Securing pastoral mobility in Sahel

A Question

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SYNTHESES OF AFD STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Securing pastoral mobility in Sahel

Complete report, "Pastoral Water Development in Chad", Ex Post 51, can be downloaded at: http://www.afd.fr/lang/en/home/publications/ travaux-de-recherche/PublicationsExPost/serieevaluation-capitalisation

For decades the Sahel has been characterised as a region in crisis, whose northern reaches are afflicted by desertification, poverty and insecurity.

The recent situation in northern Mali and alarming prospects about climate change has crystallised concerns among the international community: beyond emergency, what forms of resilience should be supported over the long term? How can support for mobile pastoral systems help promote development and security in Saharan-Sahelian areas?

Chad offers some interesting insights in this respect. In 2012, AFD appointed a team, set up by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), to evaluate its work on pastoral water in Chad and suggest how it can be taken forward. The interventions covered by this exercise date back 20 years and cover over 450,000 km². This long history and geographic scope provided an extraordinary window onto the relationship between pastoralism and development in the Sahelian context, which was explored through analysis of the changes in pastoral paradigms and the three pillars of pastoral systems (see Diagram 1). Due to the scale of the exercise, it was decided to conduct a meta-evaluation based on previous evaluations, copious project documents and three scenario planning workshops attended by local actors in Chad. While maintaining a critical approach, the main aim of the exercise was to identify the major achievements of pastoral water interventions over the last 20 years that can be replicated or fed into policies to support pastoralism and rural development across the Sahel.

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Pastoralism has long been regarded as archaic, but recent research shows that pastoral systems can effectively exploit the characteristic instability of dryland ecosystems and make productive use of their considerable potential. Recent research has increased recognition of pastoralism’s economic performance, and led to policies that acknowledge the role mobility plays in development and security across the Sahel.

Why should pastoral mobility be secured?

a Ques

A Basis for Peace and Development

Results and lessons learned

ty li bi o

Livestock Animal health, markets

specialist in pastoralism, researcher and international consultant who developed the scenario planning tools with pastoralists from East and West Africa. He also works on education in nomadic settings, and heads the journal Nomadic people.

SOURCE : IIED Evaluation, 2013.

• The economic performance of pastoral livestock rearing is increasingly researched, documented and recognised. To date, extensive pastoral economies are the only systems that have proved capable of effectively managing the vast drylands areas. A growing number of international studies on livestock rearing systems in arid and semi-arid zones of West and East Africa show a positive correlation between livestock mobility and productivity. Yet standard analytical tools and classical evaluation systems still take little account of the economic value of pastoralism; the market value of pastoral production is often hidden in aggregated data.

on drylands in IIED’s Climate Change Group with a particular focus on pastoral issues in sub-Saharan Africa, access to resources and pastoral societies.

Marie Monimart

Jeremy Swift

doctor in Economic Sciences and consultant on pastoral development policy in sub-Saharan Africa, Mongolia, China and Iran.

Blamah Jallo

sociologist

livestock specialist

with a particular focus on gender issues, access to resources and pastoral societies.

and the Programme Officer for the Billital Maroobe herders’ and pastoralists’ network.

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estio Qu

geographer and principal researcher

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Ecology

Pastoral resources water, salt

Mob i li t y

Ced Hesse Saverio Krätli,

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Economy

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S trategic mobility facilitates crop-livestock integration on a large temporal and spatial scale, across a whole range of distinct production systems rather than at the individual farm level. Pastoral production systems are most effective and resilient when they operate on a large scale, as key resources such as nutrients and water only become available in ephemeral and unpredictable concentrations. For example, herders need to be mobile in order to exploit certain herbaceous species

Society

Institutions Social services, policies, legislation, consultative frameworks

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S upporting mobility as a crucial strategy for exploiting dryland environments. Mobile pastoral livestock rearing is a highly specialised strategy for production in arid areas. Once it reaches a certain scale, animal production in these zones is usually mobile for at least part of the year in both nomadic and sedentary communities. In fact, the most recent forms of ‘sedentary’ production depend on mobile systems for their long-term existence.

The three scenario-planning workshops emphasised the strategic necessity of securing livestock mobility for farmers and herders alike.

diagram 1. the three pillars of pastoralism

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ecognising the unpredictable variability of pastoral R areas in the Sahel as an advantage rather than an obstacle. This new analytical model views pastoralism as a solution rather than a problem. It acknowledges the fact that Sahelian environments are fundamentally different from those in which globalised intensive agriculture developed, and recognises that their potential is best realised by working with unpredictable variability instead of fighting against it. Adopting a radically different approach to agricultural production allows this variability to be exploited as a valuable resource rather than seen as a constraint to food production. Pastoral systems are thus attracting growing attention as examples of resilience to climate change.

in northern areas. Pastoral mobility enables distinct and specialist groups of farmers and herders to interact at trans-national and trans-regional levels, helping strengthen the productivity, sustainability and resilience of both production systems. This higher-order of a system of systems is based on pastoral mobility, and cannot function without it.

