Pastoral production system
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Pastoral households are increasingly practising fodder production in response to forage scarcity associated with land degradation, climate variability and change. Understanding the grass seed value chain is a prerequisite for developing... more
Pastoral households are increasingly practising fodder production in response to forage scarcity associated with land degradation, climate variability and change. Understanding the grass seed value chain is a prerequisite for developing sustainable fodder production and guiding appropriate out-scaling in the drylands. This study investigated the producers' perspectives on grass seed production, marketing and challenges faced along the grass seed value chain in Marigat Sub-County of Baringo County, Kenya. The results show that the dominant actors were the bulking and processing agents who provided inputs and were a source of grass seed market to the producers. The producers preferred contractual agreements that allowed them to sell their grass seed to markets of their choice. As independent grass seed traders allowed for seed price negotiation, they were popular amongst the producers and thus handled the most volume of seeds marketed. Drought occurrence, inability of existing outlets to purchase grass seed at times, together with low prices offered for producers' grass seed were found to be among the challenges facing the producers. There is need to strengthen the fodder groups with a possibility of registering them as cooperatives for the purpose of collective bargaining for better grass seed prices.
Sheep, recognised as one of the important livestock species especially in the semi-arid tropics with high genetic resource potentials, can be exploited through sustainable utilization in order to improve livestock keepers’ livelihoods.... more
Sheep, recognised as one of the important livestock species especially in the semi-arid tropics with high genetic resource potentials, can be exploited through sustainable utilization in order to improve livestock keepers’ livelihoods. This study presents the evaluation of the economic values of sheep genetic resources (SGR) in terms of the important non-market traits embedded in sheep and how this information can be utilised to improve livelihoods in semi-arid regions. The results obtained from mixed logit models results derived from stated choice data collected from 157 respondents in the semi-arid Marsabit district of Kenya reveal that disease resistance is the most highly valued trait whose resultant increment results into a welfare improvement of up to KShs.1537. Drought tolerance and fat deposition traits were found to be implicitly valued at KShs.694 and 738 respectively. The results further point out that for livestock stakeholders to effectively improve the livelihoods of poor livestock-keepers, development strategies for improving the management and/or utilisation of SGR in terms of drought tolerance, should not only be tailor made to target regions that are frequently devastated by drought but should also succeed other strategies or efforts that would first lead to the improvement of producers’ economic status.
- by Gideon Obare and +1
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- Animal genetic resources, Health, Kenya, Animal Husbandry
The report; “Pastoralism on the Margin”3 doubts whether the upsurge of development interest in pastoralism will result in any concentrate deliverables to meet pastoralists’ needs, despite the huge sums of money devoted to this end. This... more
The report; “Pastoralism on the Margin”3 doubts whether the upsurge of development interest in pastoralism will result in any concentrate deliverables to meet pastoralists’ needs, despite the huge sums of money devoted to this end. This is so because the material base of pastoralism in the four countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda has been thoroughly eroded, the erosion being an act not in isolation but in tandem with climatic change, conflict, disease, drought, and famine. Markakis, the author of the report analyzes contemporary issues pertinent to pastoralism
with varying degrees of detail and content. In the first instance, he acknowledges that pastoralism is a culture, way of life, and the ancient mode of mobile livestock production in the rangelands of Eastern Africa and the Horn. He notes that this culture, form of production, and way of life has reached a critical point due to the effects of colonialism and independence struggles, balancing conservation and pastoralism (often pastoralism loses out), politics, conflict, belated recognition, dispossession of land and the promotion of agriculture. My task in this paper is to review, discuss, and point issues relating to land tenure in this report and their relevance to policy and legal reform in Uganda. The fundamental argument on land tenure in this report is that pastoral production is determined by land-use patterns which in turn determine
whether the herders are mobile or not; elaborated under four major issues:
• Land is a factor that is not controlled by pastoralists; since no system of land tenure recognizes pastoral rights; existing land law does not recognize or understand pastoral tenure.
• Changes that stifle pastoral rights in land originate from the external;
• There is no political will to deal with pastoral land tenure issues since they are a minority.
• Plans to grant pastoral land rights seem to be in inertia and gender issue ought to be tackled through. we have little understanding of such dynamics in pastoral societies.
In conclusion, I will make arguments for land policy and law reform to address pastoral concerns by stating the major steps, or issues and imperatives that are pertinent to government, private sector and civil society organizations.
with varying degrees of detail and content. In the first instance, he acknowledges that pastoralism is a culture, way of life, and the ancient mode of mobile livestock production in the rangelands of Eastern Africa and the Horn. He notes that this culture, form of production, and way of life has reached a critical point due to the effects of colonialism and independence struggles, balancing conservation and pastoralism (often pastoralism loses out), politics, conflict, belated recognition, dispossession of land and the promotion of agriculture. My task in this paper is to review, discuss, and point issues relating to land tenure in this report and their relevance to policy and legal reform in Uganda. The fundamental argument on land tenure in this report is that pastoral production is determined by land-use patterns which in turn determine
whether the herders are mobile or not; elaborated under four major issues:
• Land is a factor that is not controlled by pastoralists; since no system of land tenure recognizes pastoral rights; existing land law does not recognize or understand pastoral tenure.
• Changes that stifle pastoral rights in land originate from the external;
• There is no political will to deal with pastoral land tenure issues since they are a minority.
• Plans to grant pastoral land rights seem to be in inertia and gender issue ought to be tackled through. we have little understanding of such dynamics in pastoral societies.
In conclusion, I will make arguments for land policy and law reform to address pastoral concerns by stating the major steps, or issues and imperatives that are pertinent to government, private sector and civil society organizations.