Certain aspects of the dairy systems in the Harar milkshed, Eastern Ethiopia

[摘要] English: A study, comprising a survey and a. monitoring component, was undertaken tocharacterize and identify the major constraints for dairy systems in the Hararmilkshed, eastern Ethiopia. Important implications from the findings can be dividedin five key areas, namely: intensification of smallholder systems; constraints to dairyproduction; access to services; role and importance of urban dairies; andidentification of target groups. The results have showed that the majority of ruralhouseholds are agricultural (91% of the surveyed households) and many (89%) of theagricultural households' practices dairy farming. Rapid intensification of smallholderdairy production is occurring in the Harar milkshed as a result of the shrinking landdue to continuous population pressure. Over the past two decades the farming.systems have shifted increasingly to increased use of stall-feeding and planting offood crops on land previously used as natural pasture and thus livestock productionhas to rely increasingly less on grazing. There is an increasing shift towardsintensification of dairy through the use of crop-residues and thinnings from crops,particularly sorghum, with cut-and-carry feeding systems and the keeping ofunimproved local cattle on the ever decreasing land available for agriculture.However, there are large differences in levels of intensification in the area dependingon agro-climatic factors and access to the market. The main implication is that whileimproved technologies for sustainable intensification are required they cannot beapplied uniformly throughout the Harar milkshed. Blanket recommendations forintensive production strategies should be avoided. A difficult challenge may be toassist the appropriate intensification of farming practices especially in those outlying. areas where many resource poor farmers are found. These areas do not have a highagro-ecological potential due to moisture constraints, soil and rangeland degradationand poor access to markets, yet need to improve productivity from dairy activities.Households that were surveyed in the rural areas fell into four clusters based on theresults of the cluster analysis. The majority of the rural households surveyed fell intoCluster 1, named the Traditional Intensive Dairy (TID) farmers (3%) and Cluster 2,named the Traditional Semi-intensive Dairy (TSID) (40%). Households in Cluster 3,named the Traditional Extensive Dairy 'based on Extensive Agro-pastoral systems(TAD) and Cluster 4, named the Traditional Extensive Agro-pastoral Dairy (TEAD)constituted about 7% and 23% respectively of the rural households surveyed ..Households in Clusters 1 and 2 had smaller areas of land and smaller cattle herd sizedcompared to households in Cluster 3 and 4. Households in Cluster 1 did not havegrazing and had smaller crop lands than the other three clusters. Despite the smallcrop areas, households in Cluster 1 had larger quantities of crop residues than ClustersJ and 4. This larger quantity of crop residues produced in Cluster 1 is attributedmainly to the higher amount of rainfall received compared to the other two clusters.Two major feed resources identified in the rural areas were the thinnings and weedsthat are normally obtained from sorghum and maize crops, starting from early stages(at knee height) until harvest. No hay making practices were detected in the ruralareas surveyed.It was noted that traditionally milking, processing, marketing and delivery of milk arethe affairs of women in the rural area of the Harar milkshed. The survey showed thatmilk equipment was generally washed and some special herbs were used as localdisinfectants. These herbs include Baka Arkate Lantana Kamarawhich isavailable almost everywhere in the area surveyed. The milk equipment is furthersmoked with the various plants in order to clean the micro-organisms that spoil milk.Some farmers boil the night milk to help them in preserving milk during marketing.Three milk delivery channels were identified in the Harar milkshed. Milk deliveryassociation groups were dominant, followed by delivery of own milk or directdelivery and individual collectors/milk women traders in the Harar milkshed.Milk from cattle and camel are used by the urban population in Harar. However,cattle milk is preferred to camel milk by the majority of the urban population. Babile(Erer and Kore) and Bisidimo were found to be potentially important sources of bothcamel and cattle milk to supply milk to Harar. A total of 375 and 685 liters of cattleand camel milk were supplied daily from Babile and the corresponding volumes forBisidimo were 840 and 523 liters per day. Fluctuations in daily milk supply however,were quite apparent over different months of the year. A number of constraints werementioned by the farmers concerning milk delivery and marketing situations in theHarar milkshed. An overwhelming majority (75%) of the farmers interviewed rankedthe transportation problem first, followed by the risk involved (12%) and theremaining (16%) reflected on the lower price obtained for one liter of milk. Milkprocessing equipment and the processing methods used are quite traditional requiringimprovement in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of dairying in bothrural and urban areas of the Harar milkshed.Considering the urban dairies, results from the survey indicated that the majority ofthe households are none-agriculturists (84%) and are engaged in other business andregard the dairy as a sideline business. Intensification of dairying through the use ofpurchased feedstuffs, mainly industrial brewery by-products and conserved hay in astall feeding system and keeping Holstein upgraded dairy cattle breeds are the mainfeatures of the urban dairies of the area.The cluster analysis from the 50 urban households surveyed showed that there arethree dairy production sub-systems that can be identified in the urban sector of theHarar milkshed, designated as Clusters 5, 6 and 7. Farmers in the urban area falling inCluster 5 (URP - Urban Resource Poor) have a very small land size (0.3 ha) and nograzing but they buy a little fodder (less than Birr100/year). The second largest groupfalling in Cluster 6 (URMDS - Urban Medium Resource Dairy System) is composedof farmers with a slightly larger (n = 11) herd size, but they purchase more fodder andother feedstuffs. The last group of farms in Cluster 7 (SPUD) is