Livestock marketing: Local belief and clan conflicts in focus

Abstract

The major objective of this research was to unveil the challenges of domestic livestock marketing in the pastoralist are of Awash Fentale wereda in due emphasis of local beliefs and clan conflicts. To address this issue, qualitative research approach was employed. In order to secure dependable and reliable data, interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation were conducted. The study depicted that livestock marketing was profoundly affected by the local beliefs/culture of the pastoralist that is, holding large number of live animals as a status of symbol. Donkey was not considered as valuable assets. Offering this live animal to the market is also considered as shameful practice. Connected with culture, young men were getting involved in the raiding of live animals of other clan so as to get social recognition or for the sake of revenging their counter parts. The occurrence of clan conflicts affected the movement of pastoralist to the market place as well as in search of water and rangelands, though it was happing infrequently. Finally, the frequently occurring intra clan disputes affected the supply of live animals to the market, the free flow of marketing information between and among the community members, limit the scope of markets, among other things.

Impact of Traders Competitive Rivalry on Supply and Demand Relations in Livestock Markets in the Drylands of Kenya

“…While such trader developments in Turkana County denote progress, traders in well-commercialized livestock farming counties such as Marsabit, Wajir, Garissa, and Tana River have advanced their investments and livelihoods from livestock business proceeds. This is because of high-level livestock marketing and stakeholder business engagements [17,19].…”

“…While supply and demand are technical economic variables, illiterate livestock traders find it difficult to understand the relations involved coupled with low levels of trader training and exposure [13,21]. High-level traders with adequate training and exposure understand to some considerable degree livestock supply and demand relations enabling them to manage livestock market dynamics, and reinforce competitiveness and profitability of livestock enterprises compared to the majority of traders operating in rural areas [4,17].…”

“…An increase in numbers of unsold animals put traders operating capital into dormancy, increase costs of keeping livestock waiting for a sale, reduce prices further, and deny producers opportunities to sell the available market weight animals. Although regulatory frameworks are not in force in the Turkana livestock marketing context, several pastoral regions in the Horn of Africa, e.g., Ethiopia and North Eastern Kenya, have developed local frameworks guiding their marketing activities [4,[17][18]. Crafting and enforcing formal and informal regulatory frameworks in Turkana livestock markets will help create comprehensive, viable, ethical, and sustainable livestock trading etiquettes for inclusivity, fair share trading, and reduced incompatibilities among market stakeholders [4,18,20].…”

“…Barter trading builds on subsistence livestock farming than the market economy promoted by trading in government-licensed markets using currencies. Numerous market studies acknowledge the existence of barter trading, but its impact on the value of commodities traded, formalization of livestock marketing systems and strategies, growth of markets, and delight of business stakeholders are gross [2,4,17,20]. While barter trading exists, in recent years, it has not received recognition and formalization as a universal means of trading in markets.…”