Livelihood Profile Gambella Region, Ethiopia

Transcription

1 Livelihood Profile Gambella Region, Ethiopia Gambella Mixed Agriculture (GMA) Livelihood Zone April Zone Description Gambella Mixed Agriculture (GMA) livelihood zone is found in Gambella regional state, which is located in west part of the country. The LZ shares a border with the Sudan. It encompasses woredas/ districts of Dimma, Gog, Abobo, Itang and Gambella. Mixed agriculture (crop and production) and to some extent fishing and mining are the main economic activities. The topography of area is dominated by flat plain land. The agro ecology of the area is kolla/ lowland. April to October is the rainy season having annual average rain fall mm and temperature in the range of o C. Forest and grassland are the vegetation types of the LZ. Gold, forest products, wild food, game animals and construction stone are natural resources available. Rivers in this zone include: Duber, Baro, Akobo, Alwero and Gilo. The Twins mountain is also in this LZ. Main roads run from Gambella to Abobo and Gog and from Gambella to Aboland Itang. Population of the LZ is sparsely populated. The dominant soil type of the area is loamy soil with some clay soil. Agricultural production is rain fed with high production potential, however due to poor agricultural practice it is generally known as food deficit area. Maize and Sorghum are the crops grown for consumption and for sale as well. Mostly crops are grown during Meher season and following flood recession. Maize, sorghum and sweet potato are crops grown for consumption and maize, sorghum and sesame grown for sale. The land is prepared by hand. Land preparation and weeding demands more labor than other agricultural activities. Soil born diseases, stalk borer and grasshoppers are pests and diseases that affect crops. Soil born disease affects maize and sorghum, stalk borer affects maize and grasshoppers affect maize, sorghum and cabbages. Malatine is the only treatment for all those pests and diseases which supplied by regional Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BOARD) freely. There is no culture of using different agricultural inputs. Cattle, goats and sheep are the main. Livestock and products provide an additional source of income. Animal graze freely feeding on grasses and crop residue. Major and minor rivers and ponds are used for watering the both during wet and dry seasons. Only better off household tend to slaughter goats during holidays. Milking animals are replaced from within the herd. Men and boys shoulder the responsibility of looking after animals. Foot and mouth disease, unique to the area, affects the. Trypanosomiasis ecto & endo parasites and pasteurellosis are other diseases found in the LZ. Trypanosome and pasteurellosis affects Bovine and Ovine whereas Exto and Endo parasites affect cattle and shoat. BOARD, NGOs (EBBA), FAO and the market provide access to vaccinations, some of which are free, others are purchased. Drug most familiar in the area include diminizine for Tryps, albendazole for parasites and oxytetracycline for pasteurolosis. Fishing, mining and sale of grass are important economic activities experienced by men and women. Wild foods also contribute to diets and incomes. Markets Generally road access is bad which means that traders to not move in and out of the zone. On top of this, there are no defined, permanent market day and places. Sorghum, maize and mango are crops sold locally. The trade route for maize and mango is from local woreda market Gambella town and for sorghum the route is from local woreda towns of Dimma, Abobo, Fingido and Abol Itang Gambella. The peak sale time for sorghum is the months of November-January. Goats, sheep and fish are available in the market. The trade route and business interaction for all is from 1 Field work for the current profile was undertaken in March The information presented refers to Nov 2007-Oct (EC Nov 2000 to Oct 2001), a normal/ good year by local standards. Provided there are no fundamental and rapid shifts in the economy, the information in this profile is expected to remain valid for approximately five years (i.e. until 2014). The exchange rate January USD = 9.43 ETB.

2 local market or woreda market Gambella. The peak sale is during the months of September to December and April. Fish sale takes place the whole year round. Staple foods (maize and sorghum) are purchased during the hunger season in the months of March to June. The source markets for staple cereals are KelemWollega Dembedello Gambella local markets and Illubabor Metu/ Bure Gambella local market or Benchi Maji Mizan Dimma local markets. Seasonal Calendar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Seasons Dhokoth Cwir Area Oro Legend planting cons. green harvest W eeding Land Preparation maize Sorghum Sesame Livestock Milk production Inheat Period Livestock Births Wild food Collection Fishing Food purchase Hunger Season Malaria cattle shoats cattle and shoats There are four seasons in the LZ: Dhokoth extends (April-June), Cwir (July September), Area (October- December) and Oro (January-March) are the four seasons in the LZ. Agricultural activities begin in the month of April with the preparation of land ready for planting of maize and sesame. The consumption year runs from November to October. Maize and sorghum are long cycle crops whereas sesame is a short cycle crop. The planting time of maize and sorghum extends from April to May and from May to June respectively. Sesame is planted in the months of April to May. The harvesting months of maize and sesame respectively runs from September to October and July to August. Livestock sale peak in the months of April, September and December, and milk production peaks through May to October. The in-heat and birth period for the cattle runs from October to December. Wild food collection is available during the months of March to June coincides with the hunger season. Modo and Wodo are wild foods eaten at the village and town of the LZ. Modo (root) is collected by men and women to eat while Wado is collected by women and the fruit is eaten and oil extracted from the seed. These wild foods are also sold to generate income. Modo is stored putting under the ground and protecting from the sun light while Wodo is stored after being dried in the sun. Modo is eaten by boiling and mixing with salt and Wodo is eaten with porridge (Genfo). Moddo, Awek and Kiy are varieties of wild food that tend to be eaten only in bad years. Fishing and mining done the whole year and sale of grass is done during the months of December to March. The peak fishing periods are January to May and August to October. Malaria increases from May to July. Mining and fishing activities are constrained by inadequate equipment and limited mining experience. Wealth Breakdown

