CTA Brussels Briefing on pastoralism: February 22 2012

New challenges and opportunities for pastoralism in ACP countries will be at the core of the next CTA Brussels Briefing.

To be discussed will be the main challenges affecting pastoralists, especially in the ACP countries, and the opportunities provided by existing continental and regional policy frameworks and processes. It will then focus on sharing good practices and experiences from the field across regions. To be identified will be what urgent and concrete policy actions need to be in place to increase support pastoralism.

It will take place on the 22 February 2012 and will be organised in partnership with the African Union Commission, the European Commission (DG DEVCO)the ACP Secretariat, Concord and various media partners.

The Briefing will be fully webstreamed in English and French (from 8h30 a.m. to13.00 p.m. CET).

To see the programme and note of the Briefing, visit brusselsbriefings.

Prospects and pitfalls along Sahel's anti-desertification Great Green Wall

Former goat-herder Samba Ba proudly points to a row of metre-high acacia trees growing amid the fine
grasses that are the only other vegetation in this part of northern Senegal's arid savannah. "Planting trees is a blessing - trees mean life. We call this the Nile River of the Sahel."

Ba hopes that in time the trees will bear black fruits that can be used as goat-feed. He and his fellow villagers are also planting the Sahel acacia, which produces a gum with medicinal properties, the tamarind, which has edible bitter-sweet fruit, and the desert date or "sump" tree, which bears small fruits whose oil can be used in cooking. These are all thorny trees with small leaves, the only kind that can survive in the arid conditions.

Sedentary and semi-nomadic Fulani herdsmen are planting five hectares of vegetable and fruit crops and approximately 1,000 trees as part of the Great Green Wall project ("La Grande Muraille Verte"), an ambitious pan-African environmental programme designed to combat desertification along the southern edge of the Sahara and provide nomadic populations with extra livelihoods while enhancing their food security.

The scheme falls within the framework of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, which aims to decrease poverty and improve food sources, and is being supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Donors have pledged US$3 billion to the 11 participating countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

The governments of these 11 Sahelian states intend that 20 years from now, a giant hedge, 15km wide and 7,000km long, spreading across two million hectares, will help slow the advancing desert and impede the hot winds that increase erosion.

"The wall is just the final result. What we're looking for... is to protect and improve the eco-systems of these Sahel regions, and [through this] to improve the diets, health, lifestyle and environment of the Savannah people," said Matar Cissé, director general of the national agency implementing the project, in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

Chronic drought has made it increasingly difficult for Fulani nomads to make a traditional living as pastoralists. Ba, 42, a Fulani who has settled in the village of Mbar Toubab, 100km south of where the Sahara desert starts in neighbouring Mauritania, says herdsmen would consider settling in such villages if they could earn a living by growing and selling fruit and vegetables.


Cissé said, "We are, we hope, developing a system that will help these people help themselves to stay in one place, create jobs and raise their own incomes. For the nomadic peoples, this could fundamentally change the way they live."


Villagers are taught how to plant market gardens and use drip irrigation by connecting a small elevated water tank to perforated pipes that deliver small amounts of water to each plant. "We travel great distances in search of pasture and water. If this project is successful... this area won't be hopeless any more," Ba said. "To have water and food to feed ourselves and our animals on our doorstep can only be beneficial."

A Niger government study found that pastoralists with small herds had lost 90 percent of their livestock in successive droughts.

So far, the 133 women participating in the scheme in Mbar Toubab have produced lettuce, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, okra, aubergines, watermelons, carrots, cabbages and turnips. Their mango and orange trees have yet to bear fruit, said Kumba Ka, President of the Gardening association, who walks six km every day to work in her garden

Many villagers thought something like this would never be possible. "We're growing so many different types of vegetables that normally only grow where water is deep," Ka said.

Such a project must be based on market research that identifies who will be able to buy the vegetables, where, and at what prices, if it is to support livelihoods and food security, said Peter Gubbels, West Africa coordinator of NGO Groundswell International and author of the Sahel Working Group's recent report, Escaping the Hunger Cycle: Pathways to Resilience in the Sahel.

The Great Green Wall could play an important role in environmental management and supporting nomadic livelihoods, but it must not be seen as "the solution" to food security, Gubbels said. The project risks being too ambitious by taking on desertification as well as food security, which are separate issues, requiring separate solutions.


Food insecurity in the Sahel is largely due to a growing gap between rich and poor, with an "underclass of the bottom 30 percent" living in chronic poverty, he said. Solutions include subsidized prices, social protection schemes, and disaster reduction, among many others.

Desertification is what forces people to migrate. "In the popular imagination desertification is about billowing sand dunes advancing at a rate of two kilometres a year, but... [it] is the overuse of natural resources, over-grazing, intensive farming and the subsequent erosion of land-pockets that become completely denuded and then join together," Gubbels said.

Tree-planting projects to combat desertification work best when the trees are owned by the farmers themselves, said Chris Reij, coordinator of the African Regreening Initiative.

Gubbels noted that "Usually only 20 percent of newly planted trees will survive... so there is a high risk to tree-planting... unless we mobilize millions of [farmers] to invest in trees as well as manage them themselves, the battle against desertification cannot be won."

The most innovative projects to improve the lives and livelihoods of pastoralists are being developed by the pastoralists themselves, with the help of NGOs, said Reij. In Niger they have established settlement sites where they plant trees and market gardens alongside health and education services. Pastoralists then migrate from these points.

Rather than using such schemes to encourage the nomads to settle - which often leads to tension with sedentary communities - a combination of mobility and agriculture is the most risk-averse survival strategy. "[Partial] mobility...is a much better and less risky strategy than staying in one place... [which] leads to over-grazing," and if the area does not get much rainfall that year, "you are much more vulnerable," Gubbels pointed out.


In a worst-case scenario, "[Without] sufficient technical guidance and support... [for the Great Green Wall], in a few years you'll see a broken-down tractor, a scattering of a few small trees in the village plantation, a few families benefiting from the market gardening, and little positive overall change, with the poorest families as chronically vulnerable as before," Gubbels said.

However, if the ambitious project is seen as a framework for funding and a platform for sharing information across the 11 Sahelian states, he said, it could positively impact the lives and livelihoods of pastoralists.


IRIN

Better grazing practices hold key to Kenyan droughts

by David Western

Failed rains have tipped the balance from poverty to starvation for 12 million in the Horn of Africa. But they don't explain the depth of the tragedy, any more than the growing threat of climate change explains the recent decades of rangeland deterioration.

Early warning systems have improved greatly since the Sahelian disaster of the 1970s. Several agencies, including the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), predicted severe drought in 2011.

But proxy measures don't predict the depth of droughts. In contrast, data we've collected in southern Kenya over the past four decades with community resource assessors not only show the necessity of monitoring pasture on the ground, but also point to the causes of worsening droughts.

Such data also show that a successful transition from faltering subsistence economies to self-sustaining development depends on addressing the human causes of the tragedy.

Pasture shortages

Pasture in Kenya has declined steadily since the 1980s, and has recovered more slowly with each successive drought as pressures on land have grown. Livestock cycles now determine pasture abundance and the depth of drought far better than rainfall.

Traditional pastures set aside for periods of drought were exhausted by years of compressed grazing long before the rains failed in 2009, with the result that pasture shortages have grown more common and last longer, despite no drop in rainfall. As a result, Kenya's rangelands were abandoned as herders dispersed to the highlands and into neighbouring states in search of forage. Two-thirds of their livestock died in the process, yet this drew little attention in the media or from politicians.

