Pastoralism beyond Ranching and Its Vulnerabilities as a Farming System, Especially in Semi-arid Tropics of Africa

Abstract

Pastoralism in its pure form is the most traditional of ruminant livestock production systems in which extensive movement of the animals in search of pastures and water is its salient feature. While the system is designed to exploit the dry, arid climate zone, it frequently overlaps with wetter, agricultural land, occasionally resulting in violent conflicts. Ranching is the most intensive form of pastoralism, but it has the disadvantage of being perceived as antisocial and requiring a large initial investment. Whatever other truly improved system of exploiting the pastoral agro-ecosystem exists, it appears that it rarely indicts sedentarized tendencies and is rarely less intensive than ranching. This paper navigates on two objectives. First, to highlight features of pastoralism against its modernized alternative, ranching; and problems pastoralism has been encountering in the context of African semi-arids. Second, to pinpoint most likely destiny of the system. The paper contends that the pastoralism's mobility survival strategy doesn't really address the problem that the system creates. The article goes on to argue that because pastoralism is a livelihood system, it will continue to thrive; however, as long as it cannot comprise internal pressures within itself and is subjected to different external pressures, the system will disintegrate and self-destruct. With the greater needs to meet the world's food needs, extensive practises such as nomadic pastoralism will continue to decline, at least on the outskirts of crop cultivation.