Marketing Efficiency of Sheep Milk and its Derivatives in the Middle Area (Homs & Hama)

Khetam Idris*(1)

(1). Homs Research Center, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Khetam Idris. E-Mail: vera_naya@yahoo.com).

Received: 25/12/2016                           Accepted: 22/01/2017

Abstract

This research aimed to identify the value added and marketing efficiency of Syrian sheep milk which it utilized in livestock products. The central region of Syria (Homs and Hama) was selected, it has a comparative advantages of processing sheep milk products, according to a questionnaire of sheep owners sample. The questionnaire depended upon the type of breeding (resident, semi-nomadic and nomadic) in 2011. The results showed that the marketing of fresh milk is very important for the three groups of sheep breeders, followed by yogurt, then cheese, then the rest of the products, which has less comparative advantage such as shanklish, that made for the resident breeders only. The results showed that home manufacturing process was profitable, where the value added was achieved by manufacturing sheep milk into cheese, labna, ghee, yogurt, shanklish, and qarishah, respectively. The results showed that there are many marketing chains to market the products, starts from the producers who sell directly to the consumers, or to the retailers or to the wholesalers, or to the cheese makers. Heckman model with two steps was used to determine the marketing efficiency of sheep milk and its products. The effects of independent variables on farmers’ decisions to participate in the marketing with the best way were studied. The independent variables that affected positively milk processing and the quantities marketed were: The education level of the breeder, number of working years in the field of sheep breeding, stability, getting a loan, cattle size and the price of milk and cheese. While the independent variables that have significant and negative affect, in terms of the reduction of milk processing, and marketing were: Price of milk, permanent Bedouin, and distance to the nearest market to sell products.

Key words: Value-added, Marketing chains, Marketing efficiency, Marketing of sheep milk.

Full paper in Arabic: PDF