Research Project 8: Use and management of donkeys by poor societies in peri-urban areas of Ethiopia (1999-2000)

Purpose
Phase 1 - to identify constraints to use and management of donkeys for transport in peri-urban areas, including technical, social and economic constraints, and those related to attitudes of authorities, beneficiaries of the services, and owners of donkeys.

From this information, to identify issues which require research, intervention or extension and define the methods for action in phase 2 of the project (2000-02).

Activities
Surveys using rapid appraisal techniques have been undertaken in three different peri-urban areas in Ethiopia (Debre Zeit, Holetta, Ziway), with three different peri-urban sites identified in each area.  Farmers owning and using donkeys to service their farming enterprises, professional transporters owning and using donkeys in urban and peri-urban areas, donkey buyers/sellers and people arriving and leaving urban markets using and not using donkey transport, have been interviewed informally.

Collaboration
This project is funded by DFID.  Scientists from the CTVM, the Statistical Services Centre (Reading University) and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organisation, are collaborating on the project.

Outputs
Reports of the main issues identified already in using donkeys for transport in peri-urban areas, on which the project was based, can be found in the Workshop Proceedings of the Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (ATNESA):

	Meeting the Challenges of Animal Traction, 4-8 December 1995, Karen, Ngong Hills, Kenya;
	Improving Donkey Utilisation and Management, 5-9 May 1997, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia;
	Empowering Farmers with Animal Traction into the 21st Century, 20-24 September 1999, Loskop Dam, South Africa.

A book reports the findings from the surveys carried out in Phase I of the project ('Use and Management of Donkeys in Periurban Ethiopia', ISBNO-907146-13-9). The book is available from CTVM on request. 

Other outputs will follow, as the project progresses.

Back to Top