Customary Resource and Herd Management Strategies

Earlier travellers characterised the Afar territory as “unpleasant consisting of stony or sandy desert traversed by great lavas …miserable desert, barren” (Nesbitt, 1935; Trimingham, 1976). In fact the Afar land is largely semi-arid and arid which is, except in some pocket areas, not suitable for conventional or rainfed agriculture. And yet the Afar have managed to survive in such an environment for centuries via maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable pastoral production systems. Their pastoralism represents a highly rational adaptation to a severe and adverse environment. They have employed various herd management strategies and have developed flexible and adaptive social-political organizations to survive in such an adverse environment.

Seasonal mobility, changing herd compositions (when the situation