Document authored by Ahmed E. Sidahmed (IFAD), 1996.
Presented
to the Development Studies Association Annual Conference. Symposium
on Restocking: Bridge Hall, University of Reading, UK: 18-20 September
1996. Also published as IFAD Technical Advisory Division Staff Working
Paper No. 27, June 1998.
In
most of the dryland areas, pastoralists have lost their political and
institutional power (traditional administration) to predominantly inefficient
and inconsistent government policies, regulations and administrative alternatives
(Abdullah, 1982). However, until very recently, the insights of development
experts such as French (1966) - who acknowledged the strategic value of
extreme mobility in traditional pastoral systems (Figure
1) as a means of adjustment to fluctuations in forage and water supplies
- were not popular. The academic and development community was not ready
to understand Johnson (1979), who considered pastoral nomadism as a typical
example of a flexible and opportunistic utilization of widely scattered
resources.
Introduction
Table of Contents | Foreword | II. Cause of Poverty Among Nomadic and Transhumant Populations
In
most of the dryland areas, pastoralists have lost their political and
institutional power (traditional administration) to predominantly inefficient
and inconsistent government policies, regulations and administrative alternatives
(Abdullah, 1982). However, until very recently, the insights of development
experts such as French (1966) - who acknowledged the strategic value of
extreme mobility in traditional pastoral systems (Figure
1) as a means of adjustment to fluctuations in forage and water supplies
- were not popular. The academic and development community was not ready
to understand Johnson (1979), who considered pastoral nomadism as a typical
example of a flexible and opportunistic utilization of widely scattered
resources.
Figure 1 - Nomadic Livestock Movements in Western Sudan
Source: Sidahmed and Koong (1984)
Most donors could not understand why the mega-projects in eastern and southern Africa, that were designed around the concepts of cattle posts and fenced group ranches, had failed (e.g. UNU-Khartoum Workshop, 1977). The disappointment was reflected in the sharp reduction of donor investment in livestock development. For example, the World Bank's livestock lending for sub-Saharan Africa decreased from a 20% share of total agricultural sector lending (about USD 18 million per year) in the 1970s to 7% (or about USD 8 million) in the 1980s (de Haan, 1992).
The good omen is that a consensus, albeit belated, has been reached about the importance of pastoralism as a rational way of managing the natural resources of dryland areas (Behnke and Scoones, 1992; Scoones, 1995; UNCCD, 1995). This was also reflected in the recommendations of the Strategic Planning Task Force assigned to define the technical basis for the establishment of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The task force considered the opportunistic strategies of mobility (of sedentary livestock from the wetter areas to the drylands and vice versa) as the only viable way of using natural resources in the dryland areas (CGIAR, 1994; Sidahmed, 1994a).This is a very important consideration as it should facilitate the redirection of pastoral livestock development efforts to a more realistic orientation in the 21st century.
The challenge for academic, development and donor institutions,
therefore, is how to develop strategies, policies and technical solutions
that could help the majority of the inhabitants of these areas (the marginalized,
poor nomads and transhumants) to cope both with climatic and man-made
disasters and with uncertainties. Restocking is one of the innovative
but least understood or assessed approaches to livestock development in
the small-scale pastoral sector. A thorough understanding of the opportunistic
strategies of the pastoralists is needed in order for this approach to
have a direct implication for the food security and livelihood of poor
and destitute herding communities.
