crop fields and manure for fertilization of agricultural plots. On the other hand, crop harvest
left-over is used to feed livestock. The use of manure for fertilization is important in this
system because inorganic fertilizers are unaffordable to the farmers as their costs keep
escalating.
3. Choice Experiments
Calculations of economic values by animal breeders for inclusion in breeding goals
have often utilized profit functions. However, there are some important traits to cattle keepers
that do not have prices or market values. This therefore calls for employment of a non-market
valuation method that captures traits with and without market values or price. Price in the
market is simply the willingness to pay for an additional unit of a good. Without markets we
do not have prices, but trade-offs that people make often demonstrate a willingness to pay
(Loomis, 2005). In this study, choice experiments are employed to capture these values.
Choice experiments are a multiple trait stated preference method that applies the probabilistic
theory of choice, where choices made by individuals from a non-continuous set of alternatives
are modeled in order to reveal a measure of utility for the traits of the choices (Ben-Akiva and
Lerman, 1985). Few studies that have used this method to estimate preferences for animal
traits including Scarpa et al. (2003a), Scarpa et al. (2003b) and Tano et al. (2003), indicate
that it is a highly promising method in valuing single traits of bundled goods such as livestock.
3.1 Data
In order to identify the cattle traits to be included in the choice experiment, farmer
group discussions were held in the study sites. Farmers were asked to indicate their objectives
of cattle keeping and then asked to identify the cattle traits that they consider important, based
on their prevailing local and environmental conditions. Pairwise ranking technique for the
traits was then applied to select the highly preferred traits. A total of eight preferred traits
were identified for cows and seven for bulls. These were then used to design the choice