Kenya’s Maasai herders switch to goats as drought fells cattle
As climate change brings hotter summers, cattle are becoming less well suited to arid regions of the country
Last year David Ole Maapia nearly lost his herd of 48 cows to crippling drought in southern Kenya’s Kajiado County.
To avoid another such setback, the Maasai pastoralist, whose culture has long rested on cattle herding, has decided to switch to something more resilient — sheep and goats.
“With this weather, I can’t keep cattle for more than a day,” he told journalists at a bustling market in Isinya, where he was buying goats.
Kenya has seen heavy rains this year in many parts of the country. But in other years, more regular and severe droughts are depleting water and pasture and decimating pastoralists herds.
To limit livestock losses, pastoralists like Ole Maapia are opting to sell drought-threatened cattle to buy goats, sheep and camels, which they say can better withstand erratic weather.
Ole Maapia has already bought more than 200 goats and sheep, and hopes to have more than a thousand by the end of the year.
“If I sell them all during the festive period, I will have enough money to buy a small piece of land to build rental homes for those working in Nairobi”, about 60km from Isinya, he said.
Cattle are more likely to suffer in droughts than hardier goats, sheep or camels, scientists say.
According to a study released in February by the Kenya Markets Trust, a business association that promotes market growth, cattle populations in semi-arid parts of Kenya have decreased by 26 per cent in the past 40 years.
The number of sheep and goats increased by 76 per cent during the same period.
Conflict risk
Cattle thrive best in temperatures between 10 to 30 degrees Celsius, said Mohammad Syed of Kenya Markets Trust and one of the lead authors of the study. So as climate change brings hotter summers, cattle are becoming less well suited to arid regions of the country, he said.
In contrast, smaller animals such as goats are better able to tolerate high temperatures and so are an attractive alternative for pastoralists, he added.
Prolonged drought has created increased competition over resources such as land and water and sparked conflict, local people say.
When some pastoralists lose their animals due to harsh conditions, they raid and steal animals from other communities to replenish their stock, said Maapia.
“This leads to fights with guns, burnt homes and sometimes even deaths.”
Finding alternative and more stable sources of income, including by investing in sheep, goats and camels, could help avoid conflict, explained Syed, particularly with weather expected to grow more extreme in coming years.