Droughts are now spreading faster and persisting longer as herders move farther in search of pasture, and social bonds and networks break down. Pastures are recovering slower as herders and speculators truck in and re-stock herds with animals from elsewhere.

Traditional practices

Traditional grazing practices in the rangelands demonstrate the adaptability of pastoralism, and gives pointers to how the problems in the rangelands can be addressed.

Pastoralism is an efficient way of using land in arid regions. Like wildlife herds, herders get larger milk yields and higher rates of calf survival by migrating to the greenest pastures and using drought reserves during harsh times.

Seasonal livestock movements give pastures time to recover, enabling them to support large herds and a high human population in dry regions. Wide social networks, as well as close reciprocal ties among neighbours and neighbouring clans, insulate the individual herder against bad times.

All this allows herders to spread their risk and restock their herds faster than a solitary rancher in fenced rangelands...

Systemic problems

So why is there a now crisis in eastern Africa?

The capacity of pastoral economies has been overwhelmed by a ten-fold rise in pastoral population over the last century. Per capita livestock holdings have shrunk, and pastoralist lands and water resources have been annexed for parks, farms and towns. Shrinking lands, restricted movements and persistent grazing are weakening grass growth.

In short, the environmental problems faced by the pastoral lands are systemic.

But 2011 should not have been the tragedy it is: a press release by the Kenya Meteorological Department, for example, shows that four of six stations in northern Kenya had higher rainfall deficits in the 1980s and 1990s than in the last two years.

The current tragedy stems from the remoteness and marginalisation of the northern pastoralists, as well as the effects of civil war, banditry, soaring food prices, mismanagement of national grain reserves and political failure.

Foundations for development

There are no quick fixes for these drought-prone areas. The main priority is to get food and health care to the starving millions. But beyond emergency relief, we must lay the foundations of sustainable development in the marginal lands.

Development will falter unless built on two pillars. First, the land and resource rights of marginalised pastoralists that were usurped by governments must be restored. Property rights will give back to pastoralists the security of tenure needed to conserve resources against outsiders, to counter droughts, to invest in the land and to leverage capital inputs for development. Pastoralists in southern Kenya who have been granted such rights are developing fast, and famine has receded in this region, despite severe droughts.

Second, the institutions and governance that underpin development must be based on common interests. The land-owners associations that have sprung up in Kenya over the last decade show how locally-adapted, self-assembling governance can promote development. These associations have re-established grass banks and seasonal grazing regimes, conservancies, ecotourism, cattle associations, enterprise groups, community scouts, and resources assessors, as well as Lale'enok information centres that gather and deploy information about development opportunities.

Pastoralists are also benefitting from modern technology. For example, cell phones link up community members, and provide both market information and mobile banking facilities. The landowner associations have now come together as the Kenya Rangeland Coalition to mobilise community conservation development initiatives.

If these two pillars of development are built on strong reciprocal ties, mutual interests and the skill of local communities in governing their own resources, famine will recede, the economic transition will be self-sustaining, and climate change will become more manageable.

David Western is Chairman of the African Conservation Centre, in Nairobi, Kenya.

SciDev.net

Ethiopia plans ambitious resettlement of people buffeted by drought

by William Davison


As aid agencies scramble to feed some 11.5 million people suffering from what is being called the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 60 years, Ethiopia's government is enacting a resettlement program that it hopes will be a long lasting solution to a longstanding burden.

In its far-flung regions, including the vast east, populated mostly by ethnic Somali pastoralists, Ethiopia wants to group its scattered semi-nomadic peoples into permanent settlements, largely ending a mobile lifestyle that has sustained people for centuries.

In many ways the plan sounds all too familiar. During the catastrophic famine in the mid-1980s, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam's Marxist junta forced highlanders across the country to fertile lowlands. Tens of thousands perished en route or died in their new, alien surroundings. This time, however, the government says resettlement is voluntary and consists of regional destinations instead of a mass, cross-country exodus.

In the Somali region, which has just under 1.5 million people out of about 5 million in need of food aid, the idea is to create villages near rivers and build irrigation systems, roads, health clinics, and schools. The government sees this as a life-saving measure and as a way to help the pastoralists benefit from Ethiopia's double-digit economic growth. A government pastoralist project with the long-term aim of resettlement will receive some of the $500 million for "building long-term drought resilience" in the region, the World Bank said in late July.

"Especially for pastoralists, the solution is development interventions," says Agriculture State Minister Mitiku Kassa, "water-centered development. Most areas have surface water and there are rivers."

In the dry regions of Somali and Afar, the government hopes 500,000 people in each will resettle, while in the western states of Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz it wants 450,000 to move.

The pastoralist lifestyle is becoming difficult to sustain, says Eugene Owusu, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Ethiopia. "Therefore they need to look at alternative development solutions." Although initially donors were slow to support the program, he has "no doubt" it could have a transformative effect on struggling communities "if it's done well."

But some activists say the programs overseen by local governments will be coercive and rob people of their ancestral lands. They cite an incident in Gambella in which a family that was reluctant to move had their huts torched, possibly by local officials. Others say giving Ethiopia's estimated 9 million pastoralists services without impeding their traditional lifestyles is a better way.


...herders who live there can deal with occasional dry spells, but the frequency has pushed coping mechanisms to breaking points, aid workers say.


"When they are hit with several dry seasons in a row, the result is a crisis," says David Wightwick of Save the Children (STC) UK.  "And at the moment it's going from crisis to catastrophe."


Pastoralists, who dominate a profitable livestock trade, are used to weathering harsh conditions, says Holly Welcome Radice, an STC Ethiopia livelihoods expert, and their customs should be supported instead of transformed, "Historically pastoralists are very adaptable and resilient because they live in harsh places," she says. "They are there because nothing else can be done there."

While pastoralists should have access to public services, cellphones, and the Internet, a mass change is unwise because, she says, "these are environments that are not able to sustain huge sedentary populations."

Ms. Radice says the solution lies in working with historically marginalized communities to take measures such as restoring pasture and increasing vital mobility hindered by private landholdings, borders, or conflicts. "You have to understand what is really causing the crisis – it's not just the failure of rains. It has to do with people's failure to access services; it's people's failure to have a political voice."

But Ethiopia is not known for buckling to foreign charities and it's almost certain that views like Radice's will not shape the pastoralists' future.

"For the long term, the government wants to support pastoralists to pursue sedentary lives along the banks of primary rivers," says Assefa Tewodros, coordinator of the state's Pastoral Community Development Project. The pressures of land degradation, conflict, climate change, and population spikes, he says, mean this is the only option, as the hinterlands are too vast for the government to provide services to dispersed herders.


Christian Science Monitor

Kenyan herders kill animals as drought worsens

Butchered sheep and goats are strung up in a thorn tree ready for cooking in this remote north Kenyan village, as though the people are preparing a giant celebration feast.

But there is no party here and the mood is grim: in desperation, the villagers are killing the animals upon which their lives depend, rather than see them die in the extreme drought sweeping the region.

“We are not happy to have to kill our animals,” said Elema Warrio, an elderly herder, looking on sadly at the 25 carcasses, the latest to be killed in a weekly cull. “We would be happy if there was grazing and water for them, but since we don’t have a choice, we can only kill them,” he added.

