Review On Camel Production under Mixed Farming Systems: Ethiopia

Abdi Fuad, Henok Abebe and Henok Mulatu*

In Ethiopia, the Livestock production system is broadly classified into pastoral, agro-pastoral, and mixed crop-livestock, peri-urban, and urban production systems. Camels are predominantly kept in the pastoral and agro-pastoral production systems. Only a few male camels are to be found in the mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia. Mixed farming is a process by which farmers produce crops and rear livestock simultaneously to ensure sustainable agriculture. The production of one or more crops and livestock on available resources is crop-livestock diversification. Livestock husbandry, as seen in the system, is subjugated by camels, goats, cattle, and sheep, and the main source of food being milk; therefore, pastoralists tend to keep large herds to ensure enough milk supply and income generation. The major ethnic groups owning camels in Ethiopia are the Afar, Somali, and Oromo. Camels play diverse roles in the livelihood of the poor pastoralists, including the building of assets, insurance against unexpected events, have spiritual and social values, traction and movement of goods, food supply, income generation in Ethiopian pastoralists, and very recently, it plays pronounced role in the export revenue of the country in both live animal and carcass export. Currently, the estimation of camel population in Ethiopia was 4.5 million, in which camel production of the pastoralists’ region; Somali accounts for about 58 percent of the total country “’s camel population, and the remaining five pastoralists‟ regions of the country account for 42 percent of the national camel population. The main economic value of camels is derived from their milk, meat, use in transportation, and for riding in sports (racing), and tourism. In Ethiopia, the lowland areas are relatively poorly served in terms of infrastructure and public services such as roads and veterinary services, which may exacerbate livestock morbidity and mortality. Challenges for Camel production in Ethiopia are feed and water shortage, disease prevalence, lack of Infrastructure serves, shortage of grazing land, animal health problem and predator, and a lack of a friendly-oriented market system. Opportunities of the camel production system are to export live animals and meat; there will also be an increase in domestic demand due to urbanization and economic growth

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Published on: May 23, 2026 Pages: 17-24

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/ijvsr.000158
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