Pastoral Coping Mechanisms Survey

Preliminary Data at LEWS Validatioin Sites in Pastoral Ecosystems of East Afrcia

Dr. Abdi Jama

In the planning process of the LEWS project, it was recognized that a socio-economic survey at the beginning of the project would reveal critical issues and/or constraints on technological development. It was realized that mitigating crises and optimizing early warning systems, in East Africa, required an understanding of the pastoralists' complex livestock production systems and inter-relationships between livestock and people, as well. Historically, livestock and household inventories had not been documented for the overall spectrum of drought, nondrought (normal) and/or flood phases.

In five pastoral ecosystems of East Africa, community-based field enumerators are conducting the survey by personal interview with pastoralist households. The purpose of the survey is to investigate the responses of pastoralists to the environmental stresses affiliated with the 1995-97 drought and the 1997-98 floods. The survey addresses;

  1. the effects of the environmental phases, drought and flood;
  2. pastoralists' coping mechanisms to the stresses associated with the phases; and
  3. the efficacy of the coping mechanisms as perceived by the pastoralists.
Livestock population inventories and household coping mechanisms in the arid, semi-arid, and savanna zones of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia are the primary issues of the survey. The data concerning livestock populations include
  1. livestock herd size;
  2. livestock herd situation (e.g., births, deaths);
  3. livestock sales and purchases;
  4. livestock nutrition; and
  5. livestock diseases, conditions and treatments.
The data with respect to household coping mechanisms include;
  1. strategies for minimizing risk and managing loss (e.g., herding, transhumant movement, and supplementary feeding);
  2. the positive (e.g., survival) and negative (e.g., increased vulnerability to hunger) effects of the coping mechanisms upon the household;
  3. types of assistance provided to mitigate the effects of drought and flood; and
  4. demographics with respect to household (e.g., number, age, sex of the people within the household).

LEWS will contribute to a set of plans (designed to complement a variety of regional drought preparedness programs in livestock systems in the Greater Horn of Africa) for the monitoring, intervention and activities aimed at mitigating the crises of drought and flood. Results from the survey will provide the pastoralists' views, about their situation, that will be used in the LEWS project to enhance the strategic planning of effective and timely responses to these environmental stresses imposed upon the pastoralists. To assess the overall situation, two timeframes of inquiry are used for the drought phase and three (one overlapping the drought phase - end of drought and onset of rains) for the flood phase. The timeframes are;

  1. prior to the drought;
  2. during the peak of the drought;
  3. at the onset of rains;
  4. during the peak of the floods; and
  5. recovery from the floods.

Five regions within East Africa were chosen as the focal points for 500 (100 per site) household surveys stratified by pastoral ecoclimatic zones, climatic clusters within zones, and cattle density within climatic clusters.

Pastoralists have been selected for the sample according to a statistical procedure which ensures that the sample is representative of pastoralists within the selected regions. The statistical analyses will be mixed-method procedures utilizing parametric (for quantitative data) and non-parametric (for qualitative data) tests. Descriptive analysis will be performed on the livestock inventories and various data about the household to contribute to the identification of coping mechanisms. The effectiveness of the identified coping mechanisms will be determined by measurements of association with impact on livestock production and ability of pastoralists to mediate adverse conditions.

The map below is a sample of the clusters where the survey scheme is being implemented in Southern Ethiopia.

climtatic clusters Southern Ethiopia

Maintained by the Characterization and Assessment Applications Group
Blackland Research Center
Temple, Texas
For comments or suggestions contact remartin@brc.tamus.edu