Effects of climate variability on livestock productivity and pastoralists perception: The case of drought resilience in Southeastern Ethiopia

This study examines the perception of the pastoral community on climate change and performance, resilience and adaptive capacity of livestock under climatic stress in southeastern Ethiopia. The study used a mixed research approach whereby quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from multiple sources to address the impacts of climate variability on livestock production and livelihood of pastoral-agro-pastoral communities of Guji zone. Data about pastoralist perception on climate change were collected from 198 randomly selected households using a semi-structured questionnaire. Furthermore, climate data were obtained from the national meteorological agency, and climatic water balance was assessed. The household survey result indicated increasing patterns of temperature (82.8%)and drought intensity (84.8%). Majority of respondents perceived decreasing trends of rainfall and feed availability. Similarly, the trend analysis of rainfall showed declining trends of annual (-4.7 mm/year), autumn (-4.5 mm) and winter (-0.54 mm). Rainfall Anomaly Index identifies 13 drought years over the past 32 years, of which 53.85% occurred between 2007- 2017. Significantly higher (p<0.01) cattle and small ruminants than camel per household died during the disastrous drought occurred in 2008/9 and 2015/16. Nonetheless, the result indicated significantly higher (p<0.01) amounts of milk yield (3.32 litre/day) of dairying camel during dry periods than cattle and small ruminants. Camel and goats are perceived as drought-resistant livestock species and cattle keepers shifting to have more camel and goat in response to prevailing drought in the study area. Poor attention is given to identify climate-smart/resilient livestock species and strains. Therefore, extensive investigations are required to select and identify purpose-specific camel and goat strains for drought-prone areas.