Workshop on pastoralism and African livestock development

This report summarizes the discussions of that workshop. Workshop topics included range degradation and productivity, program and project objectives, institution building, marketing, and case studies examining the SODESP Senegalese Project, the Maasai Livestock Project in Tanzania, livestock development in Kenya, and the evolution of livestock projects in Botswana. Consensus on the following points was achieved. (1) Quantitative data relating to pastoral systems are unreliable for two reasons. First, arid and semiarid regions experience considerable climatic instability. Data gathered at a specific time or location may not be relevant under future conditions. Second, data gathering techniques are insufficiently standardized to encourage comparability. (2) Management units for development interventions in livestock should be both small scale and based on existing cultural ecological systems. In large projects, decisionmaking is centralized and remote from individual herd managers who are locally in charge of herd movements and offtake. (3) Herd mobility can be due to crisis-survival mechanisms or effective strategies for long-term range exploitation. Planners must understand these processes and find ways of delivering quality-of-life services to mobile populations without constraining mechanisms of pastoral life. (4) Semiarid rangelands can undergo biological and climatic stress without long-term secular degradation, the very identification of which is difficult. Incorrect range analysis and treatment can exacerbate the semiarid ecosystem. (5) Livestock program emphasis should be placed on supporting the subsistence base of the pastoral herder rather than stressing commercial activities benefitting consumers. (6) Program monitoring and evaluation should be made components of programs in the livestock sector. Areas of further research are specified. Appendices include a list of workshop participants and agenda, and questionnaires.