Abstract
There is consensus that pastoral mobility is beneficial for both pastoralists and the environment. However, rapid change arising from multiple factors, including landscape fragmentation, sedentarization, and demographic drivers might affect the effectiveness of this pastoral coping strategy in times of drought. We investigate livestock mortality rates following the 2005 drought in four areas in Maasailand: the Maasai Mara, the Kitengela plains, the Amboseli, and the Simanjiro plains. The main aim was to assess the mortality of resident livestock in relation to incoming livestock during the drought. Contrary to our expectations, livestock mortality rates were significantly higher (43%) in Kitengela, which experienced above-average rainfall, compared to the other three areas which had below-average rainfall yet experienced mortality rates between 14% and 30%. Two processes might explain this surprisingly high mortality rate. Firstly, the immigration of large numbers of livestock from drought-stricken areas into the highly fragmented Kitengela area increased stocking density, which worsened the shortage of forage and water. Secondly, the more market-oriented but less drought-resistant livestock breeds in Kitengela form another explanation for the increased mortality. These observations suggest that pastoral mobility may lead to greater sensitivity to drought especially in fragmented areas where more market-oriented but less drought-resistant livestock breeds are introduced. We argue that in such areas, there is a crucial need to adopt practices that simultaneously minimize land fragmentation and enhance pastoral mobility and access to information on improved livestock breeds and markets.
Highlights
Pastoral livestock production, the dominant land use in the arid and semi-arid lands of Africa, provides a livelihood to millions of people
The results show that the overall livestock mortality rates varied among the four areas14% in Simanjiro to 26%, 30%, and 43% in the Mara, Amboseli, and Kitengela-respectively (Figure 3)
The observed mortality rates for cattle, which varied from 13% in Simanjiro to 29%, 32%, and 45% in Maasai Mara, Amboseli, and Kitengela, respectively (Table 3), are higher than the mean rates of 8.3% reported for cattle in southern Kajiado in normal years (Bekure et al 1991)
Summary
The dominant land use in the arid and semi-arid lands of Africa, provides a livelihood to millions of people. This perception of pastoral resilience is under increasing scrutiny as social, economic, and environmental factors exert more pressure in these systems In some areas, such as the horn of Africa, sequences of recurring droughts push pastoralists out of livestock and into poverty and food aid dependency (Fratkin 2001; Campbell 1999; Spencer 1974). Pastoral mobility as a strategy to escape drought, means moving into lands utilized by others and often to far-flung areas Such protracted movements and immigration into commonly used lands increases competition for forage and water resources (Hardin 1968) and the risk of contracting diseases, a situation that will affect the body condition of resident and immigrant livestock alike. This contrast between the four sites enabled us to compare mortality rates among drought-affected and non-drought-affected sites, in the expectation that the non-drought-affected site would reveal lower mortality rates
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