IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ragrxx/v54y2015i3p23-42.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cow or Goat? Population pressure and livestock keeping in Burundi

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Desiere
  • Sanctus Niragira
  • Marijke D'Haese

Abstract

Livestock contributes significantly to livelihoods in developing countries. Yet, most academic studies focus on dairy cattle and neglect that many smallholder farmers in mixed-cropping systems prefer goats, sheep, pigs or poultry over cattle. Using a unique dataset from a national representative agricultural survey in Burundi, we estimate the determinants of livestock keeping with a multivariate probit model. We find that wealthier households keep more livestock, but population density and access to markets are also key determinants. Moreover, even the wealthiest households switch from cattle to smaller animals in densely populated regions, where pressure on land is high and access to pastures limited. This has important policy implications since it questions the emphasis of most development programs by NGOs and governments in Sub-Saharan Africa which promote dairy cattle.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Desiere & Sanctus Niragira & Marijke D'Haese, 2015. "Cow or Goat? Population pressure and livestock keeping in Burundi," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(3), pages 23-42, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ragrxx:v:54:y:2015:i:3:p:23-42
    DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2015.1084941
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03031853.2015.1084941
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03031853.2015.1084941?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1996. "Income portfolios in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania: Choices and constraints," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 850-875.
    2. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February.
    3. Turner, Matthew D. & Williams, Timothy O., 2002. "Livestock Market Dynamics and Local Vulnerabilities in the Sahel," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 683-705, April.
    4. Tilamun, Helina & Schmidt, Emily, 2012. "Spatial Analysis of Livestock Production Patterns in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 44, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Lorenzo Cappellari & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2003. "Multivariate probit regression using simulated maximum likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(3), pages 278-294, September.
    6. Henk A. J. Moll, 2005. "Costs and benefits of livestock systems and the role of market and nonmarket relationships," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(2), pages 181-193, March.
    7. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus, 2014. "Is there a farm-size productivity relationship in African agriculture ? evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6770, The World Bank.
    8. Tom Bundervoet, 2006. "Livestock, Activity Choices and Conflict: Evidence from Burundi," HiCN Working Papers 24, Households in Conflict Network.
    9. M. H. Doran & A. R. C. Low & R. L. Kemp, 1979. "Cattle as a Store of Wealth in Swaziland: Implications for Livestock Development and Overgrazing in Eastern and Southern Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 61(1), pages 41-47.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Desiere, Sam & D'Haese, Marijke, 2015. "Boserup versus Malthus: does population pressure drive agricultural intensification? Evidence from Burundi," 89th Annual Conference, April 13-15, 2015, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 204296, Agricultural Economics Society.
    2. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Duponchel, Marguerite, 2014. "Credit constraints, agricultural productivity, and rural nonfarm participation : evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6769, The World Bank.
    3. Christian Rogg, 2006. "Asset Portfolios in Africa: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Christopher B. Barrett, 2005. "Rural poverty dynamics: development policy implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 45-60, January.
    5. Riithi, Alexander Njuguna & Irungu, Patrick & Munei , Kimpei, 2015. "Determinants Of Choice Of Alternative Livelihood Diversification Strategies In Solio Resettlement Scheme, Kenya," Dissertations and Theses 269714, University of Nairobi, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    6. Lay, Jann & M'Mukaria, George Michuki & Omar Mahmoud, Toman, 2007. "Boda-bodas rule: Non-agricultural activities and their inequality implications in Western Kenya," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 6543, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Vellema, W. & Buritica Casanova, A. & Gonzalez, C. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "The effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-25.
    8. Linden McBride & Leah Bevis, 2019. "Working Paper 311 - Risk, Returns, and Welfare," Working Paper Series 2437, African Development Bank.
    9. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    10. Misganaw Teshager Abeje & Atsushi Tsunekawa & Enyew Adgo & Nigussie Haregeweyn & Zerihun Nigussie & Zemen Ayalew & Asres Elias & Dessalegn Molla & Daregot Berihun, 2019. "Exploring Drivers of Livelihood Diversification and Its Effect on Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    12. Babulo, Bedru & Muys, Bart & Nega, Fredu & Tollens, Eric & Nyssen, Jan & Deckers, Jozef & Mathijs, Erik, 2008. "Household livelihood strategies and forest dependence in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 147-155, September.
    13. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    14. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Micevska, Maja B., 2007. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in the Eastern Himalayas," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 22, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    15. Lay, Jann & Schüler, Dana, 2008. "Income Diversification and Poverty in a Growing Agricultural Economy: The Case of Ghana," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Zurich 2008 39, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    16. Jorine Tafadzwa Ndoro & Patrick Hitayezu, 2014. "Drivers of cattle commercialization in rural South Africa: A combined test of transaction cost and store-of-wealth hypotheses," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 57-78, September.
    17. Bandara, Amarakoon & Dehejia, Rajeev & Lavie-Rouse, Shaheen, 2015. "The Impact of Income and Non-Income Shocks on Child Labor: Evidence from a Panel Survey of Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 218-237.
    18. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    19. Henk A. J. Moll, 2005. "Costs and benefits of livestock systems and the role of market and nonmarket relationships," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(2), pages 181-193, March.
    20. Clarke, Daniel J. & Hill, Ruth Vargas, 2013. "Cost-benefit analysis of the african risk capacity facility:," IFPRI discussion papers 1292, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ragrxx:v:54:y:2015:i:3:p:23-42. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/ragr20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.