Ranchers Diverse in Their Drought Management Strategies

Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,

Simulated Analysis of Drought's Impact on Different Cow-Calf Production Systems

Five representative firm level stochastic simulation models were constructed using historical production cost, cattle prices, weather information and scientifically collected production data from the Gundmendson Sandhills Laboratory operated by University of Nebraska. The five hundred iterative results indicate inclusion of crop residual grazing as a viable drought mitigation tool.Drought Mitigation, Firm Level, Residual Grazing, Simulation, Stochastic, Livestock Production/Industries,

'Responsible companies' and African livestock-keepers: acting, teaching but not learning?

There is some evidence that companies, both multinational and African, operating from motivations that can be very broadly labelled "Corporate Social Responsibility", can make real and significant contributions to pastoral development and that useful development dialogues can be held with them. But three case studies, from Uganda, Ethiopia and Senegal, also suggest that companies operating in "CSR" mode show a systemic tendency to attempt to teach proper engagement with markets, and remarkably little readiness to learn how pastoralists and other livestock-keepers wish to engage with markets, and what constrains them from doing so. When allied with the intrinsic complexity of livestock-keepers' objectives and constraints in production and marketing, this tendency to teach rather than learn severely limits the potential development contribution of CSR

Review of agricultural production systems in eastern Africa in relation to food and nutrition security and climate change

The goal of this paper is to provide a unified resource for Eritrea, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. For each country the review covers the topics of livestock production systems and agroecological zones, food and nutrition security, climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) with a focus on the role of, or impact on, livestock systems. Each of these topics is broad and many excellent studies and reviews have been produced covering these topics either at the country level or for the entire East Africa region. It is the goal of this paper to provide an accessible introduction to these topics and to direct readers to the resources that exist for gathering detailed information on livestock production, food nutrition and security, climate change, GHG emissions and climate-smart livestock production in each country

Climate change, gender, youth and nutrition situation analysis - Ethiopia

Provides a situational analysis for climate change, gender, youth, and nutrition in Ethiopia

Adaptation to Climate Change: Land Use and Livestock Management Change in the U.S.

Replaced with revised version of paper 01/26/11Climate Change, Stocking Rate, Land Use, Livestock Management, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries,

Testing the orthodoxies of land degradation policy in Swaziland

This paper explores Swaziland's National Action Programme (NAP) to combat desertification; the country's main strategy for implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It considers whether this policy tackles real problems supported by micro-level scientific evidence and local experiences, or whether it further reinforces popular orthodoxies about land degradation. Data from one case study chiefdom in Swaziland are used to test two key orthodoxies identified within the country's NAP: (1) the presentation of degradation as a neo-Malthusian problem resulting from population pressure and (2) the assumption that the poor are responsible for degradation of their environment, in particular, the over-use of forest areas and the degradation of soils. It is found that diverse rural livelihoods inherently deliver patches of degradation at the micro-level but it is not necessarily population pressure or poor people that cause the degradation. Households with varying assets simultaneously degrade and conserve different parts of the land resource through pursuing different livelihood activities. The data indicate that while the NAP focuses on mythical problems grounded in the orthodoxies, policy attention is directed away from the more serious land degradation issues affecting rural livelihoods. The findings of this study provide a more nuanced understanding of the gaps between land degradation policy, local conservation practice and environmental and livelihood outcomes, and suggest that policymakers need to evaluate more critically the outdated and simplistic degradation orthodoxies on which much current policy is based. Stronger links need to be made between scientific and policymaking communities, while more credence should be given to land users’ own knowledges, perspectives, concepts and categories surrounding issues of soil conservation and degradation. It is suggested that steps need to be taken towards the development of broadly applicable benchmarks and indicators that bring together local and scientific knowledges across levels. Without this, popularised orthodoxies will continue to provide a basis for inappropriate land policy