Does homestead livestock production and ownership contribute to consumption of animal source foods? A pre-intervention assessment of rural farming communities in Tanzania

Abstract

Livestock production at homestead level is widely reported as an important pathway to achieve optimal consumption of Animal Source Foods (ASF) in a household. However, the empirical evidence is limited. This paper examines the extent of homestead livestock production and consumption of ASF by rural farming communities in four villages of Dodoma and Morogoro regions, Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey of 663 households was carried out. Interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with mothers and caregivers sought to understand livestock production and consumption patterns of ASF. Analysis techniques included Chi-square test, ANOVA and binary regression. Animal source foods were grouped into four categories; (i) meat and meat products, (ii) eggs, (iii) fish, sardines and sea foods, and (iv) milk and dairy products. The average intake of ASF was low for the entire sample, with only 26% of the population consuming at least one of the four types, even though more than half (52.5%) of the surveyed households reported to keep livestock. Generally, proportion of livestock keepers consuming ASF was slightly higher compared to their counterparts. Results from chi-square test indicated that, Dodoma households were more likely to consume meat (χ2 (1) = 11.1, p = 0.000) and milk (χ2 (1) = 10.8, p = 0.000) than Morogoro households (χ2 (1) = 0.2, p = 0.627 and χ2 (1) = 0.02, p = 0.887). Notably consumption of fish and sardines prevailed more in Morogoro than Dodoma households. Keeping of livestock was further emerged as a significant predictor for consumption of ASF after controlling for demographic factors (p < 0.01). Findings from FGDs further revealed that; low nutrition knowledge, limited number of livestock, monetary and cultural values attached to livestock were the barriers to consumption of ASF. These observations highlight a mismatch between level of production of livestock, availability and actual consumption of ASF in rural households. Optimizing the contribution of livestock keeping on the consumption of ASF requires a combination of efforts. These include; addressing socio-cultural norms and practices towards motives for keeping livestock, promoting good livestock rearing practices to maintain desired stock needed for consumption and households’ income and addressing gaps on nutrition importance of ASF. Therefore, promoting livestock keeping at homestead level and nutrition behavior change strategies targeting specifically, the importance of consuming ASF are crucial for attaining adequate consumption.