distinguishedpriinarily by a larger (4 ha) land size and 98% more fodder is purchased than forCluster 5. Farmlhousehold resources, such as labour, may be critical forintensification of dairy farming where dairy farming requires labour not only for acut-and-carry feeding system, but for the overall management activities such asherding, cattle housing, feed and other input.Eleven different feed types were identified during the survey in the urban dairyproduction system. Grass hay and the industrial brewery waste were the commonestfeed types used in the urban dairy production system of the Harar milkshed. Hay isconserved and stored in a hay barn, but in a loose form. The industry brewery wastewas successfully conserved in non-cemented silos or pits in the ground.The chemical composition of the feedstuffs showed that there are diverse feedresources available in terms of their chemical composition and digestibility in theurban dairy production system. Most of the basal diets in the urban dairy productionsystem are of fibrous nature, including sorghum stover and grass hay and thesefeedstuffs are low in protein content (less than 7%) which makes it difficult topromote rumen function. Hence, non-conventional feeds, notably industrial brewerywaste and local brewery waste are potential feed resources to supplement low qualityfeeds in the Harar milkshed.The majority (50%) of the urban dairy farms used bucket feeding for calf rearing.The remaining half of the farms were using suckling for calf rearing as well as milkletdown initiation in different sequences in relation to milking. No farm was observedusing udder washing for milk letdown. Most used a milk ration during milking. Thetotal amount of milk provided to the calves was 430 liter and age at weaning wasabout 129 days on average. However, there were differences among the clustergroups of the urban dairy farms.All the dairy farms housed their crossbred cows in barns with roofed shelter, equippedwith a feeding trough. About 54% of the barns for dairy cows were cleaned once aday while the remaining were cleaned either twice or even three times a day. Themajority of the farms were very crowded and the cows were not separated by age andproduction. In urban dairy farms more than 60% of the manure _produced was notused and wasted, 11% used it as fuel, 28% sold it as manure for crop farmers in therural areas and about 1% used it for biogas production. The main constraint resultingin manure accumulation on the urban dairy farms appears to be the lack of adequatedisposal. This tends to limit the use of manure utilization and consequently causesenvironmental problems threatening the prospects of dairy production in urban areas.The overall mean annual disease incidence was 80% (47% for reproductive diseasesand about 33% for other conditions). Reproductive problems (47%) and mastitis(18%) occurred most frequent. Placental retention and abortion were among themajor reproductive problems representing about 69% of the clinical cases reported.Other clinical cases included digestive and respiratory disorders with an occurrence ofabout 8%.Important threats to productivity in the urban and peri-urban dairies may be theconstraints posed by irregular calving distribution, irregular mille production duringthe year and lack of strategic feeding systems. Dairy rations were deficient in bothquantity and quality to meet the nutritional requirement for dairy herd. The ration wasparticularly deficient in energy and calcium. These deficiencies were much larger infarms with large herds than for medium and small herd sizes.Reproductive performance of cows deviated negatively from the target values and waslarger in farms of larger herd size compared to medium and small herds. Lower bodyweight and poor body condition scores before and after calving were found to beimportant in management of urban dairy farms influencing the productivity of thedairy farms in the Harar milkshed.Reproductive and breeding problems were also identified as important problems in theurban and peri-urban dairy production systems. Although the artificial insemination(AI) service is used by a relatively large group of the farms, frequent interruption ofthe service seems to have forced the farmers to resort to use bulls of unknownpedigree. The access to AI services for dairy operation in the urban area is mixedwith apparently successful private entry into veterinary services, but no attempt ismade so far in the private provision of AI services. However, these services are usedmostly by the large and advanced dairy farmers in the urban areas.The survey highlighted the existence of an enormous supply-demand variance in milkproducts for Harar city, which indicates that potentially there exists goodopportunities for development of the urban dairy sector in the Harar milkshed. Large-scale dairy farms and small urban dairy farms have the potential to minimize milkshortages in Harar.Constraints to increase dairy productivity revolve around the inadequate and seasonalnature of feed sources. Solutions to these problems will have to keep in mind thelimited access to opportunities outlined above in the Harar milkshed. The use ofplanted grass fodder for stall-feeding may be limited in the intensive areas where landrather than labour is the limiting factor. Access to markets may be considered as amajor constraint, particularly for those farmers' associations located far from the milkmarket sites. Improvement in milk processing techniques could be a good prospectparticularly for the places far from marketing centers. Urban and peri-urban dairyproduction systems are important in supplying milk to Harar. One of the threats toproductivity in the urban and peri-urban dairies may be the constraints posed byreproductive disorders, diseases and breeding problems.A cluster analysis indicated that more than half of the rural dairy farms in the Hararmilkshed are resource poor farmers with small land holdings and usually located farfrom market sites in the urban areas. Improving the sustained productivity of dairyfarms and profitability of the rural dairy farms and households will be a key to successin rural development, poverty reduction and environmental protection in the Hararmilkshed. However, unless serious attention is given to improved and adequate feedsources and feeding programmes, much of the other high priority needs will not reachthe required impact if applied.

[发布机构] University of the Free State