and smaller clothing materials. Culturally the husband doesn't have any demand on the income made by the wife.

The number of products that can be sold by women seem to be many. However, one woman can only take one or two of these products to the market at a time. Often, the need of money for family consumption is greater than her own income. So in such a condition women may not always be in a position to cover all their expenses. Therefore, she is often obliged to ask her husband for money.

A question might arise as to what the income source of the husband is. It is known that all products are considered as properties of both the husband and wife, but it is the husband, having some consultation with his wife, that has the right to sell animals, grain in large amount and the money obtained from selling fresh milk to the milk collection centres is also used by him.

The husband consults the wife concerning the need for selling the products. He uses the money for payment of different taxes, schools and stationary expenses for children, clothing expenses of the family, salary for hired labour and expenses for different occasional and religious ceremonies.

It is unusual for a woman to ask her husband how he used the money obtained from selling their properties. In this condition we can be able to perceive that women have a remarkable contribution in the family labour and less rights to income use.

8.0 Introduction of Cross Bred Dairy Production in the Traditional Farming System and Impacts on the Women Situation.

In the study it has been stated that women especially the spouse, have a central role in the management of cattle on the farm particularly the management of cows. Together with the herder she is the person who spends most of her time close to the cows. On farms where the project recommends zero-grazing with a minimum grazing activities are followed, the women's role in the management of the cross-bred cows is emphasized.

The main product of cross bred cows is milk, whilst with local cows production of males for traction, herd for dung production and accumulation of wealth can be given equal or greater importance than milk production.

The women's role in processing and marketing milk products (butter and cheese) has been described earlier in this report. These activities are, however, based traditionally on local cows where milk is considered an important but not major produce.

When farms are specializing into dairy production the role of women as possessors of the milk is likely to change. In the interviews these questions were discussed with the spouses. Generally, for most of the women this was a completely new way of seeing things and they were not able to discuss the matter. One reason for this could be that 1 – 2 years of managing a crossbred cow doesn't show much changes and none of the farms could yet be considered as specialized dairy producers when still all farmers have considerable herds of local cows.

The second reason could be that the women couldn't see the roles of men and women on the farm as different, although they have different duties and manner of ownership of money. The farm could not survive without full time input of both for single gaol of achieving food security and economic wealth as far as possible.

Due to these reasons the interviewees answers can not be directly referred to in this chapter. The matter is more discussed as hypothesis on the farms. These hypotheses are discussed and could be used further and after a few years when the specialization in dairy production has proceeded and longer experience of dairy production has been gained by the respondents.

8.1 Impacts Of Specialized Dairy Production On Women's Labour Burden

Specialization of dairy production changes the cattle management from mainly grazing to management based on farm feed production and cut and carry of feed. In addition preparation of concentrates, heat detection, marketing of milk and possibly hauling of water includes increased labour burden for the farm family. While all farms are keeping both local cattle and cross bred cattle the labour burden increases also due to different management requirements for these two type of animals. e.g. Two herders might be required while the different breeds are not grazing together.

How the increased labour burden is shared among the family members was discussed with each of the interviewed women. Generally it can be said that the cross bred cows have been on the farms for still a too short time for new work routines to take place.

Up to now the main labour increment from the cross bred cattle has come on men while they are traditionally responsible for harvesting of hay and green feed. However, in the long run, with still increased cross bred herds, the farm family's division of duties might have to be reorganized, or additional labour has to be hired.

A possible developments could be that the women have to increasingly participate in cut and carry activities from cultivated fodder plots or fodder shrubs, situated close to the farm or additional labour has to be employed. Increased labour requirements might also affect children's attendance in schools.

At present the interviewed women didn't experienced significant increase in the labour burden due to the cattle. However, while cross bred animals are kept in the compound or close to the compound for most of the day, they will require attention by somebody, which logically is the woman.

8.1.1 Cattle Management

1. Feeding & Feed Preparation: The feeding of roughage for the cattle on zero grazing management is a duty of the women on the farm. However, the labour used for only feeding of roughage as very small and can be done simultaneously with other duties on the farm. While the harvesting and transportation of roughage is done by the men, only the feeding duties doesn't significantly affect the women's total labour burden.

   Preparation of concentrates and just the fact that the animals stays in the barn or in the compound during the day will require the attention of women. Preparation of concentrates is usually done once a week and include roasting and grinding. Looking after the animals might require one person to stay on the farm who otherwise could participate in other farm activities.

2. Milking: As the milk production per cow increases time consumption for milking also will increases. In the case of specialized dairy farm the wife alone may not be able to manage milking all the cows twice a day together with other household works.

