The Nile basin experiences wide spread poverty, lack of food and land and water

degradation. Because poverty is linked to access to water for crop, fish and

livestock based livelihoods, improving access to water and increasing agricultural

water productivity can potentially contribute substantially to poverty reduction.

The major goal of the Nile Basin Focal project is to identify high potential

investments that reduce poverty yet reverse trends in land and water

degradation. This is done through the implementation of six interlinked work

PN37 (Increasing Water-Use Efficiency for Food Production through Better Livestock Management -

The Nile River Basin) set out to improve food security, reduce poverty and enhance agroecosystem

health by managing livestock for more effective overall use of water. PN37 responded to water

challenges posed by the CPWF, to the Nile Basin Initiative’s goal of better sharing benefits of water

use, and to global need for the livestock sector to use agricultural water more efficiently and

The study was carried out in Shinile and Erer districts of Shinile Zone of the Somali National Regional State. The objectives of the study were: to characterize the production system and phenotypic characteristics of the Blackhead Somali; to evaluate on-farm survivability/ mortality of Blackhead Somali lambs during pre- weaning period and to determine the best fitted regression model for prediction of live weight of Blackhead Somali sheep breed based on body measurements under field conditions.