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Livestock Diversification: an Adaptive Strategy to Climate and Rangeland Ecosystem Changes in Southern Ethiopia

Human Ecology volume 42, pages 509–520 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Pastoral cattle production in southern Ethiopia is becoming increasingly vulnerable to impacts of climate variability and rangeland resource degradation, giving rise to livestock diversification. Using a household (n = 242) survey among herders, the relative functions, adaptability and vulnerability of four livestock species and factors influencing livestock diversification were analyzed. The stated major drivers of livestock diversification were recurrent droughts, bush encroachment, increased vulnerability of cattle and growing demand for adaptive species. Different livestock species are kept to fulfill various livelihood priorities with subsistence objectives outweighing production goals of the herders. Adaptability and vulnerability analyses of the livestock species showed camels and cattle to be the most and least adaptable species, respectively. Livestock species diversification varied significantly with family size and per capita holding of cattle, implicating the influence of labor and economic factors on adoptions. Multispecies herding emerged as the dominant local adaptation strategy, likely because it enhances resilience of households to climate and rangeland ecosystem changes by broadening the set of existing strategies.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is based on research funded by the scholarship provided to the first author by the Food Security Center (FSC), University of Hohenheim, which is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Research was also financially supported by Dr. Hermann Eiselen Foundation Fiat Panis grant. The Borana herders generously shared their experiences and knowledge with us. All the contributions are gratefully acknowledged. We thank the editor and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments that helped to improve the quality of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Veterinary Medicine, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

    Bekele Megersa

  2. Animal Breeding and Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Bekele Megersa, André Markemann & Anne Valle Zárate

  3. School of Animal and Range Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

    Ayana Angassa

  4. Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 47b, 50674, Cologne, Germany

    Ayana Angassa

  5. Institute of Crop Science, Bioinformatics Unit, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Joseph O. Ogutu & Hans-Peter Piepho

  6. International Livestock Research Institute, PO Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya

    Joseph O. Ogutu

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  1. Bekele Megersa
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  2. André Markemann
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  3. Ayana Angassa
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  4. Joseph O. Ogutu
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Correspondence to Bekele Megersa.

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Megersa, B., Markemann, A., Angassa, A. et al. Livestock Diversification: an Adaptive Strategy to Climate and Rangeland Ecosystem Changes in Southern Ethiopia. Hum Ecol 42, 509–520 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-014-9668-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-014-9668-2

Keywords

  • Adaptation
  • Environmental changes
  • Multispecies herding
  • Production objectives
  • Borana
  • Ethiopia

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