CHARACTERIZATION OF SHEEP PRODUCTION, FEEDING AND  MARKETING SYSTEMS IN ARBA MINCH ZURIA WOREDA OF GAMO  GOFA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
Creators: name: ESATU BEKELE BAYDE
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2017

description: The  study  was  carried  to  characterize  sheep  production,  feeding  and  marketing  systems  as  well  as  to 
identify constraints and opportunities of sheep production in Arba Minch Zuria  Woreda of Gamo Gofa 
zone,  southern  Ethiopia.  The  woreda  was  selected  based  on  its  potential  for  sheep  production.  It  was 
stratified in to three distinctive agro-ecologies, namely highland (HL), midland (ML) and lowland (LL). A 
total of 138 households were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Probability proportional to size 
sampling  technique  was  followed  to  select  respondents.  A  Focus  group  discussion  composed  of  12 
households was conducted in each agro-ecology. Data were analyzed using statistical procedures for 
social science (SPSS) version 20. Statistical variations for categorical data were tested by means 
of  cross  tabs,  with  significant  differences  at  P&lt;0.05  while  the  descriptive  statistics  for  the 
numerical  data  was  subjected  to  one  way  analysis  of  variance  (one-way  ANOVA)  using  the 
general  linear  model  procedure  of  SPSS.  The  survey  revealed  that  the  overall  average,  total  land, 
crop land,  and grazing land per households were 1.34, 0.903 and 0.228 hectares, respectively  (P&lt;0.05). 
The  average  sheep  flock  size  holding  per  household  was  10.03,  5.07  and  4.73  in  HL,  ML  and  LL, 
respectively. The overall purpose of sheep rearing across all AEZs was source of income, saving, meat 
production, sharing the risk and manure production  which  were  ranked first  to fifth in  the  given order.
The major available feed was natural pasture and crop residues in wet and dry seasons. Feeding systems 
widely  practiced  in  the  all  AEZs  were  tethering,  stall  feeding  and  free  grazing  system  in  dry  and  wet 
seasons.  About  51.4  %  of  the  respondents  were  grazing  sheep  with  other  livestock.  About  62.8%  and 
100%  of respondents had their own grazing land in HL and ML  AEZs,  respectively.  The  overall  age at 
first lambing  was 12.81±0.14  months  lambing interval  was 7.52±.08 months and litter size  was 1.50±.08
lamb  per  sheep  (P&lt;0.05).  A  high  lambing  month  was  extended  from  April  to  May.  Majority  of 
respondents’  across  the  agro-ecologies  said  that  the practice  of  selling  sheep  was  at  age  of  6  months 
until1 year. Feed and grazing land shortage, diseases, and labor shortage were major constraints ranked 
first, second, third and fourth with an overall index value of 0.3, 0.26, 0.14 and 0.14 of sheep production, 
respectively.  Opportunities  of  sheep  production  were  immediate  return  60.9%,  57.2%  had  low  startup 
cost,  and  55.8%  got  GO  and  NGO  interventions.  About  51.8%  of  respondents  got  a  suitable  market 
conditions  that  motivate  them  for  sheep  production  in  the  area.  Sheep  in  Arba  Minch  Zuria  have 
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appreciable reproductive performances  and  are coming important integral parts among livestock in this 
area.  Introduction  and  use  of  best  parties  and  alternative  feed  production  technologies  are,  highly 
recommended.  Further  research  is  also  recommended  to  identify  and  select  the  superior  and 
economically  important  traits  in  sheep  production  within  this  eco  types  and  quantitative  aspects  of 
marketing require providing complete marketing information.