Preferences and Marketing of Afar Goats in Afar Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess preferences and marketing of Afar goats in Aba’ala, Afar region, Ethiopia. Data were collected using questionnaire and PRA tools from purposively selected 90 goat producers in the village and randomly selected 100 goat buyers in Aba’ala central market. The data were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test and MS-Excel. Ranking indices were used to cascade selected animals. Milk yield, coat colour and appearance were the most preferred traits by goat producers to select breeding does while fast growth, appearance and coat colour were for breeding bucks. In the market, buyers’ decision for purchasing breeding doe was influenced by the coat colour, overall appearance and age of the breeding doe. While body weight, coat colour and appearance were very important attributes for purchasing breeding buck. Market price was highly(P<0.01) affected by body weight of the marketed goat rather than coat colour. The market price of castrated buck had higher price compared to the breeding doe, female replacement, and male replacement. The most important production constraints were drought and feed scarcity. The current finding can be used to design interventions for productivity improvement of the goats and marketing system in the study area. Concerned bodies like  governmental and non-governmental organizations should conduct detail and broad investigation on the customer preferences and marketing system for development of viable Afar goat value chain.