Independent of the animal species and the herd size,
selling livestock was the major source for covering
planned as well as unplanned expenses. Unplanned ex-penses during the last 5 years arose mainly due to health
costs, emergency debts, unplanned ceremonies, agricul-tural inputs and crop failures (Fig. 2). For 60 % of the re-spondents these expenses were covered by selling live-stock and about 20 % of the farmers stated to sell other
agricultural products. One third of the respondents paid
unplanned ceremonies with their savings.
Planned expenses during the last 5 years included
costs for assets, dwelling, ceremonies, education, debts,
replacement of stock and land (Fig. 3). More than half
of the respondents covered the respective expenses by
sales of livestock. Another major source, especially
for paying planned debts and education costs, was the
sale of other agricultural products. Costs for replace-