Dairy cattle breed preference and socio-economic impacts of the smallholder dairy cattle farming system in Rwanda

Smallholder dairy farming systems serve as the backbone of rural economies in many African countries, providing households with food security and income while also developing assets. The purpose of this study was to examine dairy cattle breed preferences and determine the economic impacts of smallholder dairy farming systems in Rwanda. A household survey was conducted in nine districts of Rwanda using a random sampling method to collect quantitative data from 411 smallholder dairy farmers. Data were collected in Microsoft Excel and processed with the Statistical Package for Social Science, version 26. The data showed that the most preferred dairy breed among smallholder dairy farmers was Jersey cross (44%), followed by a Friesian cross (28.2%). The findings also revealed that 65.8% of respondents kept at least one dairy cow, which had some social and economic consequences such as providing milk for home consumption (99.6%), income from selling manure and cattle (98.7%), manure for land fertilization (97.1%), employment (95.5%), social respect (91.3%), health service (88%), asset development (87.5%), education service (81.5%), and social security contribution (39.2%). The study's findings demonstrated the importance of the smallholder dairy farming system in boosting household welfare, creating social cohesion, and empowering marginalized groups, and supporting economic stability. Further research is needed to determine the factors influencing dairy breed selection among smallholder dairy farmers in Rwanda, as well as their relative significance.