FARMERS LIVESTOCK DROUGHT RESPONSE AND COPING STRATEGIES AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL IN GALMUDUG STATE, SOMALIA

Abstract

The frequency of drought presents huge challenges to the most rural communities in Africa. This article highlights drought characteristics and the many responses to drought stresses employed by Galmudug State, Somalia. Multiple data sources, including socioeconomic questionnaires with 123 households, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews with farmers livestock were used to capture various aspects of droughtoccurance. Results revealed that extreme drought events were increasingly frequent, and have negatively impacted pastoral livestock.in addition to the survey result showed that 100% of the respondents indicated that drought incidence increased for last three decades. In order to adapt to or cope with climatic anomalies, households are using a variety of strategies. In addition to the traditional short-term coping mechanisms, the long-term adaptation strategies used include livestock diversification species, livestock mobility to track forage and water resources diversification of herd composition to benefit from the varied drought tolerance, However, the adaptation strategies are not practiced in full capacity, specifically Lack of meteorological information and lack of intuitional capacityabout the livestock rearing are the constraints in this regard. Finally, the study suggested as a point of departure in developing drought adaption strategy and other pressures.