3. Barn management: Barn cleaning is another time consuming task in the management of cattle and will increase the daily labour burden as the animals stay in the barn also during the day.

   Compared with grazing the barn has to be cleaned at least once more per day.

4. Calf rearing: Management of young calves, until they totally depend on other feeds, is the responsibility of the women. Women have to spend a considerable time for the management of cross bred calves especially for feeding and watering. After the calves are weaned and fully depend on roughage the main responsibility of the calves and other youngstock will be with the herder.

8.1.2 Processing and Utilization of Products

a Milk:

Increase in the amount of milk produced requires the family's decision on how to best utilize the product. The decision will depend on the market situation and the labour they possess.

If the fresh milk is sold any family member except young children can take the milk to the collection centres. The other possible utilization is to process the milk in to butter and cheese which is under the responsibility of the wives. In case milk from 2–3 cross bred cows is going to be processed on the farm women require at least 1/2 hours per day for milk processing. In addition the marketing of butter and cheese will require considerable time by the women.

If on farm processing of cross bred cow milk has to take place, improved milk processing technology should be introduced in connection with improved animals to the community. Otherwise the labour burden of the women will considerably increase or additional labour has to be hired.

b Dung Cake:

Production of dung also increases as the number of cross bred cattle increases. Dung cake preparation needs time and sufficient labour since it has to be done daily after barn cleaning.

c Dung collection from fields:

Zero grazing management increases the total amount of dung on the farm. The increased on farm dung production has a positive impact on the farms labour burden while labour for dung collections from the fields are not required any more.

All the duties, concerning the women in cattle management, will require additional labour for cross bred animals. It can be perceived that the specialization will affect the labour allocation of the of women. The labour situation was not however considered significant by the interviewed women. However, later on which increased specialization the whole farms labour division might be changed.

9.0 Conclusion

As described in earlier chapters the income obtained from selling butter and cheese is the women's major income source. Traditionally the women are not accountable for this income to men. The money is used for the family's daily consumption (coffee, spices, sugar etc.) or for her own use (e.g. cosmetics, clothes etc.).

With specialization of the farm production the milk marketing activities will be converted towards formal market channels such as DDE. The income from milk will therefore come under the control of men. If all the farms milk is sold fresh to formal market channels it will result in reduced own incomes for the women who doesn't have much of other products to be used for income generation. The reverse is true for men who have the right to use the income obtained from sales of fresh milk. In this situation women will increasingly depend on their husbands for even small expenses. So, using their equal rights on the decision making about how much milk is to be processed or sold as fresh, women can better keep their economic position.

WOMEN IN DAIRY DEVELOPMENT A CASE OF UGANDA

Elizabeth K. Kyewalabye²³

Abstract

When looking at the market oriented dairy sector, in Uganda three critical areas are discussed in this paper, with reference to women where possible. The three areas are:

• Dairy cattle ownership and management;
• Availability of raw and processed dairy products and
• level of consumption

The availability of milk per person per day is low and a few major reasons from this are given. The government's intervention to facilitate the improvement of the national herd, the processing industry and the marketing is also analysed. The Dairy Corporation which was earlier product oriented, changed to market oriented production. In the last few years a few private competitors have entered the industry and the corporation is also being privatised step by step.

In this paper the liquid milk marketing plan has been outlined; the market oriented plan and organisation, into which the Dairy Corporation falls is also given. A dairy development network plan has been suggested and outlined, stressing the strengthening of the dairy industry from the base. Constraints to development of the network can be many, however, those touching on production and marketing have been considered here since these must be redressed for effective development.

²³ National Expert, Heifer Project, Director, Dairy Corporation, Jinja, Uganda

1.0 Introduction

When looking at development in the dairy sector in Africa one cannot overlook factors associated with three critical areas:

1. Dairy cattle ownership and management.
2. Availability of raw and processed dairy products.
3. and the level of consumption.

In Uganda, the livestock sub-sector which includes dairy cattle, contributes 20% to the Agricultural Domestic Product, the latter being 60% of the Gross Domestic Product [GDP].

Of the estimated 4.57 million cattle, 231,900 [5%] are cross breeds and exotic, which together with local cattle produce an estimated 400 million litres of milk per annum to feed a population of 19.0 million. This poor availability of milk [average 22 litres of milk/person/year] is due to several reasons notably among which are:

• high incidence of fatal animal diseases

• political insecurity, wars and migrations especially a decade ago.

• land shortage in some areas especially near urban centers.
• level of management affecting reproduction.
• genetic composition of the animals.
• the size of the market.

