Camel and Small Ruminant Based Pastoralism in Ethiopia: Recent Trends and Future Prospects

Abstract In Ethiopia, camel and shoat production are common pastoralism practices in three major pastoralist regions of Afar, Somali, and Borena. This review was aimed to indicate the recent trend and future prospect of camel and small ruminant production and the possible modifiers and the pros and cons of the practices in the pastoral area of Ethiopia. Data were organized and estimated from different researches conducted in each year. Data were organized in terms of the number of camel and shoat per household each year (2010-2020) and analyzed using trend and forecasting analysis model by SPSS software. There is an increment camel Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU) per household from 2.78, 13 and 9 to 37, 28, 28 between the year 2010-+2020 in Borena, Afar and Somali respectively and will increase to 45, 45, 35 by 2030 respectively. In the whole pastoralist regions, the number of camel TLU per household increases from 2.8 to 31 between the year, 2010-2020 and will increase to 50 TLU per household by 2030, while the number of goat and sheep increase from 1.4 and 0.91 TLU per household to 2.45 and 2.46 respectively between the year 2010-2020 and the predicted model indicate increase to 2 and 3.4 TLU per household by 2030. Climate change or drought and adaptation responses are the major drivers. Climate change coping and livelihood income improvements are the pros of the trend, while the reduction of cattle population and impact on the conservation of valuable indigenous cattle are the cons of the practices.