Abstract
The pastoral rangelands of Ethiopia are located around the peripheral or the outer edge of the country, almost surrounding the central highland mass. Livestock in Ethiopia is dependent primarily on native grasslands and crop residues. Forage production has been regarded as one of the suitable strategies for increasing feed availability for enhanced livestock production among pastoralist communities in the rangeland of Yabello and currently, forage degradation has been pointed out as the most limiting factor for livestock production in the Yabello rangeland area. There are factors determining adoption of these practices and it vary with different socio-demographical issues within the pastoral household. This study was therefore conducted to assess the socio-economic and demographic factors influencing households’ participation in forage production in Yabello rangeland of Southern Ethiopia. Data was collected from 210 households and 6 extension workers in total from 216 interviewers through interviews using semi-structured questionnaire. Results indicate that gender of household head, education, social/development group membership and access to extension services were the most important factors influencing households’ participation in forage production. There is need for technical support to the pastoralist households towards starting and/or joining existing social groups, through which extension and training services aimed at enhancing forage production in the Yabello range land can be offered.
Highlights
The pastoral rangelands of Ethiopia are located around the peripheral or the outer edge of the country, almost surrounding the central highland mass [1]
Gender of the household heads had a positive and significant (p< 0.05) influence on households’ participation in forage production, implying that the male headed households were more likely to participate in forage production than those headed by females
Participation in a group and access to extension services showed positively significant (p < 0.01) influence on households’ participation in forage production. This implies that household heads who participate in groups and with better access to agricultural and extension services were more likely to adopt forage production technology
Summary
The pastoral rangelands of Ethiopia are located around the peripheral or the outer edge of the country, almost surrounding the central highland mass [1]. According to Alemayehu [3], Ethiopia’s Livestock feed resources are mainly natural grazing and browse, crop residues, improved pasture, and agro-industrial byproducts. Traditional knowledge of pastoralist in natural resources management and utilization has been playing important role in improving and developing range land use system in Ethiopia. Overall, their gazing management is the result of their cumulative knowledge about resources, assessment of range condition and distribution of rainfall [6]. Their gazing management is the result of their cumulative knowledge about resources, assessment of range condition and distribution of rainfall [6] These traditional practices are good experiences on the basis of which it is possible to Yeneayehu Fenetahun et al.: Determinants of Pastoral Communities for Adoption of Forage
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