Some 12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from the worst drought in decades, with two regions in southern Somalia in famine. Tens of thousands of people have died, as the international community scramble to provide emergency relief.

“This is the worst drought we have had, and we have lost hope of seeing rain,” said Galgalo Wato, a herder and father of seven, waving at the vast and dusty scrubland surrounding the village of 700 people. The land here is too dry for crop farming, and the community depends entirely on animals for their livelihoods.

“In previous droughts we would lose 20 or 30 animals, but then the rains would come and the calves would be born,” Wato added. “It was never as long as this.”

From a herd of 120 cows, 80 goats and seven donkeys once used to carry water, Wato has just three calves left.

“They are the only hope I have,” he said sadly, stroking the flank of one of the precious animals, which stay in the front half of the family’s grass thatch hut.

His family now survive off monthly handouts from the World Food Programme; some grain, cooking oil, beans and other basic goods.

“It is not enough at all,” he added. “That is only for survival.”

But there is little alternative. With so many people desperate to cash in their livestock — which for the pastoralist life, is all the community’s wealth — the market has collapsed.

Here in the Sololo district of northern Kenya, prices have slumped by two-thirds, but several herders say they often cannot even sell their thin and sickly animals at all.

“They are not interested in the market in the animals,” Warrio said.

The few animals still left in the village’s thorn-walled cattle enclosure show their ribs and bones sharp through their skin.

So aid agencies support the slaughtering of animals, providing cash payments closer to earlier market rates for those who volunteer to cull their herd, and then handing the meat out to the most needy in the community.

“The animals would probably die soon with the drought anyway,” said Ibrahim Adan, who heads a local aid agency running the slaughter scheme in the region for the past five months, a programme funded by the European Union.

“So de-stocking has two benefits; injecting cash into the economy so that the people can buy goods in the market, and providing food for the vulnerable households.”

Once the animals are butchered, lines of mothers dressed in colourful wraps and carrying young children line up.

Fifty families each get half a sheep or goat, much of which will be dried in the baking sun to store it, so it can be rationed for the coming days.

But few are hopeful of relief from the drought any time soon, the animals here are running out, and the community is eating the livestock it needs for long-term survival.

Without outside help, the community would collapse. Aid agencies now also supply water tankers to truck in water for the community.

Before, women and children had to trek 22 kilometres (14 miles) with the community’s remaining donkeys through the baking heat to reach the nearest water point still running.

Giant plastic water tanks are also being set up to store rainwater — when it comes.

But the next rains are not due for another three or four months, and the peope are not optimistic for the future.

“Things are not well here,” said Warrio. “If the next rains do not come, what will we do then?”

Capital FM

More criticism of Kenya for GMO maize imports, jatropha in grazing areas

by Kevin J Kelley

The global environmental advocacy group Greenpeace is strongly criticising Kenyan authorities for approving the import of genetically modified organisms (GMO).

“The decision by the Kenyan government is short-sighted and irresponsible,” said Greenpeace Africa campaign director Olivia Langhoff. “Instead of falling into the GMO trap, the government should invest in ecological farming and support local farmers, especially small-scale farmers in sustainable farming.”

Greenpeace charges that the new law allowing import of GMO maize can lead to seed contamination.

“The negative impacts on agro biodiversity have been well documented,” Ms Langhoff declares. “If maize imports are critical in the immediate term,” she adds, “food supplies should be from sources as close to the areas affected by famines as possible.”

Kenya on July 1 became the fourth African country to permit imports of GMO crops, joining South Africa, Egypt and Burkina Faso. Supporters of the move say it is essential in helping to stabilise prices and to feed millions of hungry Kenyans.

Separately, a US-based food research organisation is warning that Kenya's pastoralists, already beleaguered by the worst drought in 60 years, could see pieces of their grazing land given over to Western corporations for cultivation of biofuels.

Richard Jonasse, a leader of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, cites a report last year that 502,000 hectares in Kenya have been leased for potential production of jatropha (oil seed).

“While jatropha is a drought-tolerant species, this does not mean that it grows on unused land,” Jonasse writes. “Pastoralists use dry marginal lands to feed their stock. Taking away this grazing land would have a tremendous impact on these herders, linking their very existence to volatile commodities markets in the economic capitals of Europe and North America.”

The Nation

Kenya land clashes claim 10 lives

Clashes over control of grazing land and water sources in drought-afflicted northern Kenya killed at least 10 people on June 25, police said.

Police and local leaders said the fighting occurred on the border between... two districts in an area that is prone to drought and has been plagued by deadly clashes over resources in the past few years.

The clashes were reportedly sparked by raiders from the Samburu community attacking Somali and Borana herdsmen.

In May, about 20 people died in fighting between raiders from Ethiopia and northern Kenyan tribesmen, prompting the two countries to tighten security along the remote frontiers.

Reuters

Kenyan pastoralists' livestock suffers in drought

As grazing lands dwindle because of the drought ravaging northern and north-eastern Kenya, pastoralists in the arid regions have called for assistance to salvage their remaining herds, saying their livestock are in such physical poor condition that they being rejected by animal traders, a United Nations inter-agency team said on June 8.


Kenyan authorities often help pastoralists to de-stock in times of drought - buying animals that are too weak for the markets before the livestock die of lack of pasture and water, thus ensuring that households earn some money to support themselves after losing their livelihoods.

The inter-agency team, Security in Mobility (SIM)...quoted one pastoralist as saying: "I have lost most of my cows, and the remaining ones are emaciated and dying. There is nowhere to take them to graze. My only option is to dispose them but there is no one willing to buy the animals in such poor condition," said 49-year-old Muro Ali.

The team said that for most of these pastoralists the process of de-stocking, also known locally as "livestock off-take," needs to be implemented within the next six weeks.

Livestock prices have dropped from 6,110 Kenyan shillings (about $70) in April to 5,000 shillings now.

Pasture conditions in Moyale have deteriorated and are expected to worsen further as herders from neighbouring areas, both in Kenya and Ethiopia, move their animals there. Pastoralists and their herds now have to walk distances ranging from 50 to 60 kilometres in search of water and pasture.

UN

West Africa discuss conflicts between pastoralists and settler/farmer communities

Seven member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), including Ghana, are to adopt a common resolution towards addressing the emerging conflicts between pastoralists, mostly Fulanis, and their host communities.

This follows the realisation that these conflicts have become an international phenomenon in the West African sub-region, particularly in the countries the Fulani herdsmen have found as suitable destinations for their activities.

The other countries are Burkina Faso, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

Representatives of these countries met recently in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to strategise on a common mechanism to resolve these conflicts which have been recognised as an emerging threat to peace and security in the sub-region.

The two-day Consultative Meeting on Agriculture and Pastoralist Conflicts in West Africa, which opened February 22, was organised by the West African Network for Peace-building (WANEP), with funding from the Finnish Government.

Participants comprised chiefs, agriculturists, security and conflict resolution experts and political leaders.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, the Executive Director of WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombande, said countries in West Africa could not claim to be unperturbed by the menace of the conflicts due to their threat to internal and external security.

“Not only have these conflicts between pastoralists and farmers become an in-country problem; they have also become a problem between countries,” he noted.

