Evaluation of Changing Pattern in Livestock Types in Sokoto-Rima River Basin, a Tropical Semi-Arid Region of Nigeria

The study examined the changing pattern in livestock types in Sokoto Rima-River Basin, semi-arid Nigeria. Clustered sampling technique was used to administer questionnaire to 450 respondents from 15 agricultural settlements in 15 Local Government Areas in the basin. Data were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and pairwise t-test. Seventy-one percent (70.7%) of the farmers reared livestock in the 1970s, out of which 10.2 to 13.6% reared only cattle, sheep and goats while the combination of cattle and sheep, cattle and goats, sheep and goats, and cattle, sheep and goats varied from 3.6 to 20.2%. In the 2000s, 80% of the farmers reared livestock, with a variation of 10.4 to 11.6% for cattle, sheep and goats only, and 2.9 to 26% for cattle and sheep, cattle and goats, sheep and goats and cattle, sheep and goats respectively. The total of 39.6 to 45% farmers in the basin reared cattle, sheep and goats in the 1970s while 44.7 to 55.1% reared it in 2000s. The rearing of cattle only, sheep and goats, and cattle, sheep and goats together increased by 0.2% to 6.6% while sheep only, goats only, cattle and sheep, and cattle and goats decreased by 0.3% to 2%. The total cattle reared has increased by 5.1% over time, while that of sheep and goats increased by 10.1% and 11.4% respectively. Sheep are 2.4% more than goats and 10.4% more than cattle. Livestock rearing has increased by 9.3% during the study period. A pairwise t-test showed no significant difference between the livestock types in the 1970s and 2000s in the study period.