Livestock marketing: Local belief and clan conflicts in focus

Abstract

The major objective of this research was to unveil the challenges of domestic livestock marketing in the pastoralist are of Awash Fentale wereda in due emphasis of local beliefs and clan conflicts.  To address this issue, qualitative research approach was employed. In order to secure dependable and reliable data, interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation were conducted. The study depicted that livestock marketing was profoundly affected by the local beliefs/culture of the pastoralist that is, holding large number of live animals as a status of symbol. Donkey was not considered as valuable assets. Offering this live animal to the market is also considered as shameful practice. Connected with culture, young men were getting involved in the raiding of live animals of other clan so as to get social recognition or for the sake of revenging their counter parts. The occurrence of clan conflicts affected the movement of pastoralist to the market place as well as in search of water and rangelands, though it was happing infrequently. Finally, the frequently occurring intra clan disputes affected the supply of live animals to the market, the free flow of marketing information between and among the community members, limit the scope of markets, among other things. Key words: Clan Conflict, Local belief, Livestock, Marketing