Mr Bombande said the conflicts between farmers and pastoralists had to do with access to natural resources, particularly land and water. He said factors such as population growth and climate change posed a great threat to agriculture and would thus deepen the conflict between pastoralists and farmers as they struggled to gain control over the earth and its resources. He pointed out that it was high time Africa took a serious look at those conflicts because about 60 per cent of its people lived in rural areas and depended largely on agriculture.

“If agriculture fails, Africa will be plunged into crisis. Already, there is increasing rural-urban drift due to the declining interest of the youth in agriculture,” Mr Bombande cautioned.

The Chairperson of WANEP Burkina Faso, Prof Albert Ouadraogo, noted that it was time for Africa to find a lasting and satisfactory solution to those conflicts before allowing them to rise above control. “Through dialogue, we should be able to chart a common agenda towards resolving these conflicts in a manner that will be satisfactory to both sides,” he stated.

It has been noted that the movement of pastoralists from the Sahel to the south of West Africa is largely precipitated by the increasing demand for fresh grazing grounds, as the Sahel has been hit by droughts.
Consequently, the Fulani herdsmen move down south and are attracted to the area by the hospitality of the people and the availability of pasture.

However, the herdsmen have run into troubles with the local people in recent years because of complaints that the cattle herded by the Fulani are destroying crops, while some of the herdsmen are allegedly involved in cattle rustling.

In Ghana, there have also been concerns over environmental degradation and criminal activities by some immigrant pastoralists.

Accra Mail

Land grab fears for Ethiopian rural communities

by Ed Butler

A controversial new farms policy has led to a political clampdown in a remote lowland region of Ethiopia, the BBC has been told. Opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as a direct result of the new policy.

"You cannot speak freely about the land issue now," one local man says, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"You can be arrested or even killed for this. "This is a dark period for all indigenous people living in the south-west of the country."

The government of Meles Zenawi is pioneering the lease of some three million hectares of land over the next five years, an area the size of Belgium.

The policy is targeting massive lowland areas mostly in the west and south-west of the country.

These are regions populated by smaller minority ethnic groups.

The government denies conducting any repression, and says instead that its policy is aimed at lifting local people out of poverty.

Foreign investors in Gambella include Chinese, Indian and Saudi firms.

The Saudis alone say they are hoping to produce as much as a million tonnes of rice per year, most of it for their own domestic market.
Continue reading the main story
African countries considering land lease
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Mozambique
Sudan
Madagascar
Malawi

Birhani Fasaha, director of the Saudi Star Corporation, says the country's planned investment in Ethiopia, as well as in a range of other African countries, is a response to Saudi Arabian fears about their own domestic food supply, following sharp rises in global food prices two years ago.

"Saudi Arabia was importing all its food from India and Asia," he says, "but the Indians withheld their rice in 2008, so the Saudis want an option."

Ethiopia is just one of a number of African countries that have been targeted by foreign agricultural investors.

Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan and Mali are among the others that have received considerable interest.

Saudi Star is said to aim to lease as much as 100,000 hectares of Ethiopian land within the next four or five years, and it promises to bring clinics, schools, better roads and electricity supplies to Gambella in return.

The current rental charge for this land is about $10 (£6) per hectare per year.Ancestral land
Rural communities feel uninformed about how the land lease plans will change their lives

The Ethiopian government stipulates that foreign investors will have to satisfy domestic food needs before they can export.

It also says it is only allocating idle land for investment.

However, local protesters insist that all the land is already in use, mostly by pastoralists.

There are an estimated four million such farmers in Ethiopia, who often cross hundreds of miles a year to find fresh pasture for their cattle.

"They use the land for different purposes - for agriculture, for hunting, sometimes just to gather fruits during famine," one protester says.

"There is no empty land in Gambella without a history.

"Village areas have been cleared and villagers have been bribed to sell their own farm.

"They can't sell the land, it's not theirs. That land is ancestral land."Development opportunity

Because all land in Ethiopia's quasi-socialist economy is officially government-owned, it has the right to lease it out largely as it sees fit.

While some local farmers are being directly compensated, pastoralist farmers are not.

The government believes that only massive foreign investment can help to transform the country's rural economy, and provide the country with food self-sufficiency.

Some 13 million Ethiopians still depend on some degree of food aid.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote


Pastoralism, as it is, is not sustainable. We want to change the environment”Abera DeressaAgriculture Minister, Ethiopia

Abera Deressa, the government minister who helped design the latest agricultural development policy, says foreign investors should help boost agricultural output by as much as 40%.

He believes that rural life in these areas must change.

"Pastoralists have enough land for their cattle," Mr Deressa says, "but at the end of the day we are not really appreciating pastoralists remaining as they are.

"We have to improve their livelihood by creating job opportunities. Pastoralism, as it is, is not sustainable. We want to change the environment."

Mr Deressa says he hopes the investors would bring skills and infrastructure to some of the most neglected regions, as well as thousands of jobs for the rural population.

The minister says that opposition to the government is based on ignorance of the government's proposals.Complex problem

However, concerns about the land policy go beyond the rights of local farmers.

Environmentalists say that many of these proposed farms infringe on Ethiopia's protected game reserves, where an abundance of wildlife could now be at risk.

In Gambella, most farms are being ear-marked for rice and sugar production, two extremely water-intensive crops.

Yet the investors say no limits are being placed on the amount of water they can draw from the rivers, in regions already suffering from declining rainfalls.

The issue of land lease is a complex one and there is much disagreement on the best approach.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote


They can't sell the land, it's not theirs. That land is ancestral land”A Gambellan resident, angry about the land lease proposals

According to the World Bank, which commissioned a study into land lease, there is an estimated 45 million hectares of land that is either already under lease or has been requested for lease.

And there are both positive and negative examples to be taken.

The report's author, Klaus Deinigerm, says the initiative has had a considerable success rate in Latin America.

However, in Africa, the picture is less rosy.

"Many of these projects do not perform, and that implies that possibly the arrangements are not optimal," says Mr Deiniger.

"It's very important to make sure that governments as well as civil society have the right tools in place to ensure that the investments do not cause harm and actually improve productivity."

In Ethiopia in particular, Mr Deiniger does not believe that land lease is the best option for rural communities.

"It is an opportunity but it definitely won't be the main development opportunity for its smallholder population... it can draw in some private investment but it needs to be done in a strategic way rather than letting investors determine the government strategy," he says.

Ethiopia and other countries, he says, have ended up with a very fragmented approach to land lease that fails to provide any infrastructure benefits and is in contradiction to smallholder rights.

But back in Gambella, Ethiopia, it's the political and social cost that is most concerning many local farmers.

The ruling party, the EPRDF, is said to govern with an increasingly firm grip.

People in the country's remote south-west fear that their pastoralist traditions, which have been a way of life for generations, could now be forcibly brought to an end.

"There is a fear that there will be no more culture within the pastoralist area," says one man. "We're going to lose our culture and there will be nothing remaining for the next generation. I'm afraid this life may only be a story that we can tell our children."

BBC

Hay management proves 'miracle solution' against drought for Maasai pastoralists

by Erick Wamanji


Tonge ole Mokua is happy as he attends to his herd. Yet with the predictions of an impending drought, like every Maasai pastoralist in Kenya, he should have been worried. But he is not.


In the past, prolonged dry spells have inflicted great pain and destruction to pastoralists, including Mokua.

“If drought comes today, I’m prepared,” he boasts. “I will not even need to migrate beyond this village,” he says with a smile.

