Impact of Bush Encroachment on Livestock Production and Pastoral Livelihoods in Fentale District, Eastern Ethiopia

The threat of bush encroachment on community livelihoods and economy in range lands of Fentale district in Ethiopia is not well known. So, this study was conducted to evaluate the impact of bush encroachment and its stress on livestock daily milk yield and pastoral livestock production of the district. The data of household livestock holding and its production, household income sources, expenditure, etc. was obtained from district pastoral and agro-pastoral office and the respective pastoral communities. The data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussion and key informant interviews. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and regression analysis using Minitab Software. The result revealed that there was an alarming rate increasing of bush encroachment coverage and positive association (P < 0.05) with camel and goat population than cattle and sheep population (P > 0.05) in the study district. Results of current study also revealed that a positive correlation between increasing coverage of bush encroachment and mean daily milk yield of livestock (i.e. cattle, goat and camel) in the study areas. Pastoral producers also perceived the impact of bush encroachment on livestock population trend and milk production in all study sites and applied different adaptation strategies (like feed supplementation and mobility). It is recommended that appropriate intervention options (like bush thinning) of government and other stakeholders is needed to alleviate the current economic bush related challenges of pastoral producers and save the loosing natural resources, even by amendment of pastoral production related policies and its implementation