The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fishery sector in Zimbabwe: a case study of fish farmers in Binga district

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Background: Goats are of economic importance to livelihoods of many rural communities in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, very few farmers are into goat production. Therefore, this study was carried out in order to establish the factors that are affecting goat production in Mushowani, Zimbabwe. Methods: A household survey, using a structured questionnaire was administered in October 2022. The Spearman correlation coefficients were used to test the associations between number of goats against farm size, gender, age, marital status, education, household size, formal training, diseases, income and extension services. Results: Of the 52 respondents surveyed, 59.6% were males and more than half (51.9%) of the farmers attended secondary school, followed by tertiary education (36.6%). Most of the farmers (69.2%) had a herd size of less than 20. The main source of income in the area was the selling of crops. The majority (77%) of the farmers indicated that they planned to increase their goat herd. Goat production in Mushowani is constrained by diseases, feed, water, theft, heat stress, market, transport, veterinary services, insufficient funds, lack of extension services and lack of commercial breeds. Results showed that farm size, age of the farmer, education and extension visits were associated with herd size. Age, education and extension visits were significant at 5%, while farm size was significant at 1%. Conclusions: The results of this study are anticipated to give an insight to the government, policy makers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that focus on improving goat production in rural communities.