Pastoralists’ perception of constraints affecting goat production in the Rift Valley region of Kenya

K A Kipronoh¹, H K Kiara³, Y S Binepal⁴, E Thuranira⁴ and J N Ombui²

¹ Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Perkerra Research Centre, P.O. Box32, Marigat
kkalexdoc@yahoo.co.uk
² University of Nairobi, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 00625, Kangemi
³ International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi
⁴ Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Biotechnology Research Centre, P.O. Box 57811, Nairobi.

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the pastoralists’ knowledge and perception of constraints affecting goat production in Rift Valley region of Kenya. The study involved 54 pastoralists from selected Sub-counties namely; Pokot East, Turkana West and Kajiado Central, and was conducted between the months of March, 2014 and March, 2015. Data were collected through personal interviews using a structured questionnaire with open-ended questions to allow the pastoralists an opportunity to provide their perspectives and experiences on the constraints identified. Descriptive statistical procedures were used for data analysis and presentation of results.

Livestock diseases were ranked as number one constraint affecting goat production in all the Sub-counties by 88.9% of the respondents. Shortage of livestock feed during the dry season was ranked as the second most important constraint in East Pokot and Kajiado Sub-counties by 50.0% and 44.4% of the respondents respectively. Among the diseases affecting goats, contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia was ranked first in all the Sub-counties by 81.5% of the respondents which indicates the economic importance of the disease to the pastoralists. The results reveal the vast reserve of knowledge possessed by pastoral communities which indeed is a lesson for both the researchers and extension officers working on programmes for improved productivity of goats and other livestock enterprises in pastoral production systems.

Key words: challenges, livelihoods, livestock, nomadism, productivity

Introduction

The Kenya Vision 2030 and agriculture sector development strategy (ASDS) recognizes the significant contribution of the livestock industry to agricultural gross domestic and total country’s gross domestic product (GDP) (GoK 2009). Nationally, about 90% of rural households own some kind of livestock. They are mainly found in arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs) that form the driest parts of the country and make up 84% of the total land surface and supports about 10 million people, as well as 50% of the livestock and 65% of the wildlife population. Indeed, the livestock sub-sector in the ASAL accounts for 90% of the employment and more than 95% of the family incomes (GoK 2010). According to the national policy of ASAL-Kenya, people of whom 50% or more of their gross household revenue is generated by rearing livestock or livestock production related activities are referred to as pastoralists (GoK 2004). Thus, pastoralism is the dominant production system in ASALs where rain-fed agriculture is precarious and livelihoods are dependent primarily on livestock and their products for food security and household income (GoK 2011).

In Kenya, pastoralists occupy border areas with majority of the groups straddling borders with Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. They occasionally cross into neighboring countries as part of their traditional migration, meaning that the relevance of state borders becomes somewhat blurred (Nina S and Martina C 2014). For a majority of these people, boundaries denoting the various countries hold little meaning because where they pitch camp is not dictated by any administrative structure, but by climatic conditions and availability of water and pasture for their livestock (Kandagor 2005). Pastoralists employ various survival strategies including herd diversification for food security and household income (GoK 2011). They often keep a range of livestock species comprising cattle, sheep, goats, camels and poultry. Goats (the main focus of this study) are common in almost every homestead. They have inherent unique features that make them more adaptable to the prevailing harsh environmental conditions in the ASALs. They are able to survive on browse material and recover faster following drought episodes making productive use of large percentage of available arid lands, where the scarcity and variation of natural resources limit alternative uses (GOK 2004).

National estimates of livestock numbers for 2009 indicate that Kenya has approximately 28 million goats widely distributed across the various agro-ecological zones (AEZs) in the country with the greatest population owned by the pastoralists in the lowlands (KNBS 2010). They are kept mainly as a source of milk, meat, skin, income, risk mitigation, property security, monetary savings, and other socio-economic and cultural functions. Despite their contribution, the integration and full utilization is constrained by a number of factors including, a range of diseases exacerbated by inadequate veterinary services, feed shortage, inadequate utilization of indigenous genetic resources, poor markets, infrastructural constraints as well as absence of good management. The present study was designed to assess the pastoralists’ knowledge and perception of the constraints affecting goat production in the Rift Valley region of Kenya in order to understand the production system and prioritize challenges that needs to be overcome for sustainability of the enterprise.

Materials and methods

Description of the study area

The study was conducted in Baringo, Turkana and Kajiado Counties, Kenya between the months of March, 2014 and March, 2015 using a multi-approach design involving desktop reviews of different documents and study reports from different organizations in the Sub-Counties. Turkana West Sub-County in Turkana County and Kajiado Central in Kajiado County were purposely selected to represent Sub-Counties bordering national boundaries while East Pokot Sub-County in Baringo County was selected to represent non-border Sub-Counties for comparative assessment of results. Communities living in the selected areas are basically pastoralists whose main economic activity is livestock rearing. Two divisions were conveniently selected in each Sub-County. There are various administrative areas within the divisions, the smallest being the sub-locations. The sub-locations comprise a number of villages/household groups locally referred to as Adakaars among the Turkana and Manyattas among the Maasai and Pokot communities.

