The impact of dairy production on food security among smallholder farmers: A case study on Land O' Lakes Inc. In the Southern Province of Zambia
Date
2007
Authors
Moyo, Nkosana Felix
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
The dairy industry is an important sector in the household food security of many
Zambian families. In this study, the impact of dairy of dairy production on food
security among smallholder dairy farmers in Monze and Choma under Land O' Lakes
(lol) is a case under consideration.
The study used survey data collected using a structured questionnaire from a sample of
80 farmers which included 50% of beneficiaries and another 50% non beneficiaries of
the same geographical location. The sample was drawn randomly from lol baseline
survey sample conducted in 2001. Four indicators of food security namely off farm
income, income earned from dairy sales, and types of protein foods consumed were
tested and found reliable as the overall of food security.
Both Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) and the Double Difference (DD) were used to
determine the impact of the project on food security. The results showed that for
beneficiaries, off farm incomes were not significant at 70%, meat consumed was not
significant at 38%), fish consumed was significant at 5%, and the amount earned from
dairy sales was not significant at 6l%o, while for non beneficiaries off farm incomes
were significant at 9%, meat consumed was significant at 24%, fish consumed was
significant at 18%) and incomes earned from dairy sales were significant at 24%.
The study concluded that the project intervention had an impact on improved incomes
and food security. The project beneficiaries' households had higher incomes from
dairy sales and that the differences between them had widened. This was especially
true for the value of assets, food security, meat and fish consumed. It is recommended
that further research be conducted on marketing and pricing of dairy products, and
accessibility of micro loans for project sustainability. More women must also be
involved in the project to meet the 30%) participation requirement.
Description
Student Project Report
Keywords
Dairying , Dairy farming-Southern,Zambia