Opportunity and Constraints of Livestock Feed Resources in Abol and Lare Districts of Gambella Region, Ethiopia
This research was done to identify livestock problems with the objective of assessing livestock production and associated constraints. The study was done using a formal survey, focus group discussions and field visit through open and closed ended questionnaires data collection. Purposive sampling was employed to select 90 households (HHs) having livestock and the data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. The average family size in the Abol (5.37) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than Lare (9.5) district. The levels of education in both districts were very low which nearly 57% of the households were without any kind of education. Trends in communal, arable and vegetation coverage were decreasing. Livestock rearing was them the means of livelihood of the population in Lare (78.7%) than Abol (21.7%) district. The average number of goats, sheep and chicken in Lare district were significantly (p<0.05) higher than Abol district. Natural pasture was the dominant feed resources in the area. The major livestock production constraints in the study area were ranked as health, feed, flood, drought, and theft and predators. From this study it was concluded that feed shortages occurs due to dry period and flood. Consecutively, poor conservation practices, storage of crop residues and improved forages which need effective training and demonstration to improve the productivity of livestock sector.