The government of Uganda has tried to improve livestock production through various ways, notably through developing and implementing the National Rehabilitation Development Plan of 1986 – 1990, through to 1992.

Under this plan, the dairy industry was rehabilitated by strengthening the dairy extension services, restocking in some areas, improving on dairy marketing and a Dairy Master Plan was developed. At this time it had already been noted that for more complete development to take place attention would have to be paid not merely to “farmers” or “people”, but, more specifically to “men” and “women”, both of whom participate actively, but may be affected differently by the plans or programs. Hence, a gender sensitive agricultural policy was developed which touches strongly on the livestock sector, that includes dairy animals.

This paper discusses the recent Uganda experiences in the market oriented dairy development with special emphasis on the role of women. It draws examples from the Dairy Corporation and from the small scale women farmers including those practising zero grazing, e.g. the United Nations population Fund (UNFPA) Project UGA/95/PO₁ Enhancing Women's Status through Dairy Heifer Farming and Ownership.

Also discussed are the critical constraints and advantages in establishing a dairy development network and how Uganda could contribute to such a network.

2.0 Background

2.1 Climate

Uganda lies along the Equator, and enjoys a very good climate of two relatively dry seasons and two rainy seasons in a year, making up 961 mm rainfall annually.

The annual mean maximum temperature of 22°C is a direct result of the altitude that ranges between 610–5110 meters above sea level. These and other features, related to the good soils and humidity etc, make Uganda an excellent area for agriculture.

2.2 Farms:

Of the entire population, 74.15% are engaged in subsistence farming: crops and livestock.

Although livestock is kept throughout Uganda, the main milk sheds are to the South of latitude 1° North. This includes areas extending from Ambale, in the East to Kampala in the centre and to Ankole, Kabale in the West. Livestock farmers in those major areas could be classified in two ways, depending on:

2.3 Milk Production System

The livestock farms, could be classified by way of the milk production system, in terms of feeding, management practices, which range from semi-nomadic pastoralism at one end to zero grazing at the other end. There are mainly 3 systems:

1. Semi Pastoral farms, with large numbers of over 50 animals indigenous stock grazing in non-improved usually communally owned natural pastures with no supplementary feeding. They constitute over 50% of our farms.
2. Small scale livestock farmers with 1–10 cows. They include those close to urban centers, they keep mixed breeds, tethered, range, or zero grazed on land personally owned.
3. Specialized dairy farms which keep grade or pure dairy breeds [20–100], maintained on improved or planted pastures, with supplementary feeding. The relative importance of the systems can be appreciated by considering a second type of classification:

ii. Farms sizes:

Group 1 - very small, less than 10 cows [14.2%]

Group 2 - small, II - 30 cows [29.2%]

Group 3 - medium, 31–100 cows [45.8%]

Group 4 - large, more than 100 cows [10.8%] (see Figure 1).

By this classification, it is evident that there are mainly medium and small scale farming as opposed to some countries dominated by large scale farmers. This has a direct effect on the development of the dairy sector, especially with regard to marketing of either the raw milk or the processed products, which form an important part of the diet for families.

c. Dairy cattle ownership and management

Women, not only are responsible for preparing to table livestock products for a balanced diet but they also play a role in production. However, like in other fields, Women lack access to productive resources; the traditional values, money and practices are biased against them.

Hence agricultural policies should have a gender sensitive approach to address some of the issues e.g. lack of access to and control over production resources e.g. land, credit, inputs: women did not own ranches or big dairy farms.

• assist so as to avoid over burdening women, which has several consequences.
• Where possible do not use gender blind terminology that assumes homogeneous categories, or groups e.g tax payers, small holders, peasants, etc., to which both sexes will not answer equally, depriving the women of extension education.
• It is usually small animals which are owned by women, and these animals are not usually included in livestock development programmes. Thus their increase and productivity are not facilitated as yet.

Cattle per se are prestigious animals in Uganda. Recent census estimated the cattle population to be 4.7 heads of cattle: multipurpose, beef and dairy breeds inclusive.

Dairy cattle are owned by farmers whose ages range from 25 to over 60 years, the smaller the farms the younger the owners, the average age of dairy farmers being 53 years.

According to a report about 86.4% of dairy cattle owners are males. The women farmers, however, tend to belong to the very small scale farmers, where 41.2% were found to be females.

There are very few women either owning or managing big herds under the postoral system. This system, however, is under pressure to improve in view of the disease control measures and the environment considerations. These are being approached gradually so as not to disrupt people's lives completely. Provision of replacement stock after the political disturbances have been attempted, so has been the provision of water wells in some areas to the North and North East of the Country.

