Market imperfections and land productivity in the Ethiopian Highlands:

This study analyzes how market imperfections affect land productivity in a degraded low-potential cereal- livestock economy in the Ethiopian highlands. A wide array of variables is used to control for land quality in the analysis. Results of three different selection models were compared with least squares models using the HC3 heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator. Market imperfections in labor and land markets were found to affect land productivity. Land productivity was positively correlated with household male and female labor force per unit of land. Female-headed households achieved much lower land productivity than male- headed households. Old age of household heads was also correlated with lower land productivity. Imperfections in the rental market for oxen appeared to cause overstocking of oxen by some households. Conservation technologies had no significant positive short-run effect on land productivity. The main results were consistent across the different econometric models. .Livestock productivity Ethiopia., Cereal crops., Labor productivity., Markets.,

Habitat preference of the endangered Ethiopian walia ibex (Capra walie) in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Preferencia de hábitat del íbice de Etiopía (Capra wallie), en peligro de extinción, en el Parque Nacional de las Montañas Simien, en Etiopía El íbice de Etiopía (Capra wallie) es una especie en peligro de extinción endémica del Parque Nacional de las Montañas Simien, en Etiopía. La reciente expansión de las poblaciones humanas y el pastoreo de ganado en el parqque han suscitado preocupación por que los límites y los hábitats utilizados por el íbice de Etiopía hayan cambiado. Se realizaron observaciones del íbice de Etiopía y conteos de excrementos de íbice y de ganado, asimismo, se describió la vegetación y se clasificaron las características del hábitat en los puntos muestrales durante las estaciones seca y húmeda, desde octubre de 2009 hasta noviembre de 2011. Se evaluó la influencia de las características del hábitat en la presencia de excrementos de íbice y posteriormente se utilizó un modelo espacial para crear un mapa predictivo de las zonas con mayor probabilidad de albergar a esta especie. Los hábitats preferidos fueron los rocosos y arbustivos en comparación con los herbáceos. La distribución de los excrementos indicaba que el ganado y el íbice de Etiopía no solían encontrarse en el mismo punto muestral (el 70% de los cuadrados que contenían excrementos de íbice carecían de defecaciones de ganado y el 73% de los cuadrados con defecaciones de ganado no contenían excrementos de íbice). El mejor modelo para describir la probabilidad de presencia del íbice tomaba en consideración el efecto de la cubierta herbácea (β = 0,047), la cubierta arbustiva (β = 0,030), la distancia a un acantilado (β = –0,001), la distancia a una carretera (β = 0,001) y la altitud (β = 0,004). Los íbices de Etiopía se han trasladado hacia las zonas más orientales y abruptas del parque, lo que parece estar relacionado con la concentración de actividades humanas más intensas en las tierras bajas. Nuestro estudio pone de manifiesto la complejidad de gestionar zonas habitadas por poblaciones humanas y que a la vez constituyen un hábitat fundamental para las especies en conservación

Ethiopian Dairy and Animal Health Policy Sector: A Stakeholders' Network Analysis

