Socio-economic Profile of Sheep and Goat Rearers in Tahtay Adyabo District, Tigray, Ethiopia

The present study was conducted to assess the socio–economic profile of sheep and goat rearers in Tahtay Adyabo District, Tigray, Ethiopia. For this study 138 sample households were selected randomly. Of the total sample respondents, 26.1% of them owned sheep, 35.5% of them owned goats and 38.4% of them owned both sheep and goats. Of the 138 interviewed sheep and goat producing households, 81.2% were male headed and the rest 18.8% were female headed households. The average ages of the sampled respondents were 44 year. The average family size of the total sample respondents was found to be 6 persons. The average years of experience related to sheep and goat production was 10.7 years. The survey result with respect to land holding of the respondents reveals that an average size of land holding per household was 2.3 hectare. Sheep and goats are kept for income generation from sell of live sheep and goat, manure, meat and milk, saving insurance and for the sale of sheep and goat product purposes in the study area. Of the total sampled households 77(55.8%) of the respondents housed their sheep and goat in both open ended during dry season and hdmo (constructed shelter from stone or wood walls with soil roof during rainy season) at night, 34(24.6%) respondents used only constructed shelter made from stone with wood walls with soil roof, 22(16%) used shelter made of mud or wood walls with leaf roof and 5(3.6%) used fenced area without roof. Therefore provision of input technologies and modern practices, increasing the dimension of access to formal financial systems, provision of timely and adequate veterinary services and provision of timely and accurate market information are important for benefits of producers and for production and productivities of sheep and goats.