What has changed for him? In the sleepy Orinie village, Kajiado Central, some 150 kilometers south of Nairobi, pastoralists have become smarter - they are making hay, literally, as the sun shines.


In a pilot programme, the cattle-keepers have been conserving pasture. They are now harvesting, baling and storing this hay to mitigate them against potential drought. So far, some 3,900 acres are under this project which is expected to yield 500,000 bales. The harvested hay is projected to support close to 5000 bulls or 40,000 goats for about five months.

Mokua and the 400 pioneers of this conservation effort are thrilled and confident.

“The last drought almost scorched my life,” Mokua recollects. “When it was severe, I migrated to Central Kenya. I had 168 cows and bulls. I came back empty-handed. I restocked. I went to Tsavo when the second drought hit; I only returned with 40 frail heads, the rest were wiped out by diseases, thirst and hunger, others just disappeared in the forest.”


Kajiado was one of the regions worst hit by drought a few years back. In February 2009, the area had a population of 352,000 heads, according to the Ministry of Livestock. As the drought wave spiraled, people started to migrate to far flung districts, even to neighbouring Tanzania, in search of pasture and water.

By December 2009, the population was reduced to 174,000. Many of the pastoralists who moved out in search of “greener pastures” returned several months later a frustrated lot - over 80 percent of their livestock died.

At that time the pastoralists forked out 400 Kenyan Shillings (Ksh) for a bale of hay. They spent a fortune but it didn’t work. Today, the bales that Mokua and the others are making have cost them an average of 60 Ksh for each bale.

“I wish I had the hay idea then,” Mokua says. “I would have saved my cattle. I would be rich today.”

It is after the devastating drought that SNV Netherlands Development Organization, a Dutch NGO, partnered with a local NGO, NIA, and the Ministry of Livestock to create awareness about the possibilities in hay management to the pastoralists.

“We need to be innovative otherwise our generation is threatened. Movement is not good for our animals. They always get weak and susceptible to diseases when we are out,’ says Pashile ole Shompe, another pastoralist. “Livestock is our lifeline,” he continues. “Therefore, any idea that would guarantee the survival of our herd is embraced.”

Cattle keeping is deeply weaved into the cultural predisposition of pastoralists. They are prepared to always go the extra mile, sometimes literally for the survival of their herd. But the ever shrinking land has been a major threat to their survival. But for now, Mokua and the other pastoralists consider themselves pretty blessed with their newly found little miracle.

SNV Kenya

Effects of 2009 drought cause patoralists to migrate south from Niger to Nigeria

As the effect of drought and crop failure lingers in Niger, 250,000 Nigerien pastoralists and their 500,000 livestock have migrated to Nigeria's northern border states of Yobe, Borno, Sokoto and Katsina, the local press reported.

Last year's drought in Niger has caused crop failure which has in turn put over 7.5 million people at the risk of famine.

'More than 90 per cent of the pastoralists are Nigerien Tuaregs along with their wives and children, as well as a herd of cows, sheep and goats,' said the Programme Manager for Livestock Development Project in Yobe state, Dr. Mustapha Gaidam.

One of the migrating pastoralists, Buba Kari, was quoted as saying the migration was necessary because 'there is no food for us and our animals. We have to leave the Sahel region and move to places that we can get graze land and water for our people and animals before they die.'

Afriquejet

How livestock might revitalize degraded agricultural lands

by Darious Dixon

Allan Savory's project, titled "Operation Hope," is an ongoing effort to reverse the desertification that is spreading across the world's savannas and grasslands like a disease. It is rapidly changing farmland into deserts.

What makes the effort unusual for Savory, a biologist, is his use of what he called "the most universally condemned tool in the world" -- livestock. Farming is perhaps the oldest means by which humans have affected the world's climate.

The destruction of healthy soil by compaction, overgrazing and toxic levels of manure that poison the earth and emit climate-warming methane are some of the reasons raising livestock has traditionally been discouraged as an environmentally conscious farming technique.

But Savory was not impressed by environmentalists' arguments, nor by the efforts of commercial seed companies to engineer genetically modified crops to be drought-resistant. "Any scientist can grow green plants with technology," he said. What was unsustainable was "to be growing more green plants on soil that is failing us."

The technique Savory devised does not simply rotate the herds from one nearby plot of land to another but couples their migration with military precision.

Key to the procedure, he said, was to protect the animals from predators at night while continuing to move the herd during the day, as if they were being followed by lions and other stalkers. By doing so, his herding teams can recreate some of the environmental patterns that existed before human communities domesticated the animals and concentrated their distribution.

The technique calls for controlling the herd's movements with great timing. Savory adapted his techniques of command and control from the British Army. All of this, he said, was to ensure that the animals be "in the right place at the right time, for the right reasons and the right behavior," so that they do not overwhelm the vegetation.

In the beginning, the damage was small

It may sound like a nutty idea to some, but Savory's before-and-after results presented graphic proof that it can work. Last week, Savory and a sister organization based in his native Zimbabwe, the Africa Centre for Holistic Management, were awarded the $100,000 Buckminster Fuller Challenge prize for their creative techniques in sustainable agriculture. The prize was announced by the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

At the beginning of human experiments with agriculture, the effects of changing the patterns of nomadic traditions and thus altering the landscape to suit the farmer's specific purpose were negligible for small communities.

But as the world prepares to welcome its 9 billionth person by 2050, new methods of cultivating crops without ecological hazard are increasingly difficult and problematic. Choosing the wrong agricultural technique can have major consequences on global climate and human society.

"Twenty civilizations have failed due to environmental degradation," explained Savory, who is president and co-founder of the Savory Institute. He said the degradation in almost all of the cases was due to poor agricultural management, calling it "a 10,000-year-old problem."

It is no longer small. Thirty-eight percent of the world's land area is in danger of becoming desert, according to a paper published in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment this February and announced on NASA's Earth Observatory website. Much of the loss to desertification has been due to overuse or poor farming techniques, which eventually lead to Dust Bowl-like conditions causing droughts, erosion, conflict and human migration.

The loss of soil to desert sands not only renders most of the land unusable for agriculture, it also takes away a critical tool for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Soil is classified by the U.S. Geological Survey as "the most stable long-term surface reservoir for carbon." The U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification estimates that soil, as a sink for carbon dioxide, provides a larger reservoir than either vegetation or the atmosphere, calling its sequestration capabilities "unparalleled."

The Fuller prize, now in its third year, is intended to encourage "anticipatory" solutions to "humanity's most pressing problems." Submissions for the competition tackled most of the big-ticket issues, including energy and water consumption, poverty and climate change.

The six finalists each had an overview of their work presented in a short video, which is available on the BFI website. Projects ranged from an infrastructure model for diverting Chicago's rainwater into Lake Michigan to a solar panel installation training program for rural women in Africa. Along with verification, each project is graded on feasibility, ecological responsibility and ease of replication at different scales.

Allegra Fuller Snyder, daughter of the famous inventor and architect Richard Buckminster Fuller and co-founder of BFI, attended the ceremony to greet the finalists. She said that the challenge was an extension of her father's legacy, as his ideas were often considered unconventional for his time, as well.

Fuller is best known for his design of geodesic domes, familiar to any visitor of Disney's Epcot Center and every student of chemistry, who will know his name for the buckminsterfullerene, or buckyball, a spherical arrangement of 60 carbon atoms that resemble Fuller's domes. The challenge competition began on a five-year funding.

