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FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHEEP FARMING: THE CASE OF LATVIA
Abstract
Sheep farming is one of the agricultural industries that makes a significant contribution to the economies of many countries around the world. The scientific literature gives various perspectives on the importance of sheep farming, as this industry plays a very important role in providing income, nutrition and paid employment for rural households, and it also supplies a diverse range of products and contributes to employment in rural areas. Sheep farming is an environmentally friendly industry because it consumes less water resources than the cattle industry does, and it is developed to make better use of grasslands and consequently reduce greenhouse gases emissions. In 2017 in Latvia, the grassland area totaled 905 thou. ha or 47% of the total utilized agricultural area, which creates good opportunities for the growth of sheep farming. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to analyze the key performance indicators of sheep production and the factors affecting the development of sheep farming in Latvia. The research found that the expansion of sheep farming in Latvia has been reported since 2000, and in 2017 the number of sheep reached a maximum of 112 thou.; however, since 2018 the number has been decreasing and equaled 92 thou. in 2020. In 2020, 2863 farms or 4% of the total farms were engaged in sheep farming. The research identified 16 factors that promoted the development of the sheep industry in Latvia, and experts rated the total significance of their effects at 37.54 points, yet the development of the industry was hindered by 18 factors, and the total significance of their effects was rated at 43.13 points, which means that the development of the industry requires purposeful efforts to be made in order to reduce the effects of the factors hindering the development of this industry.
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