Characterization of Camel Production and Marketing System in Southern Zone of Tigray Region

Abstract

This study's goal was to fill in an information gap on the camel subsector in regarding to the Raya Azebo and Raya Alemata districts in the southern zone of Tigray region. In the districts the lowland agro-ecology was the focus of the survey. From both districts, four Kebeles were selected at random. The data was collected using a cross-sectional field survey that complied with established sampling techniques. Using a systematic random sampling technique, respondents who owned camels in proportion to population size were selected from a list of households (hhs) in each Kebele. Considering lists of hhs that were available with the development agencies, hhs from each Kebele were selected using systematic random selection. Finally, 250 hhs in total were used in the study areas. Data were analyzed using SAS 9.0 and Tukey pair wise comparison was used to compare means that had significant differences at P<0.05. Descriptive statistics was employed for qualitative data using the statistical package for social sciences version 17.0 (SPSS, 1999). The mean age of the hh head was 39.55±1.67 and 40.60±2.08 in Raya Azebo and Raya Alemata, respectively and the overall age of the hh head was 40.075±0.94 in the studied areas. In the present study, the majority of the respondents were male (86.4%) and the rest were female. Most of interviewed participants were illiterate and only attended elementary school. In the study area, camel rearing was used for a multitude of purposes including transportation from one place to another and selling of the animals for money to buy various items for the hh. The majority of respondents (75.6%) indicated that camel production in the area was extensive, and they were handled on browsing and crop lands. The majority of the respondents (68%) used uncontrolled mating mechanism. Uncontrolled mating was mostly caused by mixed herding and the practice of sharing serving camels. The majority of respondents (67.2%) stated that camel rearing was becoming more and more popular occasionally due to escalating consumer demand. Ectoparasite infestation and internal parasites including GIT parasitism were the most prevalent health issues in the study area. The main effects of camel diseases in the region were frequently reduced physical condition, decreased meat/milk yield and stunted growth. Therefore, further research and investigations should be conducted to identify and alleviate existing constraints related with camel production and management practices in the studied areas.