After the ceremony completed, Savory and his wife, Jody Butterfield, said similar desertification reversal efforts were taking place in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the northeastern United States.

Savory said their effort in Zimbabwe already receives some funding from the government, so the prize money will go toward improving the living conditions of the herders and laborers whose round-the-clock efforts make his system work.

Scientific American

Farmer-pastoralists’ clash leaves 32 dead in Nigeria

A tense calm has been restored following clashes between pastoralists and farmers in central Nigeria’s Nasarawa State which left 32 people dead, scores of houses burned, and several farms destroyed, officials said.

Violence erupted on 18 December when pastoralists attacked the farming village of Udeni Gida - two weeks after a clash with farmers on 6 December when herdsman led their cattle into rice fields resulting in the death of a farmer, according to Mohammed Baba Ibaku, a local member of parliament.

“On Friday [18 December], herdsmen from neighbouring Kogi and Taraba states armed with guns stormed the [Udeni Gida] village and opened fire on unsuspecting villagers and by Saturday [19 December] we counted 32 dead bodies from the attacks”, Ibaku said. “Scores of houses were completely burnt and crops on several farms were destroyed”, he added.


Police deployed in the area during the 6 December violence were withdrawn a few days ago as the authorities thought the fighting was over, but the nomads then attacked again, Ibaku said. Military troops and police have been re-deployed but tension remains high, he said.

Hame Saidu, a pastoralist from Wase District of neighbouring Plateau State sad: "Every time there is [a] clash between nomads and farmers we nomads are labelled the aggressors. Nobody cares to look at the problem dispassionately and apportion blame fairly.

"Our herd is our life because to every nomad life is worthless without his cattle. What do you expect from us when our source of existence is threatened? The encroachment of grazing fields and routes by farmers is a call to war.”

Clashes between farmers and pastoralists over grazing fields - common in northern Nigeria - are on the rise throughout the country as pastureland shrinks, according to environmental consultant Kabiru Yammama.

"Wherever we turn we find the land reserved for our cattle to feast, taken over by farmers… It becomes difficult for our herd to move and graze without veering into crop fields,” said Saidu. "Once that happens, the farmers confront us and we have no option but to fight back.”

The creation of farmer-nomad reconciliatory committees in various states in the north has done little to end such conflicts, say locals.

Nigeria officially has 415 grazing reserves but only one-third are in use; the remaining 270 have been built on or farmed, according to the director of livestock and pest control in the Agriculture and Water Resources Ministry, Junaidu Maina.

The government is carving out a grazing route to run through the central states of Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau, as well as Ebonyi in the south, according to Patrick Boga, an adviser in the ministry’s livestock department.

In September 2009 the government also started to mark out grazing reserves across northern Nigeria’s Katsina and Bauchi states as well as the nearby capital, Abuja, to curb clashes.

The three planned reserves, to serve about 15 million pastoralists, will mean demarcating 175,000 hectares of grazing land, building veterinary service centres, and constructing settlements for nomads to use en route, at a cost of US$247 million, according to Maina.

The government is also demarcating a 1,400km livestock route from Sokoto State in the northwest, to Oyo State in the southwest; and another 2,000km route from Adamawa State in the northeast to Calabar in the delta region, he added.

IRIN

Devastating drought alters life for Kenya nomads

by Katharine Houreld

When 64-year-old Jimale Irobe was a young man, he guided his herds of cows and camels through knee-high grass. These days the scrubby blades barely reach his ankles even in the rainy season, and there is never enough grass to go around. The cattle cannot feed, and the nomadic families that depend on them for milk and meat cannot survive.

So Irobe scrapes out a living by selling charcoal made from burning the trees in the fields where his father's herds once grazed. "Now there are many people and the rains are not coming," said Irobe, whose wisps of beard can't conceal gaunt cheeks.

The traditional way of life for Kenya's roughly three million nomads is rapidly giving way under the pressures of increasingly severe and frequent droughts, coupled with a rapidly rising population. In one particularly drought-prone district in Kenya, up to a third of the herdsmen have had to settle permanantly because they have lost so many animals.

As they gather in one place, they strip the nearby land of trees and grass to make houses. Their few remaining animals consume the last blades of grass. Eventually, as has happened in the northern village of Dela, there is just a cluster of tired, hungry people in the sand waiting for aid.

Instead of their traditional grassy huts among thorn bushes and the spires of termite mounds, the nomads live in makeshift settlements where the only shelter is domes of twigs covered in scraps of cloth and plastic. Instead of roasting a goat by the campfire, more and more of them rely on handouts from foreign charities.

"Write my name down," 70-year-old Halima Haroun implored a journalist in the northern Kenyan town of Dela, thinking registration for aid was taking place. She pinched a withered arm to show how thin she is.

Arid northern Kenya has always suffered cyclical droughts, but Dela residents say the dry spells are becoming longer and more frequent. A 2006 study by Christian Aid in neighboring Mandera district found that droughts had increased fourfold in the last 25 years. At the same time, the region's population has increased fivefold since the 1960s.

The report referred to the nomads as "climate change canaries," noting their existence in some of the world's harshest and driest terrain makes them the group most immediately vulnerable to small fluctuations in temperature and rainfall. A third of pastoralists in the Mandera region had already lost their herds and had moved to settlements, the report said.

More frequent droughts mean families have less time to recover and restock herds. Each time the rains fail, the nomads slide a little further into poverty. Hunger and despair finally drive them to towns like Dela.

"It's got to the point where the rains can stabilize the situation, but they don't last long enough to provide a recovery," said Martin Karimi from the European Commission's aid arm, which is developing projects to help villages store water. "Also, when rain does fall, it tends to be over shorter periods and more intense."

The sandy soil doesn't absorb the intense rainfall, so it just sits on the ground before evaporating.

Aid agency Oxfam says 23 million people need food aid this year after the drought that swept across eastern Africa and the Horn region. Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia have been particularly hard hit.

And a September report by the International Food Policy Research Institute predicted that the worldwide effects of climate change will lead to twenty-five million additional children becoming malnourished by 2050.

The result will be more suffering for women like Ladhan Ali, who came to Dela seeking food after most of her animals died. She's buried seven of her nine children over the years, she says, staring at the ground. Without a doctor, she cannot tell exactly what each one died of, but for most she puts it down to a mixture of weakness, illness and hunger. Except for the last boy. Unused to living in town, he ran across the road and was hit by a car.

Like most of the roughly 3,000 settlers living in Dela, she blames several factors for her abandonment of nomadic life: droughts; a growing population that puts more pressure on grass and water; and the degradation of the land as new settlements sprawl outward. "Before when the pasture was low, we'd go somewhere else," she said. "But now there are settlements everywhere, so where do we go?"

The small villages are sprouting up all along the rutted roads of Kenya's northeastern province, a vast poverty-stricken region long neglected by the central government. During the day, the drab colors of the huts blend into the bush, but in the evening clusters of night fires glimmer through the thorns.

Dela itself did not exist fifteen years ago. Now its population swells with each drought, said District Commissioner Dima Omar. As the families gather, the concentration of animals in one place overgrazes the land.

"Once their animals die they don't have any other resources except for maybe the trees around them," Omar said. "We try to educate people not to cut down the trees and to use old wood, but it is hard."