When the specialized dairy farms are considered, there are also very few women involved. The specialised farmers however, have benefitted from the affirmative action by the government, where breeding stock and dairy bulls had been imported to restock and upgrade the local stock, such farms have been in establishment for long periods, 92.3% of them being over 10 years old now.

The very small scale farms, on the contrary, are relatively new establishments, only 47.1% being older than 10 years. These new establishments, came as a result of the government's concerned effort which aims, first to establish market oriented production approaches, secondly, to put special emphasis on women, at whose, hands many animals have been placed as legal owners.

Acquisition of stocking and restocking animals has been possible through good collaboration with donor agencies eg.

• Heifer Project International [HPI]
• Send a Cow Project [UK]
• Church of Uganda
• United Nation Development Programme
• United Nation Population Fund
• Uganda Government
• Private Individuals
• Uganda Red Cross
• Catholic Church
• Young Women's Christian Association etc.

Various criteria were used by different organizations to arrive at their preferred beneficiaries, e.g. the Enhancing of women's status Heifer Project under UNFPA used the young married mothers as a basic [80%] beneficiary, other classes of women, though considered, were of less importance [20%]. Other organizations have concentrated on e.g single parents, widows, single mothers or families.

These are the people for whom a zero grazing system has been popularized giving a chance to women to own something substantial as opposed to the usual things like brooms, baskets, hoes (tools), or the chicken and goats which are not yet included in the assisted developmental programmes.

Under traditional circumstances, before any organised dairy sector was set up, many women owning cattle now would have never owned them either due to their financial status or due to the traditional set up or to both. However, in the more traditional cattle keeping areas to the very South West, women used to own cattle, although the animal management part of the adult animals was more often the man's job. The women used to manage the calves and dairy products: milk and the ghee which they used to churn themselves. The small proceeds from local sales used to be controlled more by the women prior to the organised marketing.

However, with the introduction of organized milk marketing, marketability of fresh milk was improved, which in turn increased incomes, this made it attractive for men to get involved in the marketing, leading to their control of sales proceeds.

Women in such circumstances are left with only ghee in their control. The ghee, however could slip out of the women's hands, since their technological methods of production are not yet improved, and they heavily depend on the high fat content in the milk of the indigenous stock. The latter may soon be affected by the rapidly spreading cross breeding with exotic cattle that have a low fat content. Unless the indigeneous stock gets special protection through the breeding policy which is currently under preparation, in Uganda the women stand chances to lose their traditional hold. There is evidence however, that both men and women are getting well adapted to the current trends to benefit both.

3.0 Dairy Processing

3.1 Availability of Dairy Products.

Development of the dairy sector is often indicated by the easy availability of qualitative dairy products to the consumers. In Uganda, there is no uniform availability of dairy products, some areas are almost having no milk at all, others produce but it is not recorded.

Of the estimated 300 million litres milk, about 51% is consumed on the farm by the calves and people 49% is marketed formally and informally;

The formal channels consist of the Dairy Corporation, Co-operative Societies and some Farmer's Associates. Only about 10% is sold to the formal markets.

Dairy Corporation has been the main formal market but other private enterprises compete with it. Among these are:

• Jesa mixed dairy farm - personnel, pasteurises and packs milk;
• Mityana Dairy - group owned packs milk;
• Amate dairy - group owned, packs milk.
• Kamuli Dairy [has stopped packing but collects milk]
• Mukono dairy sells raw milk, no pasturing. Mukono & Kamuli are group owned.

The organized groups e.g in Kamuli district have attempted at pasteurization, and making of other products e.g cheese and ghee. The usefulness of some of these products to the populace has been limited by the low purchasing power of the people. This partly led to non-sustainability of the production processes.

Figure II shows the domestic liquid milk marketing plan. In this marketing chain women are involved in the production and they play a prominent role as vendors of the raw and processed milk.

Figure 2: Domestic Liquid Milk Marketing Chain

The nature of milk production from the small/medium farms however affects the distribution in a number of ways:

1. Majority of financially able rural people will have readily available raw milk instead of looking for the processed milk in shopping centers.
2. Several farmers may in a bid for need to sell off their milk, decampaign the quality of processed milk.
3. Collecting of the milk from the farmers to a few processing quarters some of which are miles away from the collection centers is quite expensive. This has been addressed by encouraging formation of groups among the farmers. When under group performance the economies of scale are achieved. The groups may or may not be registered.
4. The processed milk may or may not compete favourably with the raw milk which is also available everywhere in urban centers.

ii Organised marketing.

This is exampled by the Dairy Corporation. Figure III shows what market planning and organisation should entail; i.e research, advertisement and promotion of the product. In many countries of Africa where the business of dairy demand has been solely monopolised by the state, have tended to take a production oriented approach.