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Pastoralism is a complex, specialised and effective production system whose three main elements (ecological, economic and societal) work together through strategic mobility. Since 1995, AFD interventions have striven to understand and secure this mobility, using a pioneering approach that challenged the prevalent mindset. The main strengths of this approach are summarised below.

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The economic value of pastoral production

Source: Authors

With nearly 80% of the national herd estimated as belonging to pastoral systems, livestock contributed over 18 per cent of national GDP, 53 per cent of GDP from the primary sector and 30 per cent of official exports in 2004, with a value of FCFA 134.7 billion – although only 35 per cent of exported livestock were declared (Saleh, 2011).

SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

The livestock rearing sector generated USD 3.7 billion in 2009, with most livestock believed to come from pastoral/agropastoral systems (Behnke and Osman, 2011).

UGANDA The per-hectare return on land in pastoral systems is estimated to be 6.8 times higher than that of ranching systems in the south west of the county (Ocaido et al., 2009).

About 70 per cent of the national herd live on arid and semi-arid lands. Its estimated value stands at USD 800 million, with an annual return of about USD 70 million (Republic of Kenya, 2012; Davies, 2007).

Over 80 per cent of the beef consumed in Kenya is produced in pastoral systems (Behnke and Muthami, 2011).

Lessons learned from AFD interventions in Chad

P olicies: growing recognition of pastoralism but limited implementation Policies in West and East Africa increasingly recognise the strategic importance of mobile livestock production for development and security – such as the African Union’s policy framework for pastoralism in Africa (2010), national policies adopted in Niger, Kenya, Mali and Mauritania, and the ECOWAS international transhumance certificate that facilitates cross-border mobility in 15 countries. Yet their implementation remains problematic. Persistent prejudices against nomadic practices mean that ‘modern’ livestock rearing is associated with ranching and agroindustrial-type intensification. Misconceptions about the ecological, economic and political rationality of mobile pastoralism mean that it is often excluded from visions of modernity in arid and semi-arid areas, although the two approaches are complementary, not incompatible.

There is still no clear long-term vision for multi-regional integrated crop-livestock production as the basis for rural development in Chad or elsewhere in the Sahel.

ater: a key resource in securing mobility and land W governance • T he Almy Bahaïm I project (1995) marked a turning point, when AFD-funded pastoral water projects stopped regarding water provision as an end in itself, and started using it a means of securing mobility for transhumant herders and supporting local livestock rearing. Subsequent projects aimed to i) operate on a large spatial and temporal scale; ii) consider water infrastructure in their social and economic context; iii) support the complementarity between different production systems.

• This radical change of approach – from the sectoral to the systemic – shifted the focus to livestock productivity and efficient living systems, using water infrastructure (over 1,000 water points) and the demarcation of livestock corridors to secure mobility along the main north-south transhumance routes. One of the most striking outcomes of this approach is the way it has helped restore social peace: in 20 years there have been no violent conflicts over the works associated with these projects, despite persistent and sometimes worsening tensions (especially in peri-urban areas).

• P astoral areas are too large, remote and inhospitable to be controlled by a sedentary population. This can only be done effectively by a dynamic and flourishing network of mobile pastoralists who are closely linked into the national economy and national institutions, and can provide economic and political stability in these areas. Pastoral policies should support the development of flexible and peaceful natural resource management systems, with a hybrid of customary and statutory institutions responsible for managing land and non-exclusive rights of access to water resources. The costs of supporting a dynamic and viable pastoral economy that can provide the first line of defence against insecurity should be weighed against the astronomical costs of armed intervention.

S ecuring mobility through jointly managed water infrastructure The systemic approach, which takes pastoral water as the entry point for interventions, is built on respect for the pastoral system and the three pillars on which it is based: resources (water, land), societal (families, chiefdoms, institutions) and economic (livestock). Reconciling the technical and social imperatives of developing water infrastructure represents a major achievement by these AFD interventions, whatever their inevitable shortcomings.

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It is estimated that 80 per cent of exports come from pastoral systems. Working camels provide transport services worth USD 46 million per annum. The collective insurance value of pastoral herds is estimated at USD 340 million, and the return on investment at 25 per cent to 30 per cent per annum (Behnke and Metaferia, 2011; Behnke, 2010).

KENYA

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The livestock sector is the second largest source of export revenues after uranium (Republic of Niger, 2011), with pastoral/agro-pastoral systems estimated to represent over 80% of production (Rass, 2006). Transhumant herds score 25 per cent higher than those for sedentary livestock for all parameters of productivity (Colin de Verdière, 1995).

CHAD

a Ques

NIGER

A Question of Developpment

Water, peace and security are closely inter-related, but water is an ambiguous asset since creating water points can increase conflict as well as reduce it. By prioritising support for traditional modes of management, AFD’s approach strengthened priority use rights over rights of appropriation and promoted efforts to maintain the spirit of dialogue, negotiation and reciprocity. Using traditional systems as the basis for water management and conflict prevention enables local actors to manage pastoral mobility. AFD projects have been widely praised for helping create political and institutional spaces where pastoral infrastructures can be peacefully managed; now, more thought needs to be given to how these works should be monitored, managed and maintained, and local management bodies sustained and funded.

