Pastoralist agricultural systems
Pastoralism is a form of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is widely carried out by nomadic farmers in dryland regions, e.g. the Sahel Zone, Central Asia or the Horn of Africa. Pastoralist farmers raise goats, sheep, camels, cows or llamas in savannah regions. One of the core features of pastoralist farmers is their mobility and careful use of natural resources. Pastoralists are widely regarded as “best custodians of land and water resources” due to their careful land use approach (FAO 2001; Sulieman 2012).
1) Background
Two theories exist on how pastoralism was created. Bates and Less proposed that it originates from mixed farming. Due to an increase of irrigation agriculture and productivity, higher population growth and pressures on natural resources occurred. The bordering areas of regions with intensive farming were left to animal breeding, which caused cattle breeders to cover large distances to collect forage.
The second theory suggests pastoralism stems from hunting and gathering. Hunters and gatherers were knowledgeable of herd mobility and animal needs. This theory suggests that pastoralism has evolved over time as a survival strategy of foraging smaller animals, fishing, collecting shellfish or insects, and gathering wild plant foods such as fruits, seeds, and nuts.
2) Pastoralist farming systems
Pastoral strategies can be categorized in several ways. For example, it can be categorized
by species;
by management system;
by geography;
by ecology (FAO 2001).
In addition, pastoralism is broadly distinguished between developed and developing countries. While in the former countries, pastoralist farming may be fenced and protected by unambiguous tenure, the latter may lack physical and legal protection of pastoralists (FAO 2001).
Pastoral livelihood systems are based on three foundational pillars:
• Natural resources (water and pasture in drylands);
• People (family and institutions); and
• Assets (livestock)
Each of these pillars are critical for the well-being of pastoralists livelihoods. A profound understanding of each pillars is important to break negative cycles of environmental and social impacts in developing countries. The most critical factor of pastoralism is mobility. In for example Sudan, entire families may move with their herds while in some cases a part of the pastoralist family remains settled (UNEP 2013).
3) Regions
Pastoralism occurs across the world. It is however negatively affected by the expansion of intensive agriculture. For example, pastoralism is declining in areas such as the MENA region, East and South Asia, Australia, North America, Sub-Sahara Africa and Europe. On the other hand, it is expanding in South America, East Africa, Central Asia and the circumpolar zone (FAO 2001).
Although only very few estimates exist on the number of pastoralist farmers across the world, De Haan, Steinfeld and Blackburn (1997) assume a total number of 20 million pastoralist households and 240 million individuals across the world. Given the strong connection between pastoralism and dryland farming, the importance of pastoralist farmers may increase as a result of desertification and climate change (FAO 2001).
4) Challenges and Governance
Given the high mobility of pastoralist farmers, population growth, urbanization, climate change and the potential competition with modern agricultural practices, pastoralists have been exposed to a number of challenges. First, pastoralists’ routes may interfere with large-scale agricultural production. This may in particular affect customary land rights, where traditional herding routes are affected due to investment in agriculture. Second, population growth and urbanization in developing countries may prompt governments to decrease the role of pastoralism in order not to interfere in their countries’ food security strategies. Growing urban populations have often different consumption patterns than meat or diary products as produced by pastoralists. Furthermore, animal health pastoralist production may not be up to standards required by more affluent urban populations. Third, climate change may decrease the availability of water resources for animal drinking purposes; therefore competition and conflict over natural resources between pastoralists may increase over time. Fourth, the use of pesticides and fertilizers in modern agricultural production may negatively impact the health of ecosystems for animal grazing and animal health (FAO 2001; Sulieman 2013; UNEP 2013).
The widespread absence of land tenure for traditional pastoralists has led to growing concerns among the development community. It is feared that pastoralist farmers may be losing out against large-scale agricultural production. Development agencies have thus launched multi-stakeholder dialogues to promote the inclusion of pastoralist farming in national and state policy-making to ensure a protection of the farmers in future agricultural development policies (UNEP 2013).
5) Links
ODI Pastoral Development Network
http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/4375-pastoral-development-network-papers
Tufts University Future of Pastoralism
http://sites.tufts.edu/feinstein/research/the-future-of-pastoralism
UNEP Sudan
http://www.unep.org/disastersandconflicts/CountryOperations/Sudan/Livelihoods/PastoralisminSudan/tabid/54261/Default.aspx
6) References
De Haan, C., Steinfeld, H. & Blackburn, H. (1997) Livestock and the environment: finding a balance. Brussels, European Commission/FAO/World Bank.
Lees, S & Bates, D. (1974) The Origins of Dogged Nomadic Pastoralism: A Systematic Model. American Antiquity, 39, 2.
FAO (2001) Pastoralism in the New Millennium. Rome, FAO.
Sulieman, H.M. (2013) Land Grabbing along Livestock Migration Routes in Gadarif State, Sudan: Impacts on Pastoralism and the Environment. LDPI, De Haag.
UNEP Sudan (2013) Pastoralism in Sudan, Khartoum, UNEP.