This approach failed due to high costs of transportation, low productivity price risks as a result of high production costs, and economies of scale; the smaller the scale of production, the less is the profit! Hence the dairy Master Plan was formulated to liberalise the monopolistic Dairy Corporation, first by privatization of the distribution centres, collecting centres and finally privatize the processing plant in an effort to have market driven production.

The market demand for mill with long shelf life is encouraging the corporation to install a line for Ultra Heat Treated milk (UHT) within the plant. A powdered milk plant is also in the making. All the milk will be obtained from the Dairy farmers, preferably through group organisation as is currently being done in many places.

Figure 3: What does Marketing Actually Do?

The privately owned processing plans are also advancing with a hope that the market will be satisfied and widened at the same time for the benefit of the producer and consumer.

4.0 Network Activities

Effective expansion of the dairy industry aiming at improving the quality of life of the people is an objective that can be achieved through net work activities at both horizontal and vertical integration.

The important arms in the dairy development can be grouped in 3 categories:

• Production (animals health, nutrition feeding breeding and management).
• Marketing (collection, processing, distribution)
• Consumer (Taste, purchasing power)

Units concerned with Production; mainly the farmers and the government, which provides infrastructure, support services and conducive environment for production.

Farmers groups are an advantage due to the small scale nature of production. Many of them start informally but get formalized when the number grows fully established. However, generally speaking in Uganda's experience, the co-operative groups have to date not performed well, they fail to achieve their objectives after a very short time of operation. They sometimes fail to help those who need help most, they have inconsistent and impossible plans to carry out, sometimes farmers fall victims of authorities who mismanage and misappropriate funds.

The group approach for the small scale farmers has been reported in the various Heifer projects in the country, the dairy projects and the farmers groups not associated with any projects in the Western part of the country: Toro and Mbarara where such associations have managed cooling and processing plants.

Networking should start with horizontal linkage, involving the various farmers' groups and association Figure IV shows the proposed links in the Network where the problems associated with production could be shared and solved in the given part of the country, such a forum could be a livestock farmer's association in the given region of the country.

Regional linkages within the country should be strong between the farmers of similar interests so as to have the groups sustainable. These groups can organize milk delivery to various collecting centers which supply the dairy processing plants.

The processors should create a linkage with the producers in terms of incentives/inputs to assist:

• In greater production
• To ensure availability of products from the farmers to that given processor.

The processor adheres and is answerable to the government's broad terms of service, including quality control. The processor should be concerned with the consumers mainly by research to establish the needs and the taste for the various products, and how they compare with the raw products which they obtain directly from the farmers. The farmers should be encouraged to, deliver their products to the processor by both the processor and the government.

The government is concerned with both the farmers and the consumers eg. the research with regard to quality control, input and service supplies.

The government always has its set objectives and the funds from donors and non-governmental organization overseas that are spent in the priority areas. The national groups, either as separate lines(e.g dairy farmers) or jointly as generally farmers association should link with neighbouring countries especially in seminars, workshops for strategy formulation and development and advice to their respective Governments.

Figure 4: Dairy Development Network Plan

Countries in a region interlink to discuss issues on how to economise or maximize resource utilization e.g research, discussions should be made as to which country should be engaged in the basic research and in the various fields e.g. vaccine production, nutrition and feeds, packaging materials, biological components (bacterial and enzymes for milk products), production of milk utensils etc.

5.0 Major Constraints In Dairy Development Network in Uganda

The above suggested strengthening of network activities is not without possible setbacks, especially in the production and Marketing stages of the process.

5.1 Production

1. Cattle production is adversely affected by the high incident and morbidity of diseases like East coast Fever and trypanosomiasis farmers get demoralised incase of high losses, their base is weakened affecting the groups strengths.

   Tsetse and tick control measures are being enforced by the Ministry with aid support as well.

2. Breeding: lack of direction and specific aims when breeding can frustrate farmers. In Uganda a breeding policy has already been formulated and ready for tabling.

3. Feeding and the quality of the feeds are not constantly available due to varying seasons. At the same time we have not fully utilised the Technology for conservation of fodder for adverse conditions. This again can weaken the farmer who is a base in networking. Feed conservation efforts in Uganda are not yet widespread.

4. General Management of the dairy herds is badly affected by little knowledge of scientific principles underlying various recommendations; this leads to lack of compliance. It is worth noting, though that the Education is slightly higher among the dairy farmers than among other types of farmers. This factor is exploited by involving the farmers in seminars and workshops to enable them appreciate some of the principles.

