Characteristics of dairy farming and its effect on milk production: a case study of Unguja island of Zanzibar, Tanzania

摘要

Across-sectionalstudywasconductedbetweenJulyandDecember2013tocharacterisethedairyfarminginUngujaislandofZanzibarintheUnitedRepublicofTanzania.Thestudyalsoassessedtheeffectsofmanagementonmilkproduction.Atotalnumberof203dairyfarmerswererandomlyselectedfromthreedistrictsofUngujaIslandsandinterviewedusingsemi-structuredquestionnaireaswelldirectobservationstocaptureinformationondairyfarmingandfactorsaffectingmilkproduction.Itwasfoundthatadairyfarmerpossesses,onaverage,sevendairycattle(range1-31)andtwolactatingcows(range1-8).Westdistricthadbiggeraverageherdsizeof7.5followedbyNorthBwith7.3andCentralwith6.2cowsperfarmbutthedifferencewasnotstatisticallysignificant(P0.05).Westdistricthadbiggeraveragenumberoflactatingcows(2.4)comparedtoCentral(1.9)andNorthB(1.8),thedifferencewasstatisticalsignificant(P0.05).Morethantwothirds(72%)ofthefarmersinterviewedkeptcrossbreeddairycattlethatweremanagedmostlybyintensivegrazingsystem(65%).Only61%oftherespondentshadconstructedshedfortheirdairyanimals.About86%ofthefarmersprovidedmaizebran,pollardoramixtureofthetwoassupplementfeedsfortheirlactatingcows,apracticewhichalsodifferedsignificantlybetweenthestudydistricts(P0.05).Averagedailymilkproductionwas7.6±3.6litrespercowperday.AveragemilkproductionwashigherinWestdistrict(8.0/litres/day)comparedtoCentral(7.2/litres/day)andNorthB(6.9/litres/day),thedifferencebetweendistrictswasstatisticallysignificant(P0.05).ItisconcludedthatdairyfarminginUngujaIslandoperateunderpoorfarmmanagement,deprivedhygieneandimpropermilkingtechniquesthatneedsimprovementtooptimisemilkproductionintermsofqualityandquantity.