Impacts and Management of Drought in a Nomadic Livestock Production System In North Horr, Marsabit District of Northern Kenya

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the impact of the 1999/2000 drought on nomadic livestock production system in North Horr and establish the various coping strategies. Individual household livestock mortalities for three localities in North Horr and the dynamics of the camel population and milk output were used to highlight the impact of the drought. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to derive the various Gabra drought coping strategies. It was established that the 1999/2000 drought had significant impact on resources (pastures and water) availability, household livestock mortalities and camel milk output in North Horr. Reduced water and pasture availability prompted the movement of people and their stock mainly to Sabarei in southern Ethiopia and Sibiloi on the eastern edge of Lake Turkana. Overall monthly percent camel mortality in North Horr town was 1.02 ± 0.42 while average mortality for 1999 was 0.64 ± 0.47 and 1.82 ± 0.85 for 2000. North Horr town had the lowest percent household camel mortality of 2.2 ± 0.97 while Molobot had the highest of 44.25 ± 12.25. However, the monthly camel mortality in North Horr town was too low to have had a significant effect on camel numbers. At the household level, camels still had the lowest percent mortality among the livestock classes in all the three localities. These differences were attributed to the close proximity of North Horr town to Suaeda monoica. Average camel milk production in February 2000 (dry season) was 1.26 ± 0.94 and 0.34± 0.07 in ApriVMay 2000 (wet season). It was concluded that Suaeda monoica is an important dry season grazing reserve for North Horr camels. Coupled with the fact that the Gabra are fundamentally camel nomads, regeneration of this shrub could play a significant role in drought management and overall camel production system in North Horr. Besides, social linkages are an important drought coping strategy. However, insecurity in alternative grazing areas arising from political boundaries and interethnic animosity greatly reduced stock mobility, jeopardizing livestock migrations as a drought coping mechanism.