Climate change has been cited as a contributing factor to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, where nomads and farmers have clashed over shrinking grazing grounds. It's blamed for exacerbating tensions among tribes in Uganda, northern Kenya, and Ethiopia, where watering holes are drying up and lands that were once fertile now struggle to produce crops.

This month, African leaders agreed to seek $65 billion from the developed world to mitigate the effect of carbon emissions. They will present the demand at a global summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December.

But James Shikwati, a leading Kenyan economist, said more research was needed to separate the effects of climate change from issues like population growth, poor farming practices and cyclical weather patterns. "We need to be extremely careful not to lump all the problems together," he said.

If drought is forcing the nomads into towns, it is partly the desire to educate their children that keeps them there.

None of Dela's 210 students want to go back to the nomadic life, said teacher Calvin Mobisa. They want to be vets, doctors, scientists and pilots, and go to the places newspapers talk about. Drought is severing a generation of younger nomads from their traditions, and the harsh life their parents yearn for holds little appeal.

"You can do more things now than our parents could," said 15-year-old Ali Noor, whose keeps his shiny school shoes scrupulously clean of the ever-present dust. "You don't have to just live in the bush."

US News and World Report

East African drought wreaking havoc amongst pastoralists

by Will Ross

The drought which has hit East Africa is wreaking havoc among the region's pastoralists. Their herds of livestock have been decimated. Even the hardy camels are dying.

Turkana district in north-west Kenya is a harsh environment at the best of times. Driving along the sandy roads with temperatures tipping 40C, the air coming through the car window feels like the blast from load of hair-driers. The landscape is desert-like and the only signs of life are the occasional circular mud huts thatched with grass. There is very little vegetation - just a few brown thorny shrubs. In a dry river bed in Lochoraikey, close to the shrinking Lake Turkana, men and women gathered. The women were on one side - most wearing a mountain of brightly coloured necklaces. They were sitting in the sand and lying among them were dozens of emaciated goats - concave with protruding ribs.

"I had a herd of 100 goats but just in the last month 40 have died," said Esther Ekouam, who had walked for about 15km (10 miles) and had to carry her goat as it was too weak to make the journey. "Now the children are very weak because as the animals are dying they are not getting enough food. This is the worst drought we have had here since 1969."

Ms. Ekouam was propping up the head of her goat. But it appeared the animal was already dead. The woman behind Ms. Ekouam was gently rocking a white goat in an attempt to keep it alive. A closer inspection of the group revealed that several other goats were also dead. With their livestock in such a fragile state, it is little wonder that an offer to buy up their goats has been popular among the Turkana.

In a programme funded by the European Union's humanitarian wing, ECHO, the pastoralists have been offered the equivalent of about $10 a goat - less than the market price of a healthy goat but a far better option than watching the entire herd die for no return.

The river bed was rapidly transformed into a huge open air abattoir and butchery. The men, many of them wearing traditional checked cloth tied toga-style over one shoulder, slit the throats of the goats. The women, some removing the sharp metal bangles from their wrists to be used as knives, dragged the animals on to a bed of leaves and skinned them.

"For a Turkana to bring their goats to slaughter is like putting their life on the line," said Kephas Indangasi of Vets Without Borders, which is implementing this de-stocking programme. "Seventy per cent of the Turkana are pastoralists who entirely rely on their livestock for survival. "They get milk and meat from livestock and they sell the animals to buy other items and even pay school fees. Livestock is like the bank for the Turkana. They are losing their entire economy."

Between March and October a total of 15,000 goats and sheep as well as 500 cattle have been slaughtered in central and southern Turkana. But it is not only the goat population that has been hit. Even the hardy camels have been dying and in a bid to salvage some revenue before it is too late, two weak camels were brought to be slaughtered along with the goats.

"A camel is the most resistant and it is their last resort. When they are slaughtering camels it is like throwing away the pension," said Mr Indangasi.

Another worrying implication of the drought is an increase in violent conflict. The number of livestock raids has shot up as increasingly desperate people look for ways to boost their dwindling herds. In late September, 26 people were killed in one raid.

In the village of Lobei, about 80km south-west of Lodwar town, Turkana herdsmen are engaged in the twin battles against drought and livestock theft. "I moved my camels and goats to an area with better pasture and water but last week I lost 25 camels when some Pokot [rival tribesmen] attacked," said Naukon Lonyaman. "I fear the rest of my camels may now die because of drought."

Another herdsman said 6,000 goats had been stolen in September.

Joseph Elim of the Riam Riam organisation, which aims to protect the interests of the Turkana people, fears the life of these herdsmen is going to get worse because the climate is changing. "Scientifically we may not know about climate change but we can interpret the weather patterns and say something significant has shifted," he said. "We can no longer predict the rainfall patterns.

Temperatures have also increased as well as diseases. And when rainfall comes we get floods. If that is what is called climate change then it is here with us now."

Many Turkana have been forced to abandon their pastoralist lifestyle and have headed for Lodwar town in search of work.

"If God assists I will go back home and look after the animals but right now I have nothing. I have lost all my animals because of this drought," said 68-year-old Eram Moru, who was holding two discarded car shock absorbers, which he intended to flatten out and make into knives to sell.

Despite the pressure to change their way of life, Mr Elim feels the Turkana culture is too deeply entrenched to be lost. "People have lived with pastoralism for the last 3,000 years. This is only an adjustment and the drought will not decimate everything. Some animals will remain and they can build from there," he said.

But with still no sign of any rain clouds, it is little wonder that people here say God has become angry.

BBC

Severe drought causes social shifts amongst Kenyan pastoralists

Traditionally, life for women in pastoralist communities in the central Kenya region of Laikipia revolves around taking care of their children, leaving the men to provide for the family. However, a prolonged drought in the area, which has resulted in significant livestock deaths, has seen these roles reversed, with more women venturing into small-scale business to feed their families.

Government officials estimate that at least 600,000 livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) have died in the past three months in the area. Dorcas Piroris, 50, from Olkinyei in Laikipia North District, is selling tourist trinkets to supplement her family’s income.

Piroris said, "This is the worst year that I have witnessed in my life; everything seems to be going against tradition and we do not know when things will improve. As you can see, there are no animals around this place. When the livestock started dying due to drought, our men took them far away to Mt Kenya in search of pasture. Some people had lost more than half of their herds by the time they left for the mountain.

"After a very long journey, some of our men, including my husband Solomon Lelongo, came back empty-handed; all the animals had died in the forest due to the cold, harsh weather there.

“As a result, an [NGO] mobilized women to seek alternative ways of feeding their families as we wait for the rains. I started selling these wares [walking sticks, leather belts and other items, all decorated with colourful beads] to get cash to buy essentials for my husband and our seven children because the relief supplies of maize, beans and oil that we get from the government and other donor agencies are not enough.

“I am finding it difficult since all along, since my childhood when I was married off by my parents, I have been relying on my husband to provide for me and these wares were the preserve for people with curio shops. I and some of my friends have yet to get used to the new role and we are hoping it will rain soon so that things can go back to the way they were.

"Life is difficult since most people do not have money to buy our wares. We usually send some of our colleagues and young men to Nairobi or Nakuru to buy the materials we use to make these wares. Some of us have yet to recoup what we initially spent when we started this job, nearly two months ago.

“The major problem is getting customers because we do not have a selling point like those in curio shops. We rely on people to come to our homes. The few who do, buy our wares cheaply, thereby giving me a very small profit margin.

