Why horses and donkeys still have a place in agriculture

No fuel or batteries required! With the world seeking to go green in the face of climate change, equids such as horses, donkeys and mules might just be the next big thing in farming. Janine Ryan reports.

- Janine Ryan

Before mechanisation became a mainstay of modern agriculture, animals, such as oxen and horses, were used for transportation and ploughing. Since the introduction of tractors and other machinery and vehicles, however, draught animals have become almost obsolete in some parts of the world. But in many countries in Africa, and elsewhere, horses and donkeys still play a crucial role in agriculture.

According to Prof Alan Guthrie, director of the University of Pretoria’s Equine Research Centre, there are at least 112 million domesticated equids in the world, consisting of around 60 million horses, 42 million donkeys and 10 million mules. The vast majority of these are working animals. Guthrie says that about 13 million donkeys live in Africa alone. In many countries, equids are still involved in ploughing, tilling, weeding and transporting inputs, harvests and families.

Research also points to the value of horses on modern farms. Indeed, some researchers believe that as the world continues to go green, horses, donkeys and mules may become ever more important, even on large commercial farms.

WORKFORCE

In the past, before the invention of the combustion engine, horses and donkeys were, of course, used as the workforce on a farm.

In an article in Mountain Xpress, Buster Norton, a maize, tobacco and sorghum producer in north-west Carolina in the US, says that despite owning five tractors, he often uses horses to perform certain tasks more rapidly.

“There’s a few jobs they excel in, such as getting wood off these rough hills or ploughing on steep land where the tractors can’t [get to].”