Livestock mobility and animal health policy in southern Africa: the impact of veterinary cordon fences on pastoralists

Daniel J Mcgahey

doi:10.1186/2041-7136-1-14

Abstract

Greater understanding of how policies are restricting extensive pastoral production is needed, given the importance of livestock mobility to both social and environmental health in drylands. In southern Africa, communal pastoral rangelands continue to be enclosed and dissected by large-scale barrier fences designed to control livestock diseases and protect lucrative livestock export agreements. This paper looks at how these veterinary cordon fences are changing pastoral systems in Botswana, particularly patterns of resource access and livestock mobility. The results show how overall consensus of opinion towards fencing among pastoralists is positive; fences do restrict resource access yet on balance herding demands are reduced and livestock security improved. However, a minority of marginalised groups recognise that fencing restricts risk management strategies and increases competition for key resources, raising concern over more widespread social differentiation and increased vulnerability at the regional level. The paper demonstrates why a closer examination of the trade-offs and consequences associated with animal health policy options in Africa is needed, particularly to determine policy-marketing pathways that allow more flexible and opportunistic resource access within communal pastoral areas.

Highlights

Greater understanding of how policies are restricting extensive pastoral production is needed, given the importance of livestock mobility to both social and environmental health in drylands
Livestock mobility is the principal means by which pastoralists cope with and take full advantage of natural resource variability in drylands (Scoones 1995, Behnke et al 1993)
When pressed to provide a negative implication of enclosure most pastoralists could offer one of the above problems. These negative impacts are similar to those documented by Hitchcock (1995, 2002), who noted that movement restrictions across the central Ngwato cordon fence during a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak prevented the seasonal movement of cattle to village arable lands causing a shortage of milk and draught power

Summary

Introduction

Greater understanding of how policies are restricting extensive pastoral production is needed, given the importance of livestock mobility to both social and environmental health in drylands. Discussions about past herd mobility and management revealed that herders could be divided into three groups according to the type of seasonal livestock movement practised from when the area was first occupied by pastoralists in the 1950s to the early 1980s.

Results

Conclusion