Agricultural Economics Department
First Advisor
Christopher R. Gustafson
Second Advisor
Elizabeth VanWormer
Date of this Version
Summer 8-8-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science
Major: Agricultural Economics
Under the supervision of Professors Christopher R. Gustafson and Elizabeth VanWormer
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2016
Abstract
Little is known about the factors affecting pastoralists’ livestock vaccination decisions. In this thesis, we use a novel survey-based dataset on pastoralists living in the Ruaha landscape in Tanzania, and employ several econometric approaches to identify the factors affecting pastoralists’ decision-making process about livestock vaccination when disease occurrence and severity, vaccination and healthcare access costs and other related variables are known. Results from binary choice models that account for excess zeros indicate that socially and economically active households are more likely to vaccinate their livestock. The results also identify positive marginal effects of illness incidence and having wage earners and in the household on vaccination decisions. The results from mixture models also find that these same variables significantly lower the pastoralist’s probability of not vaccinating their livestock. Most notably, increased vaccination cost significantly lowers the probability that pastoralists vaccinate any livestock, as well as the number of vaccinated livestock. These findings have important policy implications considering livestock health education, veterinary service infrastructure, and supply-side management.
Advisors: Christopher R. Gustafson and Elizabeth VanWormer.
Comments
Copyright 2016, Mazbahul G. Ahamad