Goat Herd Dynamics during Drought and Recovery Periods among the Rendille Pastoralists of Northern Kenya
##article.abstract##
Goats are the most valued livestock among Rendille pastoralists of Northern Kenya. They form an important part of their livelihood through provision of food, generation of income and socio-cultural functions. Restocking of herds after drought is easier due to high prolific rates of goats. A major constraint to sustainable goat keeping is frequent droughts that influence goat population dynamics. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the influence of drought frequencies on goat herd dynamics among Rendille pastoralists. The study was conducted through administration of structured and semi structured questionnaires to 40 households. Only 26 households gave more consistent information and were used for data analysis. The data collected were exits (sales, mortalities, exchanges, slaughter for home use and for ceremonies, losses, destocked, thefts and predation) and entries (births, purchases, exchanges, gifts and restocking) of goats during drought (2005/2006, 2008/2009, and 2010/2011) and recovery periods (2006/2007 and 2009/2010). Analysis of data was done using SPSS (Version 16.0) computer software. There were no significant differences in mortality and sales between 2005 and 2008 while significant differences were noted between 2005 and 2010 and 2008 and 2010. There were no significant differences in recovery periods. The results showed that goat off take among the Rendille pastoralists were mortalities and sales while replacements after the drought were through natural reproduction. Due to active participation in markets by pastoralists, financial institutions should be established in rural areas to allow them save money that would otherwise be lost through deaths during drought.
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