Atlas Final Web Version 6_14

Crop Production & Livelihoods
Is there an absolute shortage of oxen?
Oxen are the engines of Ethiopian farm.
agriculture, but they are hard to maintain
with the required grazing and fodder. In
most of Ethiopia, anybody who cultivates
field crops uses oxen, whether or not
he actually possesses them. It takes two
oxen to form a plow-team. The upper
map shows that in the greater part of the
cropping areas most farmers do not own
a team of oxen. But it is very rare to find
land untilled for lack of draft-power. (See
Where people cultivate all their land map
on page 33.) This is firstly because a wellmaintained
ox-team can plow several
hectares in a season. Secondly, people
with a single ox partner with their fellows.
Thirdly, people with no oxen borrow a
team from a better-off neighbor at the
price of an agreed part of their harvest,
including the fodder, or in return for an
agreed amount of labor on the lender’s
But even if virtually all land gets plowed,
there is arguably a shortage of oxen in
terms of productivity. The borrower is
unlikely to get his plowing done at the
optimal moment for sowing; and he is
unlikely to achieve the optimal number
of passes for the soil conditions and
crop-type (teff in particular requires four
to five passes for good results). There
are increasing signs of fodder stress in
oxen-keeping around the cropping areas,
with farmers buying trained oxen for the
growing season and then selling them off
at the end to avoid having to maintain the
oxen during the off season. Nevertheless,
the lower map suggests that better off
farmers are generally more concerned
with pest damage and with the cost of
fertilizers and other inputs than with an
absolute shortage of oxen.
Oxen per household
< = 1
1.1 - 1.5
1.51 - 2
> 2
Pastoral areas
No data
Number of oxen per households
Most important perceived constraints for better off households
Constraint
Pastoral zones
Land
Rain
Draft animals
Inputs
Pests/diseases
Labor
Wild animals
Extension services
No data
34 The Livelihoods Atlas for Ethiopia The Livelihoods Integration Unit