Potential impact of climate change on livestock production and health in East Africa: A review

A research article was published by Livestock Research for Rural Development July 2013, volume 25Agriculture and livestock are amongst the most climate sensitive economic sectors in the developing countries whilst the rural poor communities are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change is real and is happening now. Current knowledge on the relationship between climate change effects and animal health is lacking particularly in East Africa despite of livestock agriculture being economically important in the region. Many related studies in the region have reported on the impacts of climate change on human health compared to animal health. This deficiency has created a knowledge gap which affects livestock management authorities and several development projects. This review paper describes the current knowledge in regards to potential impact of climate change and livestock infectious diseases in East Africa region. A number of research reports and scholarly articles on climate change, animal diseases epidemiology were reviewed over a period of two months. Livestock production and health are significantly vulnerable to the impact of climate change and resource poor farmers and pastoralists are the most vulnerable. Early warning systems, preparedness and improved public and private veterinary services should be strengthened so as to lower the adverse effect of climate change. In addition, adaptation and mitigation approaches should be practiced to minimize the effects. The knowledge obtained from this paper will help all stakeholders including decision makers and donor communities to have a better understanding of climate change effects on livestock sector so as to build resilience of vulnerable livestock keeping communities and work together in formulation of mitigation, adaptation and traditional coping strategies against these adverse effects

Climate variability; enhancing adaptive utilization of browse trees for improved livestock production among agro-pastoralists communities in Southern Zambia

Agro-pastoralists whose sources of livelihood depend on rain-fed agriculture are very vulnerable to ecological disturbance due to increasing climate variability. They are unable to adequately feed their animals in times of extreme weather conditions of floods and droughts thereby causing a disruption in their major source of livelihood. This study analyzed the feeding strategies employed by agro- pastoralists in Southern Zambia and important browse species used in extreme weather conditions, in order to improve their utilization for improved livestock production. The major feeding strategies during droughts include browse utilization, dambo grazing, grazing along streams and supplementary feeding. While during floods, upland grazing and browse grazing were the main strategies. However, most of the agro-pastoralists do not practice pasture management and fodder conservation for their animals. Of the 21 tree browse species identified by the agro-pastoralists, 18 species were found to be important during droughts and 8 during floods. Most of the agro-pastoralists neither knew how to plant these browse species nor how to manage them for better and sustainable use in feeding their animals. Therefore, the agro-pastoralists in the study area need to take up management and feed conservation measures for their animals. Deliberate effort should be made to teach the agro-pastoralists how to plant and manage the important browse species that are suitable in extreme weather conditions. This will enhance productive use of the browse species for improved animal feeding to ensure food security among the pastoralists.Key words: Extreme weather conditions, adaption, browse species, Agro-pastoralists