Camel Husbandry Practices in Eastern Ethiopia: The Case of Jijiga and Shinile Zones

Introduction In Ethiopia, as in most dry lands of Africa and Asia, camels are the principal source of income and food for millions of pastoralists. In addition, camels play a central role in providing draught power and determining the wealth and social status of pastoralists. Ethiopia's camel population is estimated to be one million head (FAO 1996a). This number ranks the country third in Africa after Somalia and the Sudan, and fourth in the world (India included). Camels inhabit almost all peripheral drier lowlands that generally fall below 1,500 metres above sea level in Ethiopia, except the western areas where high humidity and the incidence of trypanosomiasis are common (Teka 1991; Tekel 1989; Wilson 1989b). These areas include the major parts of the Somali and Afar National Regional States and some parts of the Oromia National Regional State. (1) Afar camels are small but extremely hardy and, except for some used for salt transport, are kept almost entirely as milk producers. Ethiopia's largest camels are of the Ogaden type, owned by the Somali in the east of the country. These are also almost entirely used for milk production and only rarely for transport, except to move the household and its goods and chattels when changing camps. Borena camels (found in the Oromia National Regional State) are of intermediate size and are employed as pack, draught and dairy animals. The eastern part of Ethiopia is considered the heartland of the camel population, because it is home to two-thirds of the nation's camels (CSA 1988). Although the contribution of camels to the national economy is not fully quantified, Schwartz (1992) estimated that 20,000 tonnes of camel meat and 174,000 metric tons of camel milk were produced annually in the country. Even though Ethiopia possesses a large number of camels, little is known about camel husbandry practices or the productive and reproductive performance of camels (Teka 1991; Tekel 1989; Wilson 1989b). Given this state of affairs, this study was designed and executed as one component of the European Camel Project (ECP). (2) The results of this study are expected to provide basic information on the household characteristics of camel herders, as well as on herd demography, reproductive performance of camels and the constraints affecting the entire camel husbandry system in eastern Ethiopia. The rest of this paper is organised in three sections. Section I presents the research design and methods of data collection and analysis. Section II discusses the findings of the study. Section III concludes by discussing policy implications. Section I: Methodology Description of the study areas This study was conducted in the Somali National Regional State (SNRS), which is located in eastern Ethiopia. It is one of the nine ethnically based regional stales of the country and it is divided into nine zones. The total population of the SNRS in 1999 was estimated to be 3.6 million (5.84 percent of the country's population), of which the overwhelming majority (85 percent) is rural (MEDaC 2000). The population density of the region is 9.6 persons per [km.sup. 2], as compared to the national figure of 49.3 persons per [km.sup. 2] (MEDaC 2000). According to CSA (1999a), the predominant ethnic group in the SNRS are the Somali (95.7 percent), followed by the Oromo (2.3 percent), the Amhara (0.7 percent), the Guragie (0.14 percent), the Tigrie (0.05 percent) and the Sidama (0.03 percent). The percentage distribution by religion shows that 98.7 percent are Muslims, the remaining being Christians (1.1 percent) and followers of other belief systems (0.2 percent). The same source indicates that the Somali ethnic group, which accounts for 6.3 percent of the entire country's population, is the third most important ethnic group in the country, next to the Oromo (32 percent) and the Amhara (30 percent) The language most widely spoken in the SNRS is Somaligna, which is the language of the Somali ethnic group. …