Camel and Small Ruminant Based Pastoralism in Ethiopia: Recent Trends and Future Prospects

Abstract

In Ethiopia, camel and shoat production are common pastoralism practices in three major pastoralist regions of Afar, Somali, and Borena. This review was aimed to indicate the recent trend and future prospect of camel and small ruminant production and the possible modifiers and the pros and cons of the practices in the pastoral area of Ethiopia. The data was collected from different researches conducted each year. The data was also organized in terms of the number of camel and shoat per household each year (2010-2020) and analyzed using trend and forecasting analysis model by SPSS software. There has been an increment of camel Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU) per household from 2.78, 13 and 9 to 37, 28, and 28 between the years 2010-2020 in Borena, Afar and Somali respectively and will increase to 45, 45, and 35 by 2030, respectively. In the whole pastoralist regions, the number of camels TLU per household has increased from 2.8 to 31 between the years 2010-2020 and will increase to 50 TLU per household by 2030. Moreover, the number of goats and sheep has increased from 1.4 and 0.91 TLU per household to 2.45 and 2.46, respectively between the years 2010-2020 and the predicted model indicates that it will increase to 2 and 3.4 TLU per household by 2030. Climate change, drought and adaptation responses were the major drivers. Climate change coping and livelihood income improvements were the pros of the trend, while the reduction of cattle population and impact on the conservation of valuable indigenous cattle were the cons of the practice.