| dc.description.abstract |
About 70% of Kenya's sheep and goats reared by the pastoralists are indigenous genotypes.
These breeds have evolved to adapt to harsh environmental conditions and at the same time
fulfil production and socio-cultural functions in their production systems. Pastoralists can be
seen as guardians of bio-diversity since their breeding and management strategies have led to
a large variety of indigenous livestock breeds under those environmental conditions where
exotic breeds hardly survive. The study was undertaken in Marsabit district of northern Kenya
among the Gabbra and Rendille pastoralists. As the formation of breeds requires the
maintenance of a close gene pool, the study aimed at establishing social factors concerned
with the development and maintenance of small ruminant genotypes, i.e., to find out whether
at the community level, social determinants were in place that led to a restriction of exchange
of breeding animals between different populations. In each community, four focus group
discussions, each comprising of 10-12 people were conducted to gather information on social
breeding mechanisms. The data collected were first clustered by community and all the notes
of the responses to all the questions scrutinized. Information was later organized into thematic
areas and reported objectively on what had been presented, and logical conclusions drawn.
The results showed there were rules, beliefs and taboos governing breeding systems of the
two communities. They included rules that governed the passing of breeding stock between
members of the same community, i.e., for sharing, selling and buying, and passing of livestock
during life cycle events like birth. Rules, norms and taboos that restricted the passing of
quality breeding stock outside the community also existed. The study concluded that these
social determinants contributed to closed gene pools of respective populations and, is thus an
indication of the existence of different breeds |
en_US |