The Economic Feasibility Of Sheep Farms In Oman Muscat
Introduction
Sheep are raised to get meat, milk, and wool from them. Sheep usually breed when the length of the day is shorter. They are polyestrous and short-day breeders, some breed in spring, and some breed in autumn.
Sheep farms are known for their "high returns" in a short period of time. The feeding and breeding cycles are controlled such that the old sheep are replaced by the young ones after every three cycles. Each cycle is eight months long. Market statistics show that the demand for sheep is continuously increasing as we will discuss further.
Methods of sheep breeding
· Artificial insemination is a commonly used method for sheep breeding.
· Flock mating/Pasteur mating
· Pen mating
Analysis of the market size of sheep breeding in Oman
The financial indicators may fluctuate depending upon a lot of factors like the amount invested, the type of breed used, etc. The following are a few breeds that are most commonly used for financial purposes in Oman.
A local breed called Omani has an average weight of 34kg. They are mostly black, but some of them are white or brown as well. Their primary breeding purpose is to obtain meat from them.
For milk and meat, another breed known as Zufari is used which is most commonly white.
There are two imported breeds known as Chios and Najdi available as well.
There was an increase in the market value of sheep from 2007 to 2018. One of the highest rates was recorded in 2008. The increase of yield in sheep meat was observed in 2013 while between 2014 to 2018 the consumption of meat did not see an encouraging increase as in the years before. The volume of Oman meat market has achieved the thousand tons milestone by 2020.
Exports of sheep meat
Export of sheep meat increased largely in 2016, attaining a maximum export in 2017. Later a slight drop was observed in 2018. The neighboring countries have a large potential for meat consumption, as they look for halal meat. This makes this job an amazing business opportunity especially when Oman can link with them easily via land and water routes.
The following were the top export destinations of "Meat of sheep or goats, fresh, chilled or frozen." from Oman in 2018:
· 52% (UAE 495 thousand US$) of the United Arab Emirates
· Qatar with a 46% share (US$ 437,000)
· Pakistan - US$ 8.87,000
· Iran - US$ 3,64,000
Imports of sheep meat
There was a significant increase in meat export for the year 2014. The total imports volume increased over the last eleven years. A gradual increase in volume is observed from 2007 to 2018 annually. The imports started to build in the year 2014 and the highest peak was recorded in 2018.
Oman's leading trading partners (importing 'Sheepmeat or goat meat, fresh, chilled or frozen') in 2018:
· UAE has a share of 43% (26 million USD)
· Australia has a 12.8% share (USD 7.89 million)
· New Zealand 8,33% (USD 5,11 million) share of the country
· India with 7.31% (US$ 4.48 million) share
· Kenya with 5.38% (3.3 million dollars) of share
· A share of 4.77% in Singapore (2.92 million US dollars)
· Qatar's 4.23% share (USD 2.59 million)
· Somalia with a 4.05% share (US$2.48 million)
· Uruguay, 2.73% ($1.68 million) of share
· Pakistan, 2.04% (US$ 1.25 million) share
Financial performance of livestock business
Oman is not a large country in size and has a good road infrastructure. The sale of sheep to other cities in the country is very feasible. The meat and other resources obtained from sheep are a daily life necessity, thus they will never go wasted. This makes the sheep business a very potent one.
If we examine the payback period which shows the time required for return of investment (it does not talk about the return on investment) on sheep farming starting with a capital of 250,000 OMR, the rate of investment is around 33–34%. The payback period can lie anywhere between 3 years 5 months to 4 years.
From domestic sources, Oman supplied 4% of cattle, 7% of sheep, 8% of poultry, and 6% of fresh liquid milk at the end of 2007. The livestock development will keep on increasing till 2040.