Co-designing sustainability assessment indicators for sheep farming in West Africa using a SWOT analysis approach

The study surveyed 100 sheep farms across 10 municipalities in southern Benin using snowball sampling due to the absence of official farmer records. Data were collected via electronic questionnaires (CSPro software) designed to conduct SWOT analysis - identifying internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) affecting farm sustainability. The questionnaire used open-ended questions covering technical, organizational, economic, and social aspects of operations. Farms were pre-classified into three categories: Specialized fattening sheep farms (SSF), Emerging sheep farms (ESF), and Traditional sheep farms (TSF). The SWOT analysis examined four dimensions of sheep farming operations:
Strengths focused on positive internal factors including satisfactory operational aspects, farm competitiveness, and available assets. Weaknesses identified internal limitations such as unsatisfactory operational factors, areas needing improvement, internal constraints, and economic challenges. Opportunities explored external positive factors including favorable sector trends, available territorial resources, and beneficial contextual changes. Threats assessed external negative factors including risks, adverse contextual changes, emerging constraints, and factors that could lead to farm abandonment.

本研究针对贝宁南部10个市县的100家绵羊养殖场开展调研，因缺乏官方养殖户登记记录，故采用滚雪球抽样法。调研数据由CSPro软件开发的电子问卷采集，该问卷用于开展SWOT分析，以识别影响养殖场可持续性的内部因素（优势与劣势）及外部因素（机遇与威胁）。问卷包含开放式问题，覆盖养殖运营的技术、组织、经济与社会维度。调研对象预先被划分为三类：专业化育肥绵羊养殖场（Specialized fattening sheep farms, SSF）、新兴绵羊养殖场（Emerging sheep farms, ESF）以及传统绵羊养殖场（Traditional sheep farms, TSF）。本次SWOT分析围绕绵羊养殖运营的四大维度展开：优势聚焦正向内部因素，包括良好的运营状况、养殖场竞争力与可利用资产；劣势指向内部局限性，涵盖不佳的运营表现、待改进领域、内部约束及经济困境；机遇旨在探索外部正向因素，包括利好的行业趋势、可获取的地域资源与有利的环境变化；威胁则用于评估外部负面因素，包括各类风险、不利的环境变化、新增约束及可能导致养殖场关停的相关因素。