| Abstract |
NATIONAL SAMPLE CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE (2002/2003)-LIVESTOCK SECTOR
The analysis and data contained in this report provide description of the state of the livestock sector in Zanzibar for the agriculture year 1st October 2002 to 30th September 2003. The analysis and tabulation are based on small holders disaggregated and compared to district level.During the reference period there were 36,445 livestock keeping households which represent 38 percent of the total small holder agriculture households.
As of 1st October 2003 there were 215,802 heads of major livestock. The population of cattle was 162,643 followed by goats (52,324), sheep (300) and pigs (535). Most of the livestock keeping households have both cattle and goats. An estimated 91 percent of the livestock keepers raise cattle, 26 percent raise goats while 0.2 percent keep sheep and only 0.1 percent manage pigs. The average herd size kept by households for different types of livestock are five heads for cattle keeping households, six in the case of goats, four for sheep and 10 in the case of pigs. Micheweni, Central, West and Wete districts are important in livestock enterprise but for Micheweni in particular, its flock is comprised almost entirely of indigenous species. Most of the livestock of improved breeds are in West and Central districts. Chicken are the most important poultry and their number on the reference date was 1,063,791 kept by 66,736 households. The average number of chicken kept by the households is thus 16.
Zanzibar has the highest density of chicken in Tanzania. Mkoani has the highest population of indigenous chicken but almost no improved chicken whereas West and Central district have comparatively good number of exotic chicken which have led to these two districts to be leading in having more chicken than other districts. Compared to 1992/93 livestock census, the population of major livestock types is increasing with time except in case of sheep and donkeys. The average growth rate for indigenous cattle is 3.6 percent per annum, 7.6 percent for improved cattle, 1.6 percent for goat, -7.6 percent for sheep and an incredible average growth rate of 23.3 percent per annum has been realized for pigs. The average annual growth rate for indigenous chicken is 4 percent, 10.3 percent for layers while the population of broilers has been decreasing at the rate of -5.5 percent per annum.
Indigenous livestock species are very dominant and account 95 percent for cattle, 99.5 percent for goats, 100 percent
sheep and 89 percent chicken.
Milk is obtained from cattle and goats where goat's contribution is less than one percent. Due to high proportion of improved cattle in West and Central districts, each of the districts produce more milk than Micheweni District which has a higher number of cattle but almost all are of indigenous species. About 95 percent of the households that produced milk sold some, mostly to neighbours and milk vendors at an average farm gate price of Tsh 250 per litre. The households sell about 66 percent of the milk they produce.
There is some contribution of livestock to crop production in the form of improving soil fertility and structure by using farmyard manure but livestock are almost not used for soil cultivation. Farmyard manure was applied on about 8887ha. The districts where the manure is mostly used are West, Central and MicheweniThe diseases that affect a large number of livestock are tick-borne, mostly East Coast Fever to cattle. Helmenthiosis infect both cattle and goats but due to improved management in pigs, the condition was not reported in piggeries. Contagious Caprine Pleuro-pneumonia (CCP) has affected goats in some districts in Unguja but has not been
reported in any district of Pemba. Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia and Trypanasomiasis have not been recorded anywhere in Zanzibar.
The distance from livestock keeper's households to livestock infrastructures for services is about 10 km. or more for more than 50 percent of the households. The main source of extension services is the government (82 percent) followed by development projects/NGOs (5 percent). There was no Fish Farming reported during the time of this census. |
