Goat Marketing Decisions by Smallholder Farmers in Bikita District of Zimbabwe

Goats are an important source of livelihood for smallholder farmers domiciled in arid areas of Zimbabwe. Economic reforms such as liberalization of markets have opened up avenues for smallholder goat farmers to produce more diverse products and participate in high-end and rewarding markets. These markets include export and processing linked marketing channels. The main objective of the paper was to explore the factors affecting smallholder farmers’ involvement in goat marketing and the intensity of goat sales in Bikita district. A representative sample of 392 goat farmers was proportionately selected from 5 wards. The double hurdle model was used to evaluate market participation and market participation intensity decisions guided by the probit model and censored tobit model respectively. Results show that the decision to participate in goat marketing was exclusively influenced by experience in goat farming while intensity of goat marketing was exclusively influenced by household labour, access to other sources of information and the market prices. Age of household head, access to credit and affiliation to marketing associations influences both decisions. These include the The study recommends that, central government and private sector companies should encourage and support more farmers to affiliate into marketing associations. This is a key strategy that can be used to promote market information dissemination among goat value chain stakeholders. Formation of marketing hubs can also increase goat marketing participation thorough increased access to decentralised marketing points. Opening up credit lines can also ultimately result in farmers commercially producing goats as they increase their herds