The famine in the Horn of Africa is tied at the end of via nomadic raising farms of the region. Photography: Ed Harris/ReutersImages of Africa affected by drought in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya paint a gloomy picture-thousands of people is again in desperate need and is provided with food aid to allow them to survive.
But what the pictures fail to show is the reason why so many people have achieved this state of indigence.
Under the high-visibility famine is a sustainable way of living that secular and was interrupted by a system of the modern world, and whose ability to adapt to drought has beenseverely minato.
About 20 million people live in the arid Horn of Africa; nomads, or pastors, who own livestock and feed themselves, their communities and the regional economy with milk, meat and other animal products. The pastors lived hard and arid environments of Horn for centuries, surviving his regular cycle and repeated droughts through their unique production strategy that depends on mobility.
While waiting for the rain to get a farmer, a pastoral moves where the rain has already been – power their camels, cows, sheep or goats grazing on new opportunities and access to water sources. Complex social systems that cross borders and reserving of key areas of land for periods of drought, traditionally have ensured that the shepherds are adapted to the extreme climatic variability they face.
But in large areas of recent decades of pastoral land in the Horn of Africa were taken from agriculture and large-scale commercial enterprises-often in areas previously key strategic River reserved for times of drought. This has undermined the whole system and reduced yields of milk and meat.
When cattle are forced to stay in the same place, they become even more susceptible to the disease. With the loss of most of their grazing areas of many pastors who now prefer herd camels, which can survive on remaining degraded habitats, need watering less frequent and can also feed at night when it's cooler. The conflict and insecurity in the region further restricts the mobility of livestock and livestock trade hits long-distance, particularly from Somalia.
In times of drought, when milk yields are low, shepherds will sell their cattle to the grain, but it will be possible to maintain a core breeding herds to edify, when the situation improves. When the price of Arugula and livestock food prices Plummet at the same time, many will lose all their goods. Without any social support are forced to drop out of pastoralism and become a drain on the State, rather than contribute to it.
Food aid provides a temporary solution when drought strikes, saving the life of the shepherds, but often fails to save their livelihoods. Fortunately there are a number of initiatives that seek to protect farms, before they are decimated by drought-livestock vaccination, temporary food and water for the animals, or selling animals for slaughter before their condition deteriorates. Development agencies are also making important advances in the understanding and management of drought-recognizing that pastors in the Horn of Africa are always waiting, survive or recover from a drought.
When this drought is over the pastors who have not abandoned the system will need support from national Governments and the international community to rebuild their herds and secure the future of the production system in which so many depend. So while food aid are crucial in a crisis, the most imaginative solutions are needed to stop the cycle repeats. Helen de jode
Helen de Jode is editor of the modern and Mobile: the future of livestock production in dry-zone Africa, published by IIED and SOS Sahel
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