Origins of Specialized Pastoral Production in East Africa

The results of recent archeological research in the Loita-Mara area of Kenya offer new information on the timing and process of the development of pastoralism in East Africa. They suggest that a pattern of specialized pastoral production, similar to that of contemporary East African pastoralists such as the Maasai, was present in parts of East Africa 2,000 years ago. It may have developed as a result of new opportunities for increased pastoral production. A bimodal pattern of rainfall with a short dry season, similar to the modern climatic regime, appeared about 3,000 years ago, which allowed year-round milk production from cattle herds. The development of pastoralism in East Africa preceded agriculture and took place in a social and economic context of relationships between hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. Environmental opportunity, combined with cultural competition, may have provided the impetus toward pastoral specialization.     

Individual and Collective Rationality in Pastoral Production: Evidence From Northern Kenya

This study explores the individual and collective rationality of livestock accumulation in pastoral production using data gathered in northern Kenya. Results suggest accumulating wealth in livestock even when facing the prospect of sudden dramatic loss makes sense at the household level, and that there is limited empirical support to the contention that herd accumulation at the household level imposes a cost on other households. I conclude by arguing the record of failure in pastoral development may be at least partially due to a faulty conceptual foundation, and suggest facilitating herd accumulation may offer more promise than discouraging it.     

Pastoral dairy marketing and household wealth interactions and their implications for calves and humans in Ethiopia

Surveys of pastoral households in a semi-nomadic Borana community during 1987–1988 were used to test the hypothesis that poorer families living closest to a market town would be most affected by the enhanced opportunity to sell dairy products, which would intensify competition between people and calves for milk and have negative implications for calf management. These poorer families indeed reported the highest rates of milk offtake per cow, and the milk increment was probably sold to purchase more grain for human consumption at the expense of milk intake for the calf. Consequently, this strategy may increase the susceptibility of malnourished calves to disease, especially those from lower-producing dams. Benefits of improved human energy intake from grain and retention of livestock capital must be weighed against risks of calf death and possible malnutrition of people from milk restriction when assessing dairy marketing trade-offs that are most acute for the poor. Opportunity to sell dairy products at favorable terms of trade helps the poorest people survive, and their risks could be mitigated by policies that facilitate grain marketing in the rangelands and interventions that improve calf feeding management, diversify human diets, and create alternative opportunities for women to generate income. The households postulated to be most at risk were identified from a complex, but logical, interaction among factors of distance to market, household wealth, and the quality of milking cows held. This indicates that targeting such needy groups for development assistance may require a more detailed and interdisciplinary analysis of production systems than is commonly practiced.     

Pastoral Sedentarization and Its Effects on Children’s Diet,Health, and Growth Among Rendille of Northern Kenya

Throughout the arid regions of Africa formerly mobile pastoral populations are becoming sedentary. Although pastoral sedentarization is encouraged by international development agencies and national governments as solutions to food insecurity, poor health care, and problems of governance, it has not been demonstrated that abandoning the pastoral way of life, and particularly childrens access to milk and other livestock products, is beneficial to the health and well-being of pastoral populations. This paper reports the results of a 3-year study of one pastoral and four settled Rendille communities of northern Kenya based on data from 17 repeated bimonthly surveys of childhood dietary, growth, and morbidity patterns and household level economic strata. Bivariate analysis of 5,535 measurements from 488 children from birth to 9 years revealed that age-specific height and weight measurements for the pastoral community are uniformly heavier and taller than children from the sedentary villages. Multivariate analysis using Generalized Estimating Equations methodology showed that the amount of milk consumed was always a statistically significant determinant of child weight and height growth, regardless of drought or non-drought times and breastfeeding status. Other significant determinants of child growth include morbidity and poverty, both associated with sedentary communities. These results indicate that international development assistance should not neglect improvements in livestock production and support of pastoral movements in Africas arid lands.     

Nutritional Consequences of Wealth Differentials in East African Pastoralists: The Case of the Datoga of Northern Tanzania

Among African pastoralists evidence that wealth is associated with other measures of household success is scant and the significance of wealth differentials for family welfare remains poorly understood. Predictions that wealth in livestock is associated with increased adequacy of household food supply and with improved child nutrition are tested with longitudinal data on herd size, household composition, food supply, and anthropometric status collected in 1992 for a sample of traditional Datoga households (n = 20) living in the Eyasi basin in northern Tanzania. Although a majority subsisted below poverty cutoffs estimated for east African pastoral populations, there was large variation among households in measures of wealth and resource availability. Individuals in relatively wealthy households did not appear to benefit either in terms of adequacy of household food supply or in terms of average growth performance of young children. Theoretical and methodological challenges in the study of the relationship between wealth and health in nomadic pastoralists are discussed.     

