Range Resource Assessment and Monitoring Techniques among the Pastoral Bahima in Uganda

Abstract

Introduction Few comprehensive studies have documented indigenous knowledge in rangeland management in Uganda. Existing studies mainly present work done in the rangelands in terms of range productivity in respect to animal productivity. In this study I shall attempt to document the indigenous range resource assessment and monitoring techniques selected in only one agro-pastoral community in Uganda. Most range assessment, monitoring and condition classification have an ecological basis and are associated with different stages of secondary succession (Dyksterhius 1949; Parker 1954; Wagner 1989). The inferred condition is based on the relationship of the present vegetation composition of the sites. Site stability, grazing value, vegetation cover, forage and carrying capacity are assumed to increase as vegetation composition nears climax state. Range classification and monitoring can also ben done through use of diagnostic surveys and GIS methods which characterize the physical and socioeconomic environment such as drainage pattern, slope, soil quality and distribution, farming systems, land tenure and social and cultural characteristics of human communities. Within East Africa, range condition classification has placed emphasis on periodic re-measurements of range condition on permanent sample transects/plots (Casebeer 1970: Skovlin 1971; Bille and Heemstra 1978; Kuchar et al. 1981; Herlocker 1994). After almost a century of development activities in the rangelands of Uganda, there are no ready solutions to the pressing economic stagnation and environmental degradation in the country's drylands. To varying degrees, pastoralists and agropastoralists who live in these areas have been caught in a protracted crisis as a result of increasing scarcity of natural resources and inappropriate available technologies. This generalised crisis in pastoral development led to the proposition of a closer linkage between indigenous pastoral systems and knowledge, and modern scientific technologies to produce what Roling (1993) termed 'coupled systems' comprising hard ecosystem (i.e., range science) and a soft platform for making decisions about that ecosystem (i.e., a pastoral organisation). As Warren (1986) observed, indigenous knowledge is not necessarily simple. It does not exist in a cultural, economic or political vacuum but always confronts other knowledge systems. It is within the context of contestation that, through a process of dialogue and exchange, innovation and knowledge creation will always operate (Scoones and Thompson 1993). Much indigenous knowledge is based on accurate, detailed and thoughtful observations, collected and passed over many generations. It allows informed decisions to be made by combining information and techniques to maximise production and minimise risks (Brokensha and Riley 1980). According to Scoones and Thompson (1993): Rural peoples' knowledge and agricultural science are both general and specific, theoretical and practical, value laden and context bound and influenced by relations of power ... science and traditional knowledge are thus not different, elements of each may be incommensurable, but commonalities in process and outputs clearly exist ... in other words some elements of farmers' science show strong parallels with conventional, positivist, empirical based scientific approaches. A well established, durable process of experimentation exists that offers the potential for articulation with modern science. A lot can be learned from the local people. Perhaps the incorporation of indigenous knowledge into developing adaptable technologies can be an effective means to increase extension agents' and development workers' sensitivity to local needs and stimulate meaningful dialogue between all participants in the developing process (Tadingar 1994). A combination of formal science and traditional knowledge or technology sharing between the two may therefore prove to be an effective development approach. …