Assessment of community knowledge, attitude and practices of livestock identification and perceived effectiveness in curbing livestock rustling in Karamoja Sub-Region

Abstract

The Karamojongs are pastoral communities entirely reliant on livestock especially cattle, goats and sheep for their livelihoods. Livestock rustling is however rampant sometimes involving loss of whole herd and or human lives. A survey was conducted to characterize livestock identification practices and perceived effectiveness with 80 agro pastoralists to assess community‟s knowledge, attitude and practices of livestock identification and perceived effectiveness in curbing livestock rustling in Karamoja. Results indicated that, majority (96.3%) of the respondents, both men and women were very knowledgeable about livestock identification, methods used, implementation and tools used. Results also revealed all farmers had a positive attitude towards animal identification methods especially the traditional methods compared to modern methods. All the farmers were in agreement that livestock identification was a feasible control strategy in curbing livestock rustling in Karamoja. Almost all (98.8%) pastoralists practice livestock identification using their specific clan brand and notches marks for identifying their animals from other herds/communities. Results indicated that the pastoralists perceive red hot iron branding was the most effective method to curb cattle raids/theft and or loss in the region. The study therefore concluded that livestock identification using area or clan based branding marks could be a successful strategy in curbing livestock rustling in Karamoja region. This study therefore recommends Sub county and individual owner specific branding marks proceeded by pastoralists, sensitization across the entire Karamoja region.