Women's changing economic roles with pastoral sedentarization: Varying strategies in alternate Rendille communities

The trend of pastoral sedentarization in Africa presents new economic opportunities to women through the sale of dairy products, agricultural produce, and labor. This study of Rendille of northern Kenya shows a variety of economic strategies pursued by women in nomadic pastoral, settled agro-pastoral, and town communities. Results of household budgets and interviews with married women indicate that urban centers attract both wealthier Rendille women selling milk and poorer women engaged in wage-labor and petty commodity trade; time allocation data shows that women living in towns work as strenuously as those in pastoral communities, while men in towns work less than in pastoral communities and less than women in both communities; and anthropometric data of women and children suggest that increases in women's income may have a beneficial effect on the nutrition and well-being of their children.     

The Importance of Bushmeat in the Livelihoods of West African Cash-Crop Farmers Living in a Faunally-Depleted Landscape

Bushmeat is an important resource in the livelihoods of many rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and may be a crucial safety-net for the most vulnerable households, especially during times of economic hardship. However, little is known about the impacts of wildlife depletion on these functions. This study quantifies the role of bushmeat in diversified rural household economies in a wildlife depleted forest-farm landscape in Ghana, assessing its importance overall, as well as differentiated by the relative vulnerability of households. Using repeat socioeconomic questionnaires (N=787) among 63 households over a one-year period, the following hypotheses were tested: (a) vulnerable households harvest more bushmeat; (b) bushmeat contributes a greater proportion of household production in vulnerable households; (c) bushmeat is more important for cash income than consumption in vulnerable households; and (d) bushmeat sales are more important for vulnerable households. The bushmeat harvest value averaged less than US$1.0 per day for 89% of households and comprised less than 7% of household production value. Household wealth and gender of the household head had little effect on the importance of bushmeat. However, bushmeat harvest and sales were highest during the agricultural lean season. Overall, most harvested bushmeat (64%) was consumed, enabling households to spend 30% less on meat/fish purchases. These findings suggest that, despite heavily depleted wildlife and diversified livelihoods, bushmeat continues to have an important role in rural livelihoods by acting as a safety net for income smoothing and reducing household expenditure during times of economic hardship.     

Sedentism, seasonality, and economic status: A multivariate analysis of maternal dietary and health statuses between pastoral and agricultural Ariaal and Rendille communities in northern Kenya

This paper examines longitudinal data to assess the effects of the recent transition from pastoralism to sedentary agriculture for Ariaal and Rendille mothers in northern Kenya. Dietary, morbidity, and anthropometric data resulting from bimonthly repeated surveys of the pastoral community of Lewogoso and the sedentary agricultural community of Songa, covering the period from September 1994-July 1995, were used to test two hypotheses: 1) that sedentism is associated with changes in diet, seasonality, morbidity, and socioeconomic differentiation, and 2) that these changes affect maternal body composition. The first hypothesis is partly supported, with starch replacing milk in the sedentary diet. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed no seasonal effects for diet in the agricultural sample, while starch consumption was significantly affected by seasonality for the pastoral sample. The agricultural community also featured economic dietary disparities favoring wealthier mothers, while no such effect was found in the pastoral community. However, no seasonal or economic effects were found for morbidity patterns in either sample. The second hypothesis is also partially supported, as a generalized estimating equations analysis revealed differences in the way diet and economic strata influence maternal anthropometric values. Economic status was significantly associated with maternal arm-fat area in Lewogoso. Milk was a significant factor associated with maternal weight and arm-muscle area in Songa. These findings are discussed in light of development policy implications.     

Heilige Bäume und Pflanzen

During the last century the Maa‐speaking Il Chamus of Kenya have gone from irrigation farming to a pastoral economy based on small stock and cattle kept primarily for their milk. The author of this article contributes to a more nuanced picture of the “pastoral woman” by illustrating how widowhood changes those patterns of behaviour that the Il Chamus normally expect of women at particular life‐stages. He also considers the changes that widows are increasingly coming to face due to present‐day increases in non‐pastoral demands for labour, economic diversification, and the formalization of resource control.     