I nteraction between knowledge generation, capacity building and infrastructures • In addition to installing thousands of infrastructures (water points and livestock corridor markers) over the last two decades, AFD interventions have helped produce an enormous amount of information through thematic research and systematic follow-up work, building a body of technical, societal, ecological and economic knowledge that is invaluable for our understanding of pastoral systems in Chad and across the Sahara and the Sahel. This production of knowledge has encouraged different generations of AFD projects and other agencies operating in this field to develop new methodologies and approaches. As well as the ministries concerned, technical and financial partners and NGOs in Chad report that their interventions in this domain have been inspired by what they learned from the ‘school of AFD’.

• C onsiderable progress has also been made in terms of capacity building: a solid core of senior national staff with proven experience in pastoral issues now hold posts in several projects and institutions in Chad. Institutional support to the Ministry of Livestock (significantly renamed the Ministry of Pastoral Development and

Animal Production) led to thematic studies, various meetings and the creation of the Chadian Pastoral Platform, which brings together actors from the State and civil society. This should help dispel the negative clichés associated with pastoralism and show that it is an efficient, modern production system that is still needed despite Chad becoming an oil-producing country.

However, the national policy on pastoralism remains ambiguous, recognising the importance of mobility on the one hand while seeking to modernise livestock production through intensification/sedentarisation on the other. The Pastoral Code has not been promulgated, and civil society needs to play a larger role in lobbying in this field.

P assport to the future: challenges to overcome • The much-praised innovation, intelligence and continuity of AFD’s pastoral interventions in Chad over the last two decades will carry through into the next generation of projects. Following a symposium on ‘Pastoral livestock: A sustainable contribution to development and security in Saharan-Sahelian areas’ at the regional conference in N’Djamena in May 2013 (initiated by Chadian officials and AFD), the ‘N’Djamena Declaration’ calls on the regional community (which includes North and Central Africa) and the international community to “unite [ ... ] in building peace and development in Saharan-Sahelian areas by recognising the value of pastoralism as a means of maintaining stability.” This regional recognition of the value of pastoralism marks an unprecedented step forward, especially as the crisis in pastoralism was due more to a failure of public policies than of pastoral systems. What is needed now are effective and rapid responses to legitimate demands for access to social services (education, health) that are compatible with a mobile way of life. The mobilisation of scientific and technical research in nomadic settings, by integrating the expansion of new information and communication techniques (including cellular telephones), must contribute.

Bibliographic references Reference study Krätli S., M. onimart, B. Jallo, J. Swift and C. Hesse, 2013a. Evaluation of AFD interventions

in pastoral water in Chad over the last 20 years. International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London. EX POST n° 51, October 2013, AFD.

Conference proceedings

Pastoral livestock: A sustainable contribution to development and security in Saharan-Sahelian areas. 27th -29th May 2013, N’Djamena, Chad. Republic of Chad, AFD, Club du Sahel et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, European Union, IFAD, IUCN, Swiss Confederation.

Aubague S. and P. Grimaud 2011. « Réflexion sur l’évolution de la mobilité des pasteurs nomades au Tchad: sédentarisation ou transhumance? » In: Alfaroukh I.O., N. Avella and P. Grimaud (eds) 2011. Actes du colloque national: La politique sectorielle du pastoralisme au Tchad. Quelles orientations? 1st-3rd March 2011, Republic of Chad, Ministry of Pastoral Development and Livestock Production, N'Djamena.

De Jode, E. 2009. Modern and Mobile. The future of livestock production in Africa’s drylands, IEED

and SOS Sahel International, London

Behnke R.H., I. Scoones, and C. Kerven (eds), 1993. Range Ecology at Disequilibrium: New Models

of Natural Variability and Pastoral Adaptation in African Savannahs. Overseas Development Institute, London.

Krätli S. and N. Schareika, 2010. Living off Uncertainty. The Intelligent Animal Production of Dryland Pastoralists. European Journal of Development Research 22(5): 605-622.

Reounodji F., W. Tchouna and M. Banzhaf, 2005. La sécurisation des systèmes pastoraux au Tchad: enjeux et éléments de réponse. IRAM, Montpellier, 108 p.

A QUESTION OF DEVELOPMENT is an AFD Research Department publication which presents syntheses of studies and research initiated or supported by the AFD. This series aims to summarize the questioning, the approach, the lessons and the prospects of the study presented. Thus, it intends to open new avenues for action and thinking. The analyses and conclusions of this document are formulated under the responsibility of its author(s). They do not necessarily reflect the point of view of the AFD or its partner institutions • Publication director: Anne PAUGAM • Editorial director: Alain HENRY • Agence Française de Développement: 5, rue Roland Barthes - 75598 Paris Cedex 12 • Copyright: August 2014 • ISSN: 2271-7404 • Conception: • Layout: Elsa MURAT