Questionnaire administration

A list of all locations and sub-locations were obtained through the assistance of the local administration. From this list, one location per division and one sub-location in each location was randomly selected using random number tables. Finally, a list of all Adakaars/Manyattas (the unit of study) were identified in each sub location selected. Three Adakaars/Manyattas from each village were randomly selected and finally three livestock owners from each Adakaar/Manyatta were randomly selected to participate in the completion of questionnaires. A total of 18 Adakaars/Manyattas were used for the study. The questionnaire was administered through personal interviews to obtain in-depth information on pastoralists’ knowledge, attitudes and practices. The questionnaire was designed to record the respondents’ location, personal information and livestock management practices. A number of open-ended questions were included to allow the pastoralists provide their perspectives and experiences on treatments and control methods available for use. The value of ethno-veterinary knowledge in recognizing goat production constraints and description of common diseases affecting goats was assessed at this point.

Data analysis

Data derived from questionnaires was transferred to a database, collated, summarized and stored in Microsoft excel spreadsheet. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS statistics 20 software. Descriptive statistical procedures were used for data analysis and presentation of results.

Results

Demographic and social characteristics

The demographic and social characteristics of the respondents involved in the study are summarized in table 1. Flock ownership was mainly by male pastoralists (94.4%) majority of who were in the youth age category (18-35 years.). The level of education of the pastoralists were categorized as none (81.5%), primary (14.8%), secondary (1.9%) and tertiary (1.9%). Pastoralism was the main livelihood activity in all the study areas with nomadism being the main mode of keeping livestock for 53. 7% of the respondents. Majority (96.3%) of the respondents had never been visited by the veterinary extension agents for the past one year from the date of the study.

Sources of household income

A number of household sources of income were reported by the respondents in the study areas including crop farming, keeping of livestock, small scale businesses and employment among other sources as shown in figure 1. Livestock and their products was the main source of household income with an average annual income of KES. 425, 259.30. The levels of income from crop farming and employment sources was generally low in all the study areas and were not universally perceived to be important income generating activities across the study areas. The main reason for the low levels of income from crops was frequent drought episodes experienced in most of the study areas in Kajiado Central and Turkana West. It appeared small scale business and salaried employment as a livelihood were not practiced in Turkana West.

Figure 1. Sources of household income

Priority livestock enterprises

Goats were reported as a priority livestock enterprise in Pokot East and Turkana West Sub-Counties and ranked second in Kajiado Central Sub-County after cattle. The other priority livestock enterprises reported by the communities were camel, donkey and poultry and were ranked as shown in Table 2.

Constraints affecting goat production

Diseases were commonly perceived as the main constraint affecting production of goats by majority (88.9%) of the respondents. Other constraints identified included shortage of feed/browse, scarcity of water, rustling by neighbouring communities, wildlife menace and poor market prices for livestock and their products. Table 3 presents a summary of the constraints and their ranking by the pastoralists in the study areas.

Perception of common diseases affecting goat production

Common diseases affecting goats were identified in the study and are presented in figure 2. The pastoralists provided the names of diseases in their local language. Probing was used for clarification of the diseases named based on their clinical manifestation and the English translation was established through the assistance of the local veterinary officers who were part of the in-person interviews. Contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP) was consistently ranked as a common disease of goats by majority (81.2%). The other common diseases listed by the pastoralists were; non-specific diarrhea, goat pox, peste des petits ruminants, (PPR), mange and haemorrhagic septicemia among other diseases that were ranked low in occurrence, severity and general effects on goat productivity.

Figure 2. Common diseases affecting goat production

Discussion

The study showed that pastoralists in the region were familiar with the challenges affecting goat production despite their low literacy levels. They take advantage of the good indigenous knowledge pertaining livestock management which is usually passed orally from one generation to the next (Köhler-Rollefson 2003). The enthusiasm with which they were willing to interact and share their experiences and perceptions regarding constraints to management of goats was an indication of the magnitude of challenges in the region and their quest for solutions. The use of qualitative approach by way of questionnaires and ranking provided insightful understanding of these challenges from the pastoralists’ perspective. The study further revealed that nomadic pastoralism was the most preferred way of living for majority of the pastoralists in the region. In most pastoral systems, pastoralists rely heavily on strategic mobility to ensure access to grazing land and water in areas where seasonal weather patterns mean such resources are not available all year round. Nomadism has been reported as an indigenous strategy for adaptation to climate disturbances, especially frequent droughts (Ericksen et al 2008) and that the indigenous practices and technologies can often be quite effective at decreasing risk (Grace et al 2008).