   Another point to note is that the women when given a chance to be the managers, have done so well without prior exposure to the management system.

   They have been excellent adopters and have performed sometimes better than men who could develop some bias after being used to their traditional way of looking after cows. Hence the women's groups within the dairy sector have so far done well within the years of their existence.

5. Calf replacement: The calf, which is the future cow, is very much marginalised in management, resulting in high incidence of stuntedness and poor health which give rise to poor dams whose average milk production is 12– 15 litres/day from the pure exotic breeds in our own environment.

In many African settings, a calf and a small child are given 2nd position to the adults instead of the other way round! calf nutrition and child nutrition are therefore taught side by side in the activities of the project “Enhancing women's status through dairy heifer farming and ownership”. The project is one aspect the Ministry of Agriculture is trying to integrate family life issues into agriculture using dairy heifer farming as an entry point to society, to be able to address more diverse issues as are the mandate of the Uganda Population Policy.

The project widens naturally as the first female calves are given to the next qualifying beneficiaries in the given area.

5.2 Marketing

The problems incurred in marketing are:

• nsufficient number and at the same time weak farmers' groups do affect the pricing of the commodities. Groups should be encouraged to operate in a sustainable manner.
• The production costs differ very widely from area to area in the country, making the uniform pricing almost impossible or inconvenient to any one of the parties concerned.

6.0 Discussions

Uganda has taken several steps to ensure increased performance of the dairy sector; men and women have been considered as specific entities where applicable and where it is an advantage to development.

The small scale nature of the farmers that include women, makes it advantageous to associate in groups so as to effect economies of scale and reduce transport and other costs.

However, the causes for earlier failures to associate into groups in the country still stand out as impediments to the renewed hopes and plans in group performance; people may have scepticism about the approach.

That notwithstanding, women's groups/ associations have so far done well. Could it be that due to their less advantaged position women find more hope/support/consolation and hence perform well in groups?

For effective development, there must be strong chains of communication, which have been outlined in Figure 4. Many of the channels indicated in the figure are not new, but only need to be strengthened.

Of the new channels suggested in the figure is the aspect of the Processor to the Producer relationship in form of extending inputs flow from processor to producer as to ensure continued raw product supply, and ensure monopoly on part of the farmers. This would be comparable to what processors of other raw materials sometimes do. A network involving producer groups needs more commitment so as to be sustainable.

At the national levels, linking is very important since agreement can be reached at, that do lead to maximum utilisation of the meagre resources while fostering collaboration, duplication of basic research can be avoided, specific areas of speciality can be identified for sharing of ideas.

Examples of research are given in the text, but the bilateral trade of products is also a possibility that can encourage qualitative production.

The major constraints to network arrangements are serious problems affecting dairy industry. They all lead to one major condition - high cost of production on part of the farmer, giving him a very narrow profit margin, sometimes none.

The farmers should be assisted to encourage his stay in business so as to sustain the market chain.

7.0 Conclusion

Efficiency of dairy products marketing can play a special role in the successful development of dairy production in African countries.

Realistic price formulation strategies and policies will be helped by efforts to reduce costs of transportation and overall production costs. This will put the products of developing economies on a competitive basis.

Group action which can effect economies of scale is essential, especially in the light of increased commercialisation, urban population growth, and per capita consumption of milk.

Liberalisation of markets as opposed to domestic market controls, a system which takes away local producers incentives, must be stressed.

The international linkages are highly advantageous, especially as they touch on the sharing of ideas, knowledge, production and products for the purpose of maximising resources for improved service to the people.

The achievements of those objectives will need governments to galvanise support services: banking, credit, insurance, and make sure that they are available to the women and the poor.

Product oriented marketing strategies should be replaced by market oriented strategies.

Finally there is need to help dairy farmers revolutionise their production by diffusing knowledge with a high of appropriate energy saving technical skills which can cope with modern methods of production to increase productivity.

References

GOU (1994) Annual Report, Department of Veterinary Science.

The Economics of Livestock Production in Uganda Agricultural Secretariat.

GOU Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning (1995). The 1991 Population and Housing census - Analytical Report Vol. I, II and III.

Uganda Master Plan for Dairy Sector - Interim report on Dairy Sector Policy CARL BRO International as January, 1992.

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF): (1993) Proposed Gender oriented policy Document (Table to the Parliament)

Enhancing women's status through Dairy Heifer farming and ownership UGA/91/PO₂ and UGA/95/PO₁ - Project Documents, 1990 and 1995 respectively.

Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development.

Okwenye A.A. (1995) Milk Producer Marketing Groups in Uganda.

