Livestock production in pastoral and agro-pastoral production systems of southern Ethiopia

摘要

Livestockproductionsituationandfeedresourcesavailabilityinpastoralandagro-pastoralproductionsystemofsouthernEthiopiawereassessedbasedonfieldvisitsandinterviewofselectedhouseholdsaswellasgroupdiscussionswiththepastoralists.nbsp;Asemi-structuredquestionnairewasusedforinterviewing60randomlyselectedpastoralists.Informaldiscussionswerealsoheldwithagroupofpastoralistsineachoftheareasassessedaswellaswiththedevelopmentagentsworkinginthelocalities.Thecollecteddatawereanalyzedusingdescriptivestatistics.nbsp;nbsp;Thesurveyshowedthatnumericallycattlearethemostimportantspeciesfollowedbygoats,camelsandsheep.Themainfeedresourcesoftheareaarenaturalpastures(herbaceousvegetationcomposedmainlyofgrassesandforbsandbrowsessuchasshrubs,treeleavesandpods),whichshowmarkedseasonalvariationinavailabilityandqualitybasedonvariabilityofrainfalldistribution.Productivityofanimalsintermsofmilkproduction,growthrateandreproductiveperformanceisgenerallylow.Cropproductionisincreasinglypracticedasameansofeconomicdiversificationalthoughcropfailureisacommonfeaturebecauseofunreliablerainfallandfrequentdrought.Thus,livestockproductionremainstobethemainmeansoflivelihood.Hence,moreemphasisshouldbegiventoimprovinglivestockproductivityandpropermanagementoftherangelands.Effortstoreverseoratleasthalttheadvancementofbushencroachmentshouldbeencouragedandstrengthened.