Conserving what's important: Using choice model scenarios to value local cattle breeds in East Africa

Kerstin K. Zander and Adam G. Drucker

Ecological Economics, 2008, vol. 68, issue 1-2, 34-45

Abstract: The Borana cattle in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya have unique traits that make them suitable for the harsh environment in the lowlands and have long formed a part of their livestock-keepers' cultural identity. However, genetic erosion of this important cattle breed has been occurring at an accelerating rate for the last few decades. Conservation initiatives for the Borana breed are required and in this context, this study provides empirical evidence for the high economic value of the Borana breed and its different subtypes, measured by their distinct attributes. This evaluation, firstly, strengthens conservation justification and provides guidance regarding cost-efficient conservation approaches and, secondly, provides a better understanding of breeding values. The analysis presented is based on a choice model (CM) with 370 local livestock-keepers. The results of the CM indicate that the preferences for some cattle attributes (in particular for cultural traits such as body size and horn conditions) and Borana subtypes vary largely between Kenya and Ethiopia and that high monetary values are placed on adaptive traits, fertility and traction suitability. We further conclude that it is most cost-effective to conserve in-situ the Ethiopian Borana subtype in Ethiopia and the Somali Borana subtype in Kenya.

Keywords: Animal; genetic; resources; Borana; cattle; Choice; experiment; Compensation; payments; Consumer; preference; In-situ; conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(08)00069-4
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:68:y:2008:i:1-2:p:34-45

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().