Vaneges, M. and Akwang, A.A. (1992) : An Economic Analysis of Milk Production Costs and Pricing in Uganda. Department Of Agriculture Economics, Makerere University, 1992.

Oyo, C.M and Okwenye A.A. (1992), Dairy Industry Development Project Marketing Plan 1992–1994 AG:DP/UGA/84/023 Field Document II.

Kyewalabye, E.K. - Production of Marketable Milk : A Case of Zero Grazing. Paper Presented at the FAO sponsored workshop - Sokoine University, Tanzania, 1995.

Muwaya, S., Kahara, A. & Kyawalabye, E.K. (1995). Group Formation and Organisation for Small Scale Milk Producers Under Woman's Heifer Project. Paper Presented At the FAO sponsored workshop.

Kyewalabye, Enhancing Women's Status Through Dairy Heifer Farming and Ownership UGA/91/PO₂ - Paper presented at the World Veterinary Congress, Tokyo, JAPAN (1995).

GOU: Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning (1995). National Population Policy for Sustainable Development.

Terminal Report, GNU/FAO - 1993 AG: DP/UGA/92/010

Discussion:

INTEGRATION OF CROP-LIVESTOCK FARMING SYSTEMS IN SMALLHOLDER DAIRY FARMS: A CASE STUDY OF THE NHARIRA-LANCASHIRE FARMING AREA OF ZIMBABWE²⁴

J. Francis, and S. Sibanda²⁵, V. Østergaard²⁶

Abstract

The paper presents the background and research methods of an on-going case study of smallholder dairy farms in Zimbabwe. The research procedures emphasise farmer participation in all phases and include gender analysis of farm operations. Results of an appraisal study and a discussion of models used in the research conclude the paper.

1.0 Introduction

More than 75% of Zimbabwe's population of 10.3 million live in smallholder farming areas, with almost 90 % of them being found in marginal agroecological regions III-V. Smallholder farmers are resource-poor and use low input-low output technologies in production. These systems embody an integrated set of husbandry practices that have evolved over a long time to the extent that they are complex, dynamic and very sensitive to the ecological and socioeconomic environments (Avila, 1988). This is a fundamental principle which is often ignored by most researchers and appears to be the main reason why most agricultural technologies have not been widely adopted by farmers. Farmers manipulate production based on their preferences and aspirations, using available inputs and technology.

²⁴ The study was funded by the University of Zimbabwe/Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University/DANINA Project

²⁵ Dept of Animal Science, University of Zimbabwe.

²⁶ National Institute of Animal Science, Tjele, Denmark.

Dairying is a new feature in smallholder crop-livestock systems of Zimbabwe. It was introduced within the last 12 years, primarily as a tool for accelerating rural development (Mupunga, 1994). By January 1995, 10 smallholder dairy schemes (Marirangwe, Chikwaka, Nharira, Tsonzo, Honde Valley, Rusitu, Guruve, Zvimba, Gokwe and Dowa) had been established. In general, the number of farmers diversifying into dairying and annual milk production per farmer continue to increase.

Information on how farmers have integrated dairying with other farming activities and the role of dairying in the system is however lacking. Similarly, there is no precise information on the biological and economic performance of individual farm enterprises. Both technical and socioeconomic aspects of production should, therefore, be considered when evaluating farm performance.

In this paper, a brief outline of an on-going systems study in the Nharira-Lancashire smallholder dairy production area of Zimbabwe is presented. The main objective is to investigate and improve the degree of integration of crop and livestock systems. This will be achieved through the following sub-objectives:

1. To characterise crop-livestock production systems.
2. To introduce appropriate farm management practices through action research.
3. To develop a bioeconomic model of the smallholder dairy farm.

2.0 Methodological Approaches

2.1 Farmer participatory research

Farmer participatory research involves farmers in the definition of the research agenda, conduct of research, evaluation and subsequent dissemination of experimental results. Many on-farm studies are often limited to asking farmers what their problems are. In other cases, farmers appear only in the final stages of technology evaluation, with the studies often duplicating on-station research methodologies. When farmers adopt technologies developed in this way, they tend to modify them considerably. The following participatory approaches have been/are being used:

a. Individual farmer and group interviews

Technological interventions in the systems may imply changes in community organization and cooperation among farmers, which should be carefully analyzed. Interviewing farmer groups assists in this regard and tests the collective wisdom of farmers.

b. Gender analysis

Acceptance of technological interventions by smallholder farmers depends on how the farming family (men, women and children) perceives it. These family substrata are integrated into a working unit with an unwritten understanding of their division of labour. Gender (and age) analysis is desirable because it assists in selecting the best persons to collaborate with in research activities, that is those actively involved in dairying.