አህፅሮትፖሉሲ ቀረፃ ስራ ብዙውን ጊዜ በርካታ ባሇድርሻ አካሊትን ያካትታሌ፡፡ በነዚህ በርካታ ባሇድረሻ አካሊት መካከሌ ያሇው ግንኙነት ይዘት ትብብርም ይሁን የመቀናቀን ሁኔታ ፖሉሲው የሚያስክትሇውን ውጤት ይወስናሌ፡፡ በምርምር ውጤቶች ሊይ ተመስርቶ የፖሉሲ ማሻሻያ እንዲዯረግ ተፅዕኖ ማሳዯር የሚፈሌጉ ተመራማሪዎች በፖሉሲ ቀረፃ ሊይ የትኞቹ አካሊት እንዯሚሳተፉ፣ የፖሉሲ ሇውጥ ሇማምጣት ያሊቸውን ፍሌጎት፣ የመሇወጥ አቅምና በመካከሊቸው ያሇውን ግንኙነት ሁኔታ ጠንቅቀው ማወቅ ይኖርባቸዋሌ፡፡ ይህ ጥናት የኢትዮጵያን የእንስሳት እርባታ ፖሉሲ ዋነኛ ባሇድርሻ አካሊትና በመካከሊቸው ያሇውን ግንኙነት በተመሇከተ የተዯረግ ጥናት ነው፡፡ ጥናቱ ተሳትፎአዊ የባሇድርሻ አካሊት ትንተና እና የግንኙነት መረብ ትንተና ዘዴን በመጠቀም በተሇይ በወተት ሊም እርባታ እና ተያያዥ የእንስሳት ጤና ጉዳይ ሊይ ያለ ባሇድርሻዎችን የመሇየት እና በመካከሊቸው ያሇውን ግንኙነት ተመሌክቷሌ፡፡ ውጤቱም እንዯሚያሳየው በኢትዮጵያ የወተት ከብት እርባታ ፖሉሲ ሊይ በርካታና የተሇያየ ፍሊጎት ያሊቸው ባሇድርሻ አካሊት የሚሳተፉበት ዯካማና መካከሇኛ ዯረጃ እፍግታ ያሇው በአስተዳዯራዊ መዋቅር ሊይ የተመሰረተ የግንኙነት መረብ ያሇው ሆኖ አግኝተነዋሌ፡፡ ከዚህ በተጨማሪ ክሌሊዊ የአስተዳዯራዊ መዋቅርን የሚሻገሩ የፖሉሲ መረብ ግንኙነቶች የላለ መሆኑን አረጋግጠናሌ፡፡ ነገር ግን አንዳንድ በአሇም አቀፍ እና በፌድራሌ መንግስት ዯረጃ ያለ ተቋማት ላልች በተሇያየ ዯረጃ ያለ ባሇድርሻ አካሊት በማገናኘትና፣ የፖሉሲ ውይይትና አንዲካሄድና ማሻሻያ እንዲዯረግ የማነሳሳት ከፍተኛ ማዕከሊዊ ሚና እንዳሊቸው አረጋግጠናሌ፡፡ ይህም ማሇት በኢትዮጵያ የእንስሳት እርባታ ፖሉሲ ቀረፃ የሁለም አካሊት ፍሊጎት ከግምት የሚገባበትና አካታች የማድረግ እድሌ መኖሩን የሚያመሇክት ሲሆን የፖሉሲ ማሻሻያ በዚህ ሴክትር ሲታሰብ ከእነዚህ በአሇምአቀፍ፣ በፌዯራሌና በክሌሌ ዯረጃ ያለ ቁሌፍ አካሊት ጋር መስራት እንዯሚያስፈሌግ ያመሇክታሌ፡፡AbstractPublic policy making often involves a multitude of actors. The level and nature of interaction among these actors, be it cohesion or friction, determines policy outcomes. For outsiders with the aim of influencing policy based on empirical evidence, it is imperative to know who are involved in the policy making process, the interest and influence of each actor as well as the nature and extent of their interaction. A study was conducted to analyze the Ethiopian livestock policy sector in terms of the main actors and their interaction in the dairy and animal health policy subsector. The study applied participatory stakeholders and social network analysis to identify the most important actors, their salience and network characteristics. The results indicate that a multitude of actors with diverse interests is involved in the Ethiopian dairy sector in a loosely connected network with medium level of clustering aligned along administrative tiers. The results also showed that in the existing federal administrative structure, there are no policy networks in the Ethiopian diary policy landscape that cut across regional boundaries. However, the international and federal level government actors play important role as central actors with bridging role connecting the decentralized regional and local level actors as well as in initiating policy engagement and change. This implies that there is a room for pluralistic policymaking and any attempt to influence policy in the livestock sector need to work with these international, federal and regional level actors