Marketing challenges and opportunities faced by the Nguni cattle project beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 109

to improve communal cattle production should, therefore, emphasize the understanding
of farmers' objectives, perceptions and experiences. From this knowledge, constraints
and opportunities faced by resource poor communal cattle farmers can be identified and
sustainable developmental strategies formulated (Dovie et al. , 2006).
6.5 Variables used in the analysis
In the context of cattle marketing, a marketing constraint can be considered to be a variable
that precludes farmers from selling their cattle or negatively affects the profitability of
cattle sales and thus acts as a disincentive to expanded trade. This study identified thirteen
independent variables measured as continuous and discrete variables. The identified
variables include market availability, market distance, transport availability, transport
affordability, information access, current market price, and condition of cattle, herd size,
method of payment and household characteristics which are size, sex, age and level of
education of head of household. Diseases were not included in the model as there was no
indication that they were important to all respondents covered in the survey.
6.5.1 Market availability
Lack of marketing facilities imposes a serious constraint on the marketing of livestock
(Mahabile et al., 2002). The presence of markets that farmers prefer most in or near their
communities will facilitate cattle sales. Where farmers are willing to sell but cannot locate a
market where profitable exchange is feasible, it is expected that this will have a dampening
effect on the willingness to sell and also on actual sales concluded. Market availability
was included in the model as a dummy variable (where, market availability is assigned the
number 1 and zero otherwise).
6.5.2 Market distance
Remote location of small scale farmers results in them staying far away from markets. A
farmer may be aware of a market but may find the physical distance extremely demoralizing.
In Botswana, Makhura (2001), Mahabile et al. (2002) and Nkhori (2004) noted that even if
farmers are in areas with good road linkages, the distance to the markets tends to influence
transaction costs. The further the farmers are from markets, the higher the transaction
costs farmers face because of transport costs involved in transporting large stock. In such
circumstances, cattle sales are limited with respect to that particular market. If no other
market is within easy reach of the farmer, then total cattle sales undertaken will be low.
Distance to market was treated as a continuous variable.