3 Wealth is primarily determined by family size, the ownership of, land holding. These are factors that effect crop yield obtained and capacity to collect wild foods. From the table above the land holding increases across the wealth groups. The better off and middle HHs owned 1-2 hectares and hectares of land while the poor have only hectares. All wealth groups cultivate the most important crop of maize and sorghum. On top of this better off, middle and poor households cultivate sesame. Wild food collection is very important. All wealth groups collect wild food variety called moddo and tho. The poor and middle HHs collect Wild food called woddo. Although the holding differs across the wealth groups. No households own oxen. From the wealth break down table above the poorer households possess hen and mango tree. Because of those wealth differences the rich groups expected to have more access to food source and income. The household size increases across the wealth group and for that matter the better off have 7-9 members. The better tend not to keep more animals due to the threat of attack and looting from the Murle who live across the border in Sudan. In addition disease, pests and water logging of grazing land all reduce the ability of better-off households to keep more. Poorer households lack the money to purchase animals, and do not have sufficient labour to care for more animals. Sources of Food normal to good ( ) The main food sources are own crops and purchase complemented by wild roots/fruits/(woddo, moddo and tho), fish and game. The food crops produced in the LZ are maize, sorghum, sweet potato and sesame. All households get annual food requirement from their field that increase across the wealth. The better off and middle and 85-95% while the poor and very poor groups receive 75-85% of the annual food from own crops respectively. Purchase is a bit higher for the poorer households. The very poor and poor get 15-21% of their food requirement through purchase and it is about 9-13% for the middle and better off households V.Poor Poor Middle Better-off wild fish & game wild roots/fruits purchase products crops In the graph, food access is expressed as a percentage of minimum food requirements, taken as an average food energy intake of 2100 kcals per person per day. Sources of Cash: normal-good ( )

4 10 6 g g g g V.Poor Poor Middle Better-off wild fish/meat wild root/fruit selfemployment employment product crop The graph provides a breakdown of total cash income according to income source. Annual income (ETB) Sources of income include: crops sale, and product, agricultural labor and self-employment and income from sale of fish. The annual income of better off, middle, poor and very poor households respectively ranges ETB, ETB, ETB and ETB. The poorer groups generate some amount of annual income from self-employment (sale of grasses and mining, brewing and selling local alcohol bordie) and employment (eg construction labor). The main crops sold are maize, sorghum, tobacco, and mango by all wealth groups. Expenditure Patterns normal - good ( ) Wealth groups purchase staple and non-staple food, HH items, inputs, social services and cloths. Of the total annual income very poor and poor households expend 40-5 and 25-35% on the purchases of the staple food respectively, while the better off expend only 10-. Purchase of non-staple food increases across the wealth groups and very poor HHs do not purchase it at all. Expenses on inputs slightly increase along with the wealth groups. The better off who owned more expend ETB on inputs respectively. The expenditure of the middle HHs on inputs ranges from ETB. Expenditure on household items positively skewed towards the better off. Expenditure on social services, cloths and other components increases across the wealth group V.Poor Poor Middle Betteroff other clothes social serv. inputs water HH items non-staple food staple food The graph provides a breakdown of total cash expenditure according to category of expenditure. Hazards Drought, flood, crop pests, disease and cross border attacks by the Murle are chronic hazards that affect the LZ. Flood is reported to be the hazard that affects the livelihood zone every year. Drought, poor performance and erratic distribution of rainfall lead to the stunt growth of crops. It also has an impact on water and pasture availability leading to poor physical condition. On top of this there are crop pest and diseases like soil born disease, stalk borer and grasshopper are pests and diseases that affect crops in the LZ. Soil born disease affects maize and sorghum, stalk borer affects maize and grasshopper affects maize, sorghum and cabbages. Foot and mouse disease affects the. Trypanosomona, Exto and Endo parasite and pasteurellosis is diseases found in the LZ as well. Trypanosomona and pasteurellosis affects Bovine and Ovine whereas Exto and Endo affect cattle and shoat. Coping Strategies Crop pests and diseases are treated using the spray called Malatine which is the only mechanism of treatment for all crop pests and diseases. To reduce the threat of cross border raiding of animals are herded together. In bad years, households expand the collection of wild foods from more popular varieties to less popular. There is an increase sale of by rich wealth groups. Very poor and poor household look for gifts and loans. There will

5 be a trend of switching expenditure from household item, clothes and others by all wealth groups to the staple foods. Indicators of imminent Crises Late onset of rain, erratic distribution, heavy rains and flood Unsustainable / Increased sale of Price fluctuations Increase in collection of less popular wild foods Summary This livelihood zone economy is based on mixed agriculture (crops and ) with some fishing, mining and wild food collection. The topography of area dominated by plain land. Agro ecology of the area is kolla/ lowland. April to October is the rainy season having annual average rain fall mm and temperature in the range of o C. Gold, forest, wild food, game animals and construction stone are natural resources available in the LZ. Maize, sorghum and sweet potato are crops grown for consumption and maize, sorghum and sesame grown for sale. Cattle, goats and sheep are the main reared in the LZ. All households get most of their annual food requirements from their fields. Fish and wild foods make important contributions to food intake, dietary diversity and income. Drought, flood, crop pests and disease are chronic hazards that affect the LZ. Maize and sorghum is the key parameter to track the change in terms of quantity produced and its price while Wodo (wild food) is key parameters in terms of quantity one collects for consumption. Goat and fish both in terms of quantity and price is key parameters in the LZ. Cow milk is a key parameter in its quantity consumed. Production received and sale of mango and sesame and sale of grass is key parameters in this LZ.