2.2 Biweekly farm visits

Time series data are being collected by a resident technician through interviewing eighteen (twelve communal and six small-scale commercial) purposively selected farmers at fortnightly intervals.

Direct observation and measurement techniques are also used. Data covering various aspects of the farm economy such as crop and livestock production, employment (labour hiring and selling), purchases, sales, etc is collected (see Table 1). Literate members of households hosting studies have been identified and these assist in data recording. Group meetings (frequency not yet decided) are planned to discuss the progress of the research work.

The likely benefits of this approach are:

• tapping farmers' pool of indigenous technical knowledge;
• development of meaningful dialogue with farmers;
• enabling participating farmers to share ideas;
• reducing the time required to get feedback from farmers; and
• improving researchers's understanding of the farming systems.

Table 1: Summary of Data Collection Process in Regular Researcher Farm Vists

2.3 Case studies and action research

A case study is a detailed characterization and analysis of a small number of carefully selected farms, representing a recommendation domain but not the whole population (Mettrick, 1993). Studies of some some farms is therefore being undertaken. The eighteen farms are regarded as specialized firms, in which farmers constantly make adjustments to production targets and management strategies, broadly aimed at optimizing production. It consists of a series of task-oriented goals aimed at achieving acceptable technological solutions to specific farmers' problems. Desirable elements of the farming system are identified, retained and used as a starting point for developing technology. The points of view of the researcher and farmer evolve simultaneously.

Both quantitative and qualitative data are gathered through intensive, detailed measurements and recording. Farm performance is compared with identified family desires. If all desires are being met, no alternatives are proposed to the normal farm management practices. However, when the farming system is not meeting its targets, efficiencies of performance are analyzed and used to identify weaknesses in the system. The milk yield function can be analysed as follows:

Thus, for example, if a change in feeding management is suggested and other factors are assumed to be constant, then any increase or decrease in observed milk yield will be attributable to the intervention.

This knowledge and available technical information are used to ascertain feasible levels of performance and efficiency of production. A small number of alternative actions with potential to improve the system are then presented to the farmer together with stated probable effects. Action research is a cyclical process.

3.0 Findings to Date

Diagnostic surveys have revealed the following as the main challenges faced by smallholder dairy farmers in Nharira-Lancashire:

1. Weak research-extension-farmer linkages.
2. How best to reduce the excessive dependence on expensive bought-in dairy feeds.
3. Ensuring that each farmer produces milk throughout the year.
4. The need for concerted water development.
5. Identification and supply of appropriate dairy breeds.

4.0 Modelling Livestock Systems

Modelling smallholder farming systems provides a logical framework within which to think and recognizes the functioning of the whole rather than a number of individual parts of the system. A model can be a theory, hypothesis, structured idea or synthesis of data (Tidswell, 1984). When building a model of the smallholder dairy farm, attention will be confined to features of particular interest or significance to a specific problem. The model to be developed will only apply within specified assumptions. Computer simulation models will be used to analyze and interpret the large amounts of data which will be gathered. The simulations will also reveal soundness and completeness of observed relationships. Development of systemic models using data from the 18 farms will form a solid basis for providing advice to farmers in similar circumstances.

References

Avila, M. 1988. Farming Systems Approaches to Improve Livestock Production in Communal Areas, pp 28–42. Committee for On-farm Research and Extension (COFRE) Workshop held at Henderson Research Station, February 16–18, Mazowe, Zimbabwe.

Chiduza, C. 1994. Farm Data Handbook: Crop and Livestock Budgets for Communal Areas: Agro-ecological Zones, l-V, Agricultural Services Division, FAO.

Mettrick, H. 1993. Development Oriented Research in Agriculture. An ICRA Textbook, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Mupunga, E.G. 1994. Impact of the Dairy Development Programme on the Living Standards of Smallholder Farmers in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of Nharira Smallholder DDP, MBA Thesis, Faculty of Commerce, University of Zimbabwe.

Tidswell, V. 1978. Pattern and Process in Human Geography, University Tutorial Press, Slough, UK.

1.0 REPORT ON THE FIELD TRIP

A Field Trip was organized by the Dairy Development Programme which is under Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) in Zimbabwe and the trip involved visits to the following:

1. Henderson Research Station - Pastures Section
   - Dairy Unit

2. University of Zimbabwe Farm (Dairy Unit); and

3. Chikwaka Dairy Project - part of the Agricultural Rural Development Authority's (ARDA) - Dairy Development Project were the Chikwaka Collecting Unit and specific smallholder dairy farmers were visited.

The details of the Field Trip are given in the report below: