Abstract
This study aims to provide information on smallholder farmer access to livestock inputs and services and their husbandry practices in normal and shock years. A combination of qualitative techniques (community mapping with cards; scoring; etc) and a set of carefully designed semi-structured questionnaires were used to elicit information about the underlying livelihoods. The survey areas were purposively selected bearing in mind the geographical variations in levels of vulnerability and the intra-district variations in production potential and market access. Inter-household variations within each sampled community were taken care of by categorizing the households into three poverty groups (non-poor, poor and extremely poor) and implementing a sampling strategy that ensured adequate representation of each. The results suggest a strong need to improve not only public service delivery to the livestock sector but also to devise a multi-faceted system for enhancing productivity and market participation. This is especially critical during shock times.
Highlights
In many low-income countries, chronic vulnerability and poverty are entrenched and exacerbated by the risk of extreme climatic, economic and policy shocks
The research reported in this study aims to provide information on smallholder farmers' access to livestock inputs and services and their husbandry practices in normal and shock years
The province is comprised of 11 districts, half of which are located in the lowrainfall region, Agro-Ecological Region (AER) I
Summary
In many low-income countries, chronic vulnerability and poverty are entrenched and exacerbated by the risk of extreme climatic, economic and policy shocks. The role of livestock, which affects the livelihoods of approximately 60% of the people in southern Africa, is much less appreciated (see, for example, Zambia National Assembly, 2012; MAL 2003 for Zambia). This narrow view of food security grossly undermines the mitigatory role that these other strategies do or could potentially play. In Zambia, Livestock husbandry is characterized by four main sectors which include: the state, the commercial, small scale sector and the mixed crop-livestock production systems (Aregheore, 2006). Small-scale livestock systems are the most prevalent in Zambaia These tend to be characterized by poor access to livestock inputs and services coupled with high risk to weather shocks (MAL 2003)
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