Forest Research: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Assessment of Pastoral Perceptions towards Range and Livestock Management Practices in Chifra District of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia

Abdulatife M and Ebro A

This study was conducted to assess the perceptions of pastoralists’ about range and livestock management practices as influenced by altitude in Chifra district of the Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. There are 19 pastoral associations and these were stratified into two based on altitude i.e., >550-850 m a.s.l and >850-1,100 m a.s.l. Nine pastoral associations were selected randomly from the two altitudes of the study district. In this regard, five PAs from lower altitude (>550-850 m a.s.l) and four PAs from upper altitude (>850-1100 m a.s.l.) were identified for the study. A total of 90 households were selected using a random sampling method, where 40 households were from the upper altitude (>850-1,100 m a.s.l) and 50 households were from the lower altitude (>550-850 m a.s.l) based on proportional number of households available in the two altitude zones. The socio-economic study revealed that average household size in the study district was 7.87 persons per household with a range of 3 to 15. The households were interviewed independently. The main source of income of the respondents was from the sale of livestock, their products and crop production. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in mean number of animals owned by the pastoralists living in different altitude groups. Rangelands are the major source of livestock feed and most of the pastoralists in both altitudes believed that the composition of the rangeland vegetation dramatically changed in the past two decades. Fifty and 60% of the respondents in the upper and lower altitudes rated their rangelands as fair and poor in condition, respectively. Hence, continued awareness creation through training of the pastoral communities, and restoration of the rangelands through different approaches are crucial to improve the rangelands.