Land-use and Land-cover Changes in Pastoral Drylands: Long-term Dynamics,Economic Change,and Shifting Socioecological Frontiers in Baringo,Kenya

Human Ecology - The ongoing fragmentation of pastoral drylands is a matter of concern throughout Africa. Using the example of rangelands in northern Baringo County, Kenya, that were under uniform...     

祁连山牧区妇女社会地位及其对草地政策的认知度

牧区妇女社会地位的高低对草地生态系统健康具有重要的影响。以祁连山区的天祝藏族自治县抓喜秀龙乡为调查研究区域,随机抽取100户藏族牧户为研究对象,采用问卷、座谈和关键人物座谈等形式,对妇女在社会生产中充当的角色、日常生活中承担的家务状况、受教育程度、参与社会活动情况以及对草地政策的认知等方面进行了系统调查和分析。研究结果表明:在农村社会变革中,女性是畜牧业生产的主力军,承担着将近80%的生产管理工作,74.3%的日常家务。其在家庭经济中的决策权和农村社会中的地位也在逐渐提高,在经济方面占36.5%的支配权,拥有14.5%的决策权。但是,妇女的受教育的程度普遍较低,女性的文盲率达14.4%。因此,妇女对草地生产管理技术的接受程度较低,对草原管理方面的政策及相关的法规缺乏认识,这将会对牧区草地畜牧业的可持续发展产生潜在影响。     

Household energy and recycling of nutrients and carbon to the soil in integrated crop‐livestock farming systems: a case study in Kumbursa village,Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Soil amendment with organic wastes in the Highlands of Ethiopia has been greatly reduced by widespread use of dung cakes and crop residues as fuels. This study assessed the interaction between household energy and recycling of nutrients and carbon to the soil using household survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, direct observations and measurements between 2014 and 2015 in Kumbursa village (Central Highlands of Ethiopia). All surveyed households were entirely dependent on biomass fuel for cooking, with production and consumption rates directly related to wealth status, which significantly varied (P < 0.001) among three farm wealth groups (poor, medium and rich). Crop residues and dung cakes accounted for 80(±3)% by energy content and 85(±4)% by dry mass weight of total biomass fuel consumption. Mean losses were 59(±2) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 nitrogen (109(±8) kg yr^?1 per household), 13.9(±0.3) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 phosphorus (26(±2) kg yr^?1 per household), 79(±2) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 potassium (150(±11) kg yr^?1 per household) and 2100(±40) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 organic carbon (3000(±300) kg yr^?1 per household). Rich farmers lost significantly more carbon and nutrients in fuel than farmers in other wealth groups. However, these losses were spread over a larger area, so losses per land area were significantly higher for medium and poor than for rich farmers. This means that the land of poorer farmers is likely to become degraded more rapidly due to fuel limitations than that of rich farmers, so increasing the poverty gap. The estimated financial loss per household due to not using dung and crop residues as organic fertilizer was 162(±8) USSoil amendment with organic wastes in the Highlands of Ethiopia has been greatly reduced by widespread use of dung cakes and crop residues as fuels. This study assessed the interaction between household energy and recycling of nutrients and carbon to the soil using household survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, direct observations and measurements between 2014 and 2015 in Kumbursa village (Central Highlands of Ethiopia). All surveyed households were entirely dependent on biomass fuel for cooking, with production and consumption rates directly related to wealth status, which significantly varied (P < 0.001) among three farm wealth groups (poor, medium and rich). Crop residues and dung cakes accounted for 80(±3)% by energy content and 85(±4)% by dry mass weight of total biomass fuel consumption. Mean losses were 59(±2) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 nitrogen (109(±8) kg yr^?1 per household), 13.9(±0.3) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 phosphorus (26(±2) kg yr^?1 per household), 79(±2) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 potassium (150(±11) kg yr^?1 per household) and 2100(±40) kg ha^?1 yr^?1 organic carbon (3000(±300) kg yr^?1 per household). Rich farmers lost significantly more carbon and nutrients in fuel than farmers in other wealth groups. However, these losses were spread over a larger area, so losses per land area were significantly higher for medium and poor than for rich farmers. This means that the land of poorer farmers is likely to become degraded more rapidly due to fuel limitations than that of rich farmers, so increasing the poverty gap. The estimated financial loss per household due to not using dung and crop residues as organic fertilizer was 162(±8) US$ yr^?1. However, this is less than their value as fuels, which was 490(±20) US$ yr^?1. Therefore, farmers will only be persuaded to use these valuable assets as soil improvers if an alternative, cheaper fuel source can be found.     

