Land tenure and livestock development in sub-Saharan Africa

beginning in 1979 sponsored a series of studies by the University of Wisconsin Land Tenure Center on pastoral development projects in East, West, and Southern Africa. Those studies are herein summarized. Conventional donor policy for livestock projects in the 1960's and early 1970's is examined first. Generally, this strategy focused on improving livestock quality and range conditions and increasing market "offtake," and largely ignored the broad social, economic, and ecological environment of the pastoralists. More recent approaches have recognized the importance of these broader issues, but this alone has not guaranteed success for African pastoral systems are in a transitional stage and herders often respond in unexpected ways to incentives offered by new markets and projects. Regional differences in Africa's changing pastoral systems are next examined. The experience of A.I.D. and World Bank projects in East Africa (Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania) and West Africa (Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, Cameroon, and Mali) are reviewed, followed by a discussion of the evolution and outcomes to date of Botswana's Tribal Grazing Land Policy. A variety of land tenure issues are identified and analyzed in these regional studies. The tendency of host governments and donors to overemphasize the institutional upgrading of range control and marketing agencies is noted. Concluding that some form of communal tenure will be the rule for the foreseeable future, the authors outline a tenure system that will allow small and medium producers continued participation in commercial livestock production: (1) large, commercial producers may need exclusive rights to extensive grazing areas; (2) small and medium producers, because of their inability to capitalize private range investments, will need some kind of modified communal tenure (development thereof will often be difficult, requiring close attention during project design); and (3) small, itinerant producers present special problems best dealt with through land use zoning and promotion of mixed farming or, in some cases, off-farm employment.