Livestock improve household food security and sustainability of Ethiopian small farms

The role of livestock in determining the socio-economic status, food security and sustainability of smallholder mixed farms was studied during 1999 and 2000 in the Harar Highlands of Eastern Ethiopia. Community level information on farm households was collected using semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, and field observations. A well-being instrument was developed on the basis of community level data to rank the households into poor, medium, and well-to-do categories. Detailed characterization of the households in the three groups was carried out by an in-depth case study of individual farms followed by a wider scale formal survey. Community level interviews revealed that smallholders considered meeting household food requirements and maintaining soil fertility of farm plots most important for farm sustainability. The energy content of the food consumed by a farm family and the soil humus balance of annually cropped plots were used as proxy indicators for household food balance and soil fertility, respectively. Case study revealed that medium and well-to-do were high in household energy adequacy levels and positive in humus balance in annually cropped plots. Livestock accounted for 27% of the total household energy supply. In contrast, food supply in the poor category was 15% below the adequacy level and the field humus balance was negative. Poor had minimal livestock holding and livestock contributed only 2% of the total household energy supply. Results from the farm survey were similar to the case study. Medium and well-to-do had positive household food balance (180 +/- 20.6%, and 186 +/- 17.8%, respectively) and humus balance (385 kg/ha and 360 kg/ha, respectively) while poor had deficit household food balance (65 +/- 15.8%) and negative soil humus balance (-365 kg/ha). The contribution of livestock to total household energy supply varied significantly (P < 0.01) with the farm category, and accounted for 3.1 (0-5.7%), 23 +/- 6.8% and 17 +/- 7.9% of the total in the poor, medium and well-to-do, respectively. The results suggest that farms with less than one Tropical Livestock Units are not sustainable in the Harar Highlands of Eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, any agricultural development initiative in Ethiopia must include both crop and animal components for success.