Coping Strategies in Livestock-dependent Households in East and Southern Africa: A Synthesis of Four Case Studies

Integrated assessment seeks to combine models of the ecological as well as the social system to allow different scenarios to be tested in terms of their likely impacts on ecological functioning and household well-being. We outline such work undertaken in four case studies in East and southern Africa: pastoralist communities in northern Tanzania, agro-pastoralists in southern Kenya, communal and commercial ranchers in South Africa, and mixed crop-livestock farmers in western Kenya. Results from these case studies are synthesised to test the hypothesis that households’ capacity to adapt in the face of increasing external stresses is governed by flexibility in livelihood options. The results support this hypothesis. There is considerable variation in how households in these places cope with external stresses. Options include intensification, diversification, and increasing off-farm economic activities, and these depend on household objectives and attitudes as well as on access to natural resources, inputs and output markets. The results also indicate that generally it is the poorer households that can gain the most from implementing such options for coping and managing risk. Quantifying likely household and ecosystem impacts of different options is a crucial step in targeting appropriate technology, policy and adaptation interventions in the face of considerable system changes. We conclude with some research needs to improve integrated assessment tools that may allow us to represent more realistically the highly complex decision-making milieu of householders in sub-Saharan Africa who are dependent on ecosystem goods and services for a large part of their livelihoods.     

Modeling rendille household herd composition

Previous analysis of Rendille household herd composition revealed a transition from camel to cattle ownership for sedentary impoverished Rendille pastoralists of northern Kenya. In an attempt to delineate determinants of livestock holdings, logistic regression analysis of 112 household herds from the Rendille settlement of Korr, Marsabit District, Kenya was undertaken. Results indicated that household wealth, measured in present livestock holdings, past drought losses, and livestock sales, formed better predictors of cattle ownership than did household characteristics pertaining to labor supply, wage earners, age-set membership, and birth order of household head. These results are discussed in light of pastoral strategies designed to minimize risk.     

Socioeconomic Differentials Between HIV Caregivers and Noncaregivers: Is There a Selection Effect? A Case of Older People Living in Nairobi City Slums

This article seeks to investigate the association between caregiving to someone with an HIV-related illness and the socioeconomic status of the caregiver using a population-based survey of 1,587 older people living in Nairobi slums. Findings indicate significant differences in living arrangements, wealth, income, and expenditure between HIV caregivers and noncaregivers. HIV caregivers lived in larger households and were also more likely to live in households with a large number of children younger than the age of 15 years. Whereas a high proportion of HIV caregivers were ranked highly in terms of wealth status, differences in per capita income and expenditure were not significant when household size and other confounders were accounted for. The financial costs associated with caring for someone with a chronic illness and the reliance on family members with financial ability for material support, a common feature of African extended family systems, may account for the relative economic advantage of HIV caregivers.     

Is Poverty Driving Borana Herders in Southern Ethiopia to Crop Cultivation?

This study addresses whether or not crop cultivation by Borana herders in southern Ethiopia is motivated by poverty since 80% of the households belong to poor wealth classes (i.e., poor, very poor and destitute). Yet our findings showed little evidence that Borana communities have become self-sufficient in grain production. Compared to wealthy households, poor households generally cultivated the least land and sampled households, producing yields only 31% of the Ethiopian national average. Grain per capita met only 26% of the annual requirement per person, equivalent to three to four months of self-sufficiency per household. The livelihood response model (LRM) developed for testing the relationship between extent of croplands and household wealth showed that poverty alone cannot be motivating herders to cultivate crops. Factors such as shortage of labor, lack of sufficient traction animals, and unreliable rainfall also need to be considered. Crop cultivation has not enabled self-sufficiency, but it has resulted in fragmented grazing lands. Future policies address changes in land use, including improving soil fertility through manure-nutrient transfers, by promoting better integration of crop cultivation and pastoralism. Research is needed to (a) understand household time allocation between crop cultivation and livestock management, (b) improve the LRM by considering temporal variability in the wealth of households and extent of cultivated lands, and (c) understand the role of poverty in motivating the adoption of alternative livelihood coping strategies.     

