Investigation of factors associated with income from working donkeys among smallholder farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Abstract

Working donkeys in developing countries play an important role for smallholder farming households through provision of income mainly from draught power. Few studies have documented factors associated with income from these working donkeys within the context of a highland agro-ecosystem. This study was conducted from June to September 2018 in Kirinyaga County located within the central highland areas of Kenya. The objectives were to determine (1) the challenges and opportunities for working donkeys rearing under smallholder farming systems in Kirinyaga County, (2) farm level factors that are associated with household incomes for farms that keep donkeys within a smallholder farming system in central Kenya as well as (3) to assess phenotypic characteristics of donkeys and their suitability for work. Data was collected using mixed methods including participatory epidemiological methods (PE): listing, pairwise ranking and probing during focus group discussions (FGDs) with 8-12 participants who were donkey owners across the thirteen donkey rearing locations; face to face interviews with 351 donkey owners and users across thirteen administrative units in the study area using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire; in-depth interviews with key informants who had kept or used donkeys for a long time (more than 20 years) in the County. Morphometric data on donkeys’ age, sex, coat color, height at withers, body length and heart girth and body weight were collected on individual donkeys which were sampled from participating households. The data from PE were analyzed using Kruskall-Wallis non-parametric method to test whether median ranks were significantly different from zero. Quantitative data from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were presented as themes using narrative summaries. The benefits obtained from keeping donkeys included incomes obtained from their use in transportation (Z= 5.80) and manure production (Z= 3.47). Men were more involved with working donkeys than women. They were often the donkey owners and care givers (92%). They were also the beneficiaries and controllers of the income generated through the use of the donkeys (95%). The identified challenges included theft for slaughter (Z = 5.99), diseases (Z = 3.03), road accidents (Z =2.83) and malicious cutting (Z = 2.32); while commonly reported diseases were tetanus (Z = 5.35), hoof problems (Z = 4.55), worms (Z = 3.10) and mange (Z = 2.24) infestations. On average, households owned three donkeys with a ratio of male to female donkeys estimated at 2:1. Most (83%) of these donkeys were purchased into farms with a paltry (17%) being farm bred. Furthermore, most households (98%) relied on donkeys as their primary source of income. The monthly gross margin obtained through commercial transport of goods using donkeys was 9,272 ± 41.7 KES per donkey; implying a gross profit of 62%. The mean daily gross margin from working donkeys was 300 KES per donkey, as compared to only 100 ± 23 KES gross income obtained from cattle rearing. The farm level factors that were associated with level of household incomes included the number of working donkeys reared per farm (P < 0.001), number of hours these donkey worked (P = 0.05), savings from using own donkey transportations (P < 0.001) and engaging in crops (P = 0.017) and other livestock farming (P = 0.004). Alternative household income could be earned through donkeys from the sale of donkey manure at a market price of 430 ± 26 KES per bag for crop production, hiring out of donkeys for work at 379 ± 16 KES per day as well as sale of adult donkeys or their foals at a market price of 16,000 ± 252 KES and 8,000 ±237 KES respectively for use as replacement stock. The average weight of the adult working donkey in the central highlands of Kenya was 155.5Kg ± 1.71; height at withers was 99.7 cm ± 0.50; heart girth of 113.7cm ± 0.43 and a body length of 113.2 cm ± 0.58. All these body measurements varied significantly between sex and age groups of donkeys (P < 0.001). Review of published studies reveal that apart from height at withers, donkeys raised in Kenya have larger sizes compared to other working donkeys in different parts of the world; an indication of genetic diversity for working donkeys locally and geographical location and husbandry practices. Majority of the donkeys in the central highlands of Kenya were in a state of good welfare with 86% having moderate to ideal body condition scores of 2.5 and 3 (range of 1-5), with 18% showing signs of lameness and only 5% showing lesions on the body. The results calls for a shift in attention on donkey health and welfare, which for most part is ignored by livestock extension agents and policy makers in most farming systems across the developing world, where communities rely on donkeys for support of subsistence livelihood system. Furthermore, these findings provide opportunities for future research on reasons for phenotypic diversity between donkeys raised in Kenya and other parts of the world.