ASSESSMENT OF FEED RESOURCES AND IDENTIFICATION OF COPING STRATEGIES DURING DROUGHT BY PASTORALISTS AND AGRO-PASTORALISTS AT GODE DISTRICT OF SOMALI REGION, ETHIOPIA

A study was conducted in Gode district of Somali Regional state, with the objectives of generating baseline information and the effect of season of the feed resources, to identify the quality and quantity of feed resource and identify the coping strategies adopted by pastoralists and agro-pastoralists during drought. The study was undertaken in seven purposely selected Rural Kebeles (RK’s) of the study area based on accessibilities of the road, population size and feed resource availability. The surveyed household heads (140) were selected randomly from RKs in equal proportion. Samples of feed were collected from the RKs during the wet and dry season for chemical analysis. The most important feed resources in the study area are grazing pasture, crop residue, browsing species, improved forages and supplementation. The DM content of samples forage was 86 and 93% and that of CP content was 15 and 7% in wet and dry seasons, respectively. The fiber content of the feed samples was lower in the wet as compared to the dry season. The main constraints related to livestock production in the area were feed shortages followed by disease, water scarcity, poor market and problem of predators. Drought impacts feed supply and livestock productivity in general. Mobility, feed conservation, supplementation, livestock species diversification, the sale of livestock and enclosing pasturelands for lactating and weak animals are the main coping strategies practiced during drought. In general there is low feed resource conservation and utilization and very poor traditional communal grazing land management system. As a result, the livestock population seriously suffers from the critical feed shortage especially during the long dry season. Thus, in order to improve livestock production and productivity, problems related to livestock feed and feed systems should be solved through proper management of the feed resources, adoption of improved forage technologies and feed conservation techniques.