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Designing interventions to support the safe development of rapidly growing livestock value chains in sub-Saharan Africa requires a clear understanding of consumer demands. This study aimed to determine purchase patterns, consumers' preferences, and willingness to pay for safe pork attributes; specifically, the presence of a veterinary inspection stamp and the cleanliness of the butchery. A discrete choice experiment-based survey was used to investigate the purchasing behavior of 401 pork consumers: 253 buying raw pork for household consumption, and 148 buying cooked pork for out-of-home consumption. The study findings indicate that the average quantity of pork purchased by consumers was approximately 0.4 Kg per transaction, with the majority of consumers making several purchases per week. The average price per Kg of pork was KES 310 (Approx. 2.60 USD) at the time of the study. Data from the choice experiment showed that consumers were willing to pay a price premium of KES 245 (Approx. 2.1 USD) and KES 164 (Approx. 1.4 USD) per Kg for evidence of better veterinary meat inspection and higher butchery hygiene respectively; further, these were the two most important attributes they considered while making a pork purchase decision. These findings highlight the potential to leverage consumers' willingness to pay to improve the food safety within pork value chains in this context. Investing to increase consumer awareness on food safety issues should be considered to generate an effective market demand, especially in rural areas with relatively lower literacy levels., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The livestock sector plays an important socioeconomic role in the Somaliland economy, particularly through revenues from exports. The partial ban on livestock imports from Somalia imposed by Saudi Arabia due to animal health concerns has resulted in significant negative economic impacts for the government and the value chain actors involved. In previous years, the ban was lifted during the Hajj season to meet the increased demand for sheep and goats. However, given the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Saudi government decided to suspend Umrah visits in 2020 and only allowed a very restricted number of persons to attend the Hajj pilgrimage, thus obviating the need for livestock imports. This study quantified the economic losses associated the current partial livestock ban (started in November 2016) on Somali imports and the added impacts associated with COVID. We estimate that the cumulative losses for the Somaliland livestock sector and the government are US$ 770 million over a five-year period. The additional losses imposed by the COVID pandemic, which restricted participation during the Hajj season, were estimated at US$ 42 million. Livestock producers, who are mainly pastoralists, are the most affected stakeholder group, incurring around 54% of the total losses. Our study highlights the multifaceted, and often overlooked, socio-economic and socio-cultural impacts faced by the livestock sector and general economy in the wake of public health restrictions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)