The research identified different livelihood options available for the pastoralist in the region. Majority of the respondents derived their income from livestock where keeping of goats was reported as a priority enterprise for most of the households. Goats were the most common sights in most households in the study areas which agrees with the economic survey by KNBS (2010) that estimated the population goats at 28 million, the highest of all ruminant livestock in the country. Their importance is primarily associated with their small size, which is significant for the advantage of mankind as it favors low investments, small risk of loss and preference over large ruminants for food and reproductive efficiency and economic use of available land (Aphunu et al 2011). In this study, ownership, management and decision making was mainly by male gender. These findings are supported by Imana (2008), who found men among the Turkana community (also involved in this study) to be mainly responsible for making strategic decisions regarding; goat rearing, marketing of the animals, movement to grazing areas and providing the livestock with water while women were responsible for milking and the processing of milk and taking care of the young and sick animals near the home among other household chores.

It was clear from the study that the pastoralists in the region faced numerous challenges that were common to those in other regions of sub-Saharan Africa as reported by Lybbert et al (2004) and Mosalagae and Magotsi (2013). Among the constraints reported to affect production of goats, diseases were consistently ranked first in all the study areas with respondents citing poor access to veterinary services as a result of ineffective coverage by the government animal health delivery systems hence the difficulty to treat or improve the animals. A similar finding was reported by Fikru and Omer (2015) in a study conducted in Awbare District, Ethiopia. In the current study, a number of diseases with the potential to decrease goat production were identified by the respondents. Contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP) was reportedly common and was associated with high morbidity and mortality in most of the herds. Preliminary investigations of the clinical appearance of the disease from the perspective of the pastoralists indicated consistency with the text book description of clinical signs in a classical disease outbreaks. Prevalence of the disease was corroborated by the findings from a quantitative serological survey by Kipronoh et al (2015) which reported a relatively high CCPP sero-positivity of 47.2% in the same study areas. Thus, the disease proves to be a growing concern among pastoralists in the study area with potential threat to their livelihood

According to the respondents, prolonged drought episodes were not only unbearable but more difficult to survive in most of the study areas. Often, they resulted in shortage of feed/browse as evidenced by the ranking of the constraint in Kajiado Central and Pokot East and were directly related to water scarcity which severely affected pastoralists in Turkana West hence the ranking of the constraint second to disease occurrence. Water sources were mainly shallow wells and boreholes that were distantly located and in some instances the pastoralists skipped some days before watering which is in agreement with the finding by Fikru and Gebeyew (2015) which reported long watering frequencies in a similar study in Degehabur Zone, Ethiopia. Besides, concentration of herds in watering points exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases in herds. Previous studies have shown that pastoralist communities dependent on the natural resource base already face water scarcity and significant livestock disease losses (Coppolillo et al 2009, Mwakalila 2011). The changing weather patterns are likely to impact herd resilience by altering disease dynamics (Thornton et al 2009 and Gustafson et al 2015). Climate variability for example extended periods of drought or sudden floods, can stress livestock and hence increase their susceptibility to disease.

The other impediments to goat production identified in the region included rustling, wildlife menace and poor prices of livestock in local markets. The pastoralists in Turkana West and Pokot East reported that rustling by neighboring communities was one of the constraints hampering goat production. However, it was interesting to note that the constraint was not reported in Kajiado Central probably because the Kenyan and Tanzania maasai were members of the same ethnic group peacefully co-existing together. Typically, pastoralists occupy large tracts of communally shared land and utilize kinship ties for mutual herding and defense. As alluded above, increasingly severe and unpredictable droughts are forcing pastoralists to travel farthermost and more frequently to find water and pasture for their animals under increasingly dangerous circumstances. More often, cases of conflicts occur as a result of utilization of the limited resources which has resulted in occasional disagreements which have degenerated to rustling among the communities in the affected counties. Studies conducted in Uganda and Kenya suggested that livestock theft had cultural underpinnings related to loss of population resilience and as a way of restructuring wealth amongst pastoralist communities (Gray et al 2003). Inter-ethnic fighting has increased in violence as automatic weapons from civil wars in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia are increasingly acquired by pastoral tribesmen (Fratkin, 2001). The retrogressive act has resulted in closure of some livestock markets and efforts to re-open them have suffered several setbacks as traders avoid markets located in insecure areas leading to poor livestock prices.

Conclusion

• The findings from the study showed that goat production in pastoral areas suffers numerous setbacks despite their socio-economic and cultural significance.
  
  
• The combination of disease, shortage of feed and water, rustling, poor markets and wildlife menace represents a significant threat to the pastoralist resilience as loss of animals is the main course of poverty in the Rift Valley region.

Acknowledgement

The study was jointly supported through funding from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and Kenya’s National Commission of Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI). The authors gratefully acknowledge all the pastoralists and village/adakaar leaders who participated in the study for their maximum cooperation during the interviews. We also appreciate the effort made by the Sub county veterinary officers and their field staff in facilitating the administration of questionnaires.

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Received 8 January 2016; Accepted 10 January 2016; Published 1 March 2016

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