JIJIGA, 2 September 2010 (IRIN) – Pastoralists\u2019 disproportionate contribution to Ethiopia\u2019s economy is belied by their marginalized status and by policy assumptions that they would be better off farming. But those who raise livestock tend to make the most of marginal land, according to experts, and are often proficient at adapting to changing circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think that pastoralist production systems are just static and backward but this isn’t true.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides women changing roles, pastoralists are using cell phones and participating in trade and development in their areas. This is key to shift policymakers\u2019 thinking of the pastoral system,\u201d Charles Hopkins, CARE\u2019s pastoral programme manager, told IRIN.<\/p>\n
Although pastoralism has been recognized as a way of life in the Ethiopian constitution, the long-term focus is on sedenterization. \u201cPastoralists are often seen as people who should be told what to do,\u201d said Hopkins.<\/p>\n
Pastoralists are often referred to as `Zelan\u2019, a derogatory Amharic term meaning aimless wanderers. Yet mobility is a necessary response to climate and vegetation variations, according to experts, who regard pastoralism as a sophisticated land-use system that allows people to live on the harsh drylands that would otherwise provide livelihoods for no one.<\/p>\n
\u201cPastoral lands are also seen as idle and given to agriculturalists. With the growing food demand, pastoralists will always have this problem,\u201d added Hopkins. Ethiopia has one of the highest populations in Africa and most of its citizens rely on agriculture.<\/p>\n
Grazing land is reducing due to the conversion of land for farming, an elder in the Jerar area north of Jijiga in Somali Region, told IRIN.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore some of us were pastoralists but now most of our livelihood depends on farming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut farming is like a game of chance, you harvest or you don\u2019t. In the pastoral system, you move with the drought. At the farm you may work so hard for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Insecurity is affecting livestock movement too – there has been internal pressure in Somali Region from armed groups seeking the region\u2019s secession.<\/p>\n
Informal trade <\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the odds, pastoralists, estimated at about 15 percent of the population, are contributing about 40 percent of the agricultural gross domestic product in Ethiopia, according to a\u00a02009 Humanitarian Policy Group paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n Informal systems, heavily dependent on communal ties, are especially important in the dynamic unofficial cross-border trade in live animals in exchange for consumer goods across porous borders. The government describes the trade as contraband.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a trader has the animals, we disperse them in different ways to Somaliland as we speak the same language,\u201d said a livestock broker at the Jijiga Livestock Market. Nearly all animals crossing into Somalia are re-exported to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Gulf states.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are few legal livestock exporters as we are limited by the tax system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Official marketing systems are burdened by regulations and taxes. \u201cLivestock traders want to formalize the trade but there are bureaucracy problems such as the requirement to open accounts, and the need for foreign exchange yet Somalia lacks a functioning central bank,\u201d said Mohamed Abdinoor, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) pastoral and livestock programmes technical adviser.<\/p>\n The peripheral location of most pastoral regions leads to their being squeezed out of domestic livestock markets. Cattle and sheep sold in Addis Ababa, for instance, predominantly come from the highland areas, exacerbating informal trade in a country said to have the largest livestock population in Africa.<\/p>\n According to Abdinoor, a clear policy on pastoral lands and reliable meat and live animal markets will help.<\/p>\n USAID\u2019s Pastoralist Livelihood Initiative programme is providing development and emergency support through pasture rehabilitation, water harvesting, targeted livestock feeding and slaughter destocking. It is also providing linkages with livestock pharmacies and animal health workers.<\/p>\n Livestock serve as critical buffers against falling into persistent poverty, not only in pastoralist areas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe depend on God. We also support each other in times of hardship by loaning animals,\u201d livestock trader Abdikarim told IRIN.<\/p>\n