“Today, I came to Dol-Dol following an invitation by a group [an NGO] that came up with this idea and assisted us in starting this business.

“Although it is dry at times, I have never witnessed a situation where we are forced to buy milk for our children as is the case now. How I hope it will rain soon."

IRIN

Weather conditions threaten food security in Horn of Africa

Up to 14 million people in the greater Horn of African region are expected to suffer under harsh weather conditions in the next three months that threaten food security, according to climate specialists meeting in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.

Experts under the regional body, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre, urged governments to take immediate action to protect the region.

Professor Laban Ogallo, head of the centre, based in Kenya, said that unless governments took steps to stem the impact of the impending conditions, development targets would not be met. “Lack of rain should not bring about a crisis if people in policy management take the advice we are offering. These climatic conditions can forestall whatever they want to do on development,” he said.

“It is estimated that between 11 million and 14 million people, or 10 percent of the regional population, will be affected. Pastoralist communities are going to be the most vulnerable and this may cause conflict as these communities move from their areas to look for water and pasture,” said Patrick Luganda, the media official of the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum.

Luganda said the cattle corridor of the region would experience tension as most of it is forecast to experience dry spells, putting pressure on available water and pasture. Other agricultural areas are also expected to suffer as a result. “We forecast tension between cattle keepers in Kenya and those in Uganda. Kenya will be drier so these communities will try to move while those in northeastern Uganda will move further inland. This will bring about conflicts over water, pasture and over animals,” Luganda said.

Much of Somalia, eastern, central and southern Ethiopia, as well as much of Kenya and southern Sudan is expected to be affected.

Whereas much of Uganda is likely to have near-normal or above-normal rainfall, the southwestern region will experience harsh conditions. Areas such as southwestern and eastern Sudan, western Ethiopia, southwestern Kenya, extreme southern Burundi, as well as northern, western and southwestern Tanzania, are also likely to have near-normal or above-normal rainfall.

The specialists noted, however, that despite the expectation of poor rainfall, “episodic wet spells and flash floods could occur” over areas expected to be dry. Flash floods over the east African region displaced thousands last year and compromised food security.

IRIN

Livestock threatened as locusts invade Kenyan pasturelands

Livestock production in Northern Eastern Kenya is endangered following an invasion by desert locusts that is threatening to wipe out pasture grounds.

Agricultural officers in Mandera said the voracious vegetarians, which are moving in massive numbers have crossed the Kenyan border from Ethiopia and Somali into the country. The migratory insects are ravenous eaters and are known to clear all greenery they descend on. The crop protection unit of the Ministry of Agriculture is on high alert and a team of experts has been deployed to the area to help stop the insects.

The invasion is the first major one of its kind since 1962 when the country was hit by a similar invasion. Sources within the ministry said the insects have been attracted to the area by moist soils which they require for breeding. Good rains that have been falling in the area have brought about the perfect conditions for the insects to breed.

They have now settled on various swampy areas in Mandera and Elwak.

The crop protection unit in the area has, however, opted not to attack the insects at this stage but to wait for them to lay eggs and later to hatch into hoppers which takes two weeks time. After they hatch into hoppers, the small locusts are easier to control since they cannot fly for about 36 days as they move through various hopper stages of growth, the experts said. During this time, they can only move short distances on the ground.

The unit is casting its net over the whole of Mandera district since it is not certain where they would hatch the eggs. The officers are armed with equipment and machines like aircraft, vehicles and hand spray kits and chemicals that will be used in the operation.

The ultra low volume chemicals break down quickly, a feature that will allow pastoralists to return their flocks after a while. They have been given time to move their flocks to prevent them from coming into contact with the sprays before the chemicals break down.

Kenya is covered by the Desert Locusts Control Organisation for East Africa that also touches countries like Somalia, Eritrea, the Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. The organisation helps to combat the regular migration of the desert locusts, which come from Yemen in the Middle East.
It targets the insects at what is referred to as the ‘locust frontline’ extending along the Red Sea on the Somali Eritrea and Susan borders. The frontline has been set to prevent them from coming south into areas with a lot of moisture and high density of greenery where they are likely to cause more harm.

Business Daily Africa

The risky but lucrative livestock trade in East Africa

Recent reports of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya have cast a shadow over the whole East African livestock trade. In the weeks after the news spread, traders say Yemeni and other Middle East middlemen refused to take Ethiopian animals, even though the disease has so far not appeared in the Horn of Africa nation. Other dealers agreed to take the animals, but at much lower prices.

The disruption came on top of a long running Saudi Arabian ban on the import of Ethiopian animals, again based on fears over livestock health. Ethiopian bulls, sheep and goats still regularly get through to Saudi Arabia, but via Yemeni traders who again use the ban as an excuse for keeping purchase prices down.

The risks do not stop there. There are the droughts and floods that hit the region on an increasingly regular basis, destroying livestock and pasture in their wake. Roaming sheep and goats can fall prey to hyenas and other predators. And there is always the possibility of getting caught up in inter-clan clashes, banditry and the growing conflict between Ethiopian government troops and the separatist forces of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

Prices can also fluctuate widely from market to market and week to week, according to the demand from the Middle East and local trading conditions, threatening thin profit margins. "We hope to make between US$15 and US$20 a bull. Sometimes you have to take a loss," said Arab Muhomed Guled, another Hartishekh trader with 10 years experience under his belt. The price of cows in Jijiga market ranged from 1,470 Birr all the way up to 2,500 Birr in January 2007, according to figures gathered by the government's Livestock Crop and Natural Resource Development Bureau in the town.

The reason that traders persevere in the face of so many risks is simple. The risks may be high, but the scale of the potential trade is higher still.

The sheer size of the region's livestock trade is often masked by inaccurate Ethiopian government figures that only count the legally-registered movement of animals beyond the country's borders. According to official statistics, Ethiopia as a whole only exported 41,565 animals from 2003/4. But according to a soon-to-be-published report from UN OCHA-PCI, more than 400,000 animals were exported, mostly "informally", through just two Somali region markets in 2005.

UN OCHA-PCI researchers estimate that as many as 100,000 bulls may be leaving Ethiopia's Somali region every year, bringing in, on average, 3,750 birr (US$420) a head. Taking the same journey with them are up to 3 million sheep and goats, each worth around 360 Birr (US$40) to Yemeni traders.

UN OCHA-PCI's Abdi Umar does the sums. "That's about US$162m in revenue split between the 5 million people we estimate benefit from Somali Region’s livestock production. The traders are only taking a small margin but the pastoralists can make a lot on each animal.

Somali region traders also do all they can to minimise the daily risks they face. Large herds are split into smaller units as they move across borders to limit their exposure to customs officials and other natural disasters. Animals are handed over to well-trusted agents, bound to the seller by long years of friendship or clan allegiance.

Traders are also starting to minimise the risk of customs seizure by going legal, taking advantage of the first letters of credit schemes set up with local banks just three years ago. "Now I don't have to stay awake at night wondering if my animals are getting through," said exporter Mahamoud Gass Qalinle. Wherever possible, traders make use of the latest communications technology – either mobile phones or high-frequency radio sets known as fonios – to get a jump on changes on market conditions.

"I can stand in the middle of Jijiga market with my mobile phone and find out when there is a boat waiting in Berbera," said Basha Hassan Hussein another legally-registered exporter. "I can find out whether the demand is highest for cows or bulls or shoats (sheep and goats)."

Meskel Square