Post drought recovery strategy among pastoral households using effective copying mechanisms in Harshin Woreda, Somali regional state, Ethiopia: A Study

Pastoralists are nature lovers and their livelihood mainly depends upon the products and productivity of domestic animals like cattle, camels, goats, sheep, and donkeys etc. The pastoralist does not exist either individually or in a homogenous group. The lonely herder wandering in the wilderness to find pasture and water for animals is a romanticized picture of the harsh living and survival conditions of pastoralists (Justin Ginnetti and Travis Franck, 2014). Rather, pastoralists exist as individuals in communities that are often tribally affiliated, with partly different histories, different languages, and social and cultural values and ties, distinct struggles for power. They may have diverse species of livestock, with different degrees of mobility and follow different mobility routes. They may be more or less diversified and commercialized and with different levels of access to resources and markets as well as different views of themselves and their future.( Justin Ginnetti and Travis Franck , 2014).It is estimated that around 180 million pastoralists are living in developing country including in Sub-Saharan Africa. Out of 180 million, it is estimated that around (50million) live in the Sub-Sahara rangelands of Africa in general and East Africa in particularly. According to study about 12% of the rural populations (Thorntonetal,2002) are pastoralists and their livelihoods depend upon livestock production and productivity. An essential part of their survival strategy involves taking advantage of the mixed social environment that many pastoralists live in through trading, exchanging, or allying with neighboring groups such as foragers, farmers, urban dwellers and sometimes other pastoral people (Fratkin,2007). Recurrent droughts, among other factors, have deteriorated the ecosystem, eroded livelihood assets of pastoralists and thereby jeopardized livelihoods of the pastoralists where Harshin Woreda is not exceptional. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess the post drought recovery strategies adapted by the pastoralists in Harshin Woreda, Somali Region in Ethiopia.