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Abstract
The issue of beef meat supply response is an important one as it has
an impact on production, nutrition, and poverty alleviation. The
traditional beef meat supply that characterizes the livestock sector of
Burundi may be unsustainable in providing the desired amount of
food meat to the growing population and may be chocked off by a
stiff competition in the regional trade agreement, COMESA and EAC
where South Africa, Botswana and Kenya are the leading beef meat
suppliers. This paper mainly aims to determine factors affecting beef meat supply in Bujumbura based on the structural Nerlov paradigm.
Time series analysis was used on annual data for a period of 40 years
(1970-2010). Both co-integration and Vector Error Correction Model
(VECM) were used to fine tune the Nerlov model and determine
the long-run and short-run relationships between the variables of
interest. Empirical results show that the long-run relationship exists
through co-integration tests and beef price supply is inelastic (ε = 0.8)
as it has been expected. The speed adjustment coefficient of partial
adjustment of 18% indicates that there exist some production costs that
slow and retard the beef supply function to adjust to price variation.
Clear mechanisms to link beef and cattle producers to market and
slaughterhouses in Burundi are desirable in order to reduce or
eliminate factors that constrain beef supply in Burundi.