Dynamics and driving forces of change in Ethiopian smallholder livestock production system

摘要

ThestudywasconductedinNorthwestEthiopiatoinvestigatethedynamicsanddrivingforcesofchangeinthesmallholderlivestockproductionsystem.Theresearchapproachesincludeuseofsecondaryandprimarydata.Theprimarydatawascollected;includingkeyinformantinterviews,focusgroupdiscussions,workshopsandfieldobservation.Thedatawerecollectedforatimeframeof10years(from2002-2012).QualitativedataanalysiswasdonebyusingtheATLAS-tiversion7software.Themostimportantchangesinallthreewatershedsduring2002-2012were:reductioninlivestockherdorflocksize;shiftinlivestockspeciescompositionandpurpose,suchasfocusingonsheep,usinghorsesandmulesfordifferentpurposes;abandoninggoats;decreaseinlivestockproductivity;however,somefarmershaveattemptedtoimprovethelivestockhusbandry.Thesechangesaredrivenbytheinteractionofvariousdrivingforcesthatcanbecategorizedintopolitical(policy,institutional),economic,social,technologicalandecological.Therefore,interventionstobemadebyconcernedstakeholders(farmers,developmentpractitioners,researchers,policymakers,etc.)toimprovetheproductionsysteminthestudyareasneedtofocusonaddressingthevariousandcomplexdrivingforcesthroughasystemwideandcontext-specificapproach.