Statistical modelling/Milk consumption & marketing
Taking into account the sizes of the standard errors, and
the different ways in which the data were collected, the results for Assa look
reasonable, but those for Bilisa not. One thus needs to consider carefully the
quality of data collected and possible sources of error.
The large proportion of households that did not provide
information on quantities of milk consumed in the households in Bilisa places a
question mark on the justification of using a mean from the remaining
households. By dividing amounts of milk consumed per household by family size in
the CS1Data2
edited spreadsheet it can be seen that there is a
wide range in individual proportions and thus a poor correlation. One reason,
both for this poor correlation and the lack of response in some cases, was that
the head of the household often said that he could not give an answer because
milking and milk management largely fell into the hands of his wives.
In view of the possible inaccuracies in the collection of
these data it will be unwise to publish the results shown in the table for wider
circulation.
The limited conclusions that one might draw are that
households in Assa had very little milk to spare. For households in Bilisa,
however, where average milk offtakes were higher, there are opportunities for
marketing, but the precise amounts of milk available for this purpose are not
clear.
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