不同生态恢复措施对草地样带食物消费的影响——以锡林郭勒盟为例

生态工程的实施对区域居民生产生活产生了重要影响。以锡林郭勒草地样带为例,利用2017年8月—2018年7月农牧户食物跟踪调查数据、农牧户问卷调查数据、生态恢复措施数据,结合土地利用数据和社会经济数据等,重点分析了不同生态恢复措施对锡林郭勒草地样带农牧户食物消费的影响。研究结果显示:(1)锡林郭勒草地样带生态恢复措施沿样带自北向南实施力度逐渐变弱,草地恢复措施由以草畜平衡、休牧和禁牧为主向休牧和围栏封育为主转变,草地恢复措施中对人类活动的限制也随之由弱变强;(2)沿草地样带自北向南居民食物消费形成了三种模式,在食物消费数量和消费结构上呈显出由牧区特征向农区特征的转变,即人均食物消费量沿样带递减,食物消费由肉蛋奶和蔬菜水果为主向粮食和蔬菜水果为主转变;(3)食物消费模式受到草地供给、收入及其结构、文化习俗和职业分布等生态、经济和社会多方面因素的影响。研究为实现区域生态、经济和社会的协调发展相关政策的制定提供参考。     

Pastoralism Under Pressure: Tracking System Change in Southern Ethiopia

While economic development has proven elusive in African pastoral systems, change is pervasive. The majority of the Kajiado Maasai, for example, have endured marked declines in per capita livestock holdings and other aspects of human welfare over the past 50 years. We surveyed 317 Borana households to see if similar patterns occurred in southern Ethiopia, and our predictions were largely confirmed. Once viewed as the epitome of sustainable pastoralism, the Borana system now confronts numerous challenges. Decline in per capita cattle holdings has spurred household-level diversification to include maize cultivation and camel husbandry in some areas. Resource pressure has encouraged local annexation of some formerly common access grazing areas. Economic links between pastoral households and local towns still appear rare, however. Our results suggest that patterns of internally induced socioeconomic change due to population pressure in such semiarid systems are broadly predictable, and that development intervention priorities should reflect system dynamics and address emerging issues. A focus on improving risk management by facilitating household economic diversification and restoring some aspects of opportunistic resource use may be the most appropriate development options among the Ethiopian Boran at this time.     

Absentee herd owners and part-time pastoralists: The political economy of resource use in northern Kenya

The prevalence of absentee herd ownership in Africa's pastoral areas is increasing. Its presence has important implications both for local resource management systems and for research programs that address pastoral ecology and related topics. This paper examines patterns of absentee herd ownership in the Baringo District of northern Kenya. This region has been the source of much debate regarding herder mismanagement of range lands. Three categories of absentee herd owners are discussed in the paper: (1) ranchers, (2) livestock traders, and (3) townsmen. It is suggested that the blame for some of the apparent resource mismanagement in the region may lie more with actors in these categories than with the pastoralists themselves. Data collected during an 18-month period in 1980–1981 on pastoral ecology, grazing patterns, and tenure institutions are presented in support of the argument. The paper concludes with a comparative analysis of contemporary resource management strategies in pastoral Africa, emphasizing that: (1) the Baringo case is not an isolated anomaly, and (2) a new orientation toward pastoral studies is warranted.     

Bromide transfer through mother's milk and its impact on the suckling rat

Effects of a high bromide intake in lactating rats on the performance of the dams and on the prosperity of their young were studied. In the dams, two marked consequences undoubtedly caused by high bromide intake were observed: stagnation in the extent of diet and water consumption in the course of the lactation period, and a conspicuous drop in the production rate of mother's milk. A very high intake of bromide in the mothers in the course of the nursing period (about 220 mg Br⁻/d per dam) also caused a marked decrease in the body weight increments in their suckling young. Only about one-half of these young survived and their general condition was very poor. It is suggested that one of the possible reasons for the observed marked decrease in the production of mother's milk in dams with high bromide intake could be a decreased stimulation of the mammary glands as a consequence of reduced consumption of mother's milk by the suckling. Bromide ions ingested by the dams easily moved into the rat milk. Via mother's milk, bromide was transferred in a large extent to the suckling. The amount of bromide in mother's milk depended on the bromide concentration in the drinking water taken by the dams. With the addition of 5 g bromide per liter (providing the mean daily bromide dose of 220 mg), bromide ions replaced about 54% of the chloride in the milk. A rise in the concentration of both halogens caused also an increase in the concentration of sodium in mother's milk. The exact mechanism(s) of bromide interference with postnatal developmental processes in the young remain(s) unclear. Presented in part at the, 4th International Symposium on Trace Elements in Human: New Perspectives held in Athens (Greece) on 9–11 October 2003.