Livestock management and marketing in Afghanistan

The present study provides a general overview of the livestock sector in Afghanistan including historical importance, management systems, and marketing systems. Livestock production is a traditional system that depends primarily on access to rangeland for grazing animals. Nomads are the largest producers in the country, although there is limited current literature on the size and viability of nomad tribes, livestock inventories, and production levels. The livestock marketing system is described in terms of the factors affecting the supply and demand of animals. Supply and demand models for livestock were developed, and prices and quantity supplied of small ruminants were estimated utilizing data from a survey of the six largest livestock markets in Afghanistan. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used to evaluate the effect of marketing factors on prices and quantity. The results suggest that sellers receive different prices for livestock in different markets, motivating traders to act as market intermediaries moving livestock from rural to urban markets. The analysis also found that nomads receive a lower price for unproductive animals and that prices were lower in November than February when the quantity supplied is larger, which corresponds to producer management practices. A large share of income from livestock sales encourages sellers to bring more sheep than goats to the livestock markets.