Avoiding Disaster: Diversification and Risk Management among East African Herders

Abstract

This article addresses processes of livelihood diversification among pastoralists in the rangelands of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The objectives of the article are threefold: (1) to suggest a theoretical framework for addressing income diversification among pastoralists with reference to current literature and databases; (2) to present a case study on pastoral income diversification based on preliminary field research in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia; and (3) to summarize current understandings of pastoral diversification while pointing to additional empirical research needs. By showing how comparative analyses in the region have been constrained by theoretical and data deficiencies, the article explores ways in which income diversification differs by what are termed conditional, opportunity, and local response variables. Climate, distance to market towns, gender, wealth, and education are attributes covered by these variables and discussed in the article. The conceptualization and case study provide useful bases for conducting comparative research on pastoral diversification in East Africa specifically, and in sub-Saharan Africa generally.

Lakeside View: Sociocultural Responses to Changing Water Levels of Lake Turkana, Kenya

“…However, Fig. 8 Bivariate scattergram showing the δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of Dassanetch, Elmolo, and Gabbra (Kiura 2005) LH subsistence diversification is also recorded among HP Bpastoralists^when factors such as distance to markets, gender, family wealth, and local ecology are accounted (Little et al 2001). The differences between how subsistence specialization takes form in the Turkana Basin between the LH and HP are more reflective of the synchronic nature of cultural anthropological data and diachronic nature of archaeological data than of true behavioral differences in people from the two periods.…”

Adaptation of agriculture to climate change in semi-arid Borena, Ethiopia

“…The practices analysed in this study should increase the capacity of the farm household to cope with and adapt to climate-related risks, and we call them 'adaptation options'. The listed adaptation options compare well with options for dry lands found in the literature (Bryan et al 2013;Fratkin 1991;Little et al 2001;Rufino et al 2013;Thornton et al 2007). Before eliciting households' responses on adaptation options, we sought to know what household understood by 'climate change' through a focus group discussions (FGDs).…”

“…Grootaert and Narayan 2004;Little et al 2001). The positive relationship between tenure security and governance and accountability and the number and the type of adaptation practices adopted suggests that high-quality local institutions increase the ability of households to intensify crop and livestock production.…”

“…The strong relationship between livestock wealth and income diversification can be explained by a 'banking' effect: selling livestock (products) can provide capital to, for example, 'start trade' (Ouma et al 2011), as a diversification strategy (cf. Carter and Barrett 2006;Little et al 2001). Thus, a policy to support investment in institutions (such as the banks) may stimulate households to save and access credit and enhance their ability to adapt.…”

Livelihood diversification in a rural community of the Okavango Delta, Botswana. - Results from a Socio-Economic Baseline Survey

“…For Sub-Saharan Africa, case studies provide evidence for an increasing diversification of livelihoods in peasant societies, a phenomenon referred to as deagrarianisation (Schnegg 2009, Little et al 2001, Bryceson 1996, 1999, Reardon 1997. Motives for these developments can be found in risk reduction, population pressure, landholding fragmentation, reaction to crisis or shocks, climatic changes and financial dependencies.…”