ASSESSING FARMER PREFERENCE FOR LIVESTOCK HEALTH SERVICES IN THE TOLON DISTRICT
ABSTRACT
Livestock production has been a major source of livelihood for many people across the globe. Despite all the policies and effort by the veterinary service and other service providers, livestock health services still remain critical and a major problem for livestock farmers. A multistage sampling technique was used to group the communities that receive livestock health services in the district into five groups, out of the five groups, one community was selected from each group randomly, twenty farmers were selected from each community summing up to hundred farmers. Kendall’s Concordance, chi-Square, conjoint analysis, multiple linear regression and SERVQUAL methodology were employed in analyzing the data and results presented using frequency and percentage tables and a graph. The study revealed that the education level of the respondent and the gender of the respondent have strong influence on preference of farmers for livestock health service. Cost of service was observed to have inverse relationship with preference, meaning the higher the cost of service, the lower the utility of service. Factors such as age of the respondent and income level of the farmer was observed insignificant meaning they don’t have much influence on preference of farmers for livestock health service. The results revealed that, promptness is the major factor that influence farmers preference for livestock health service. The research revealed that farmers are not satisfied with the livestock health service they receive and therefore the veterinary service and other service providers should improve on their services. This research therefore, presents the results of a survey assessing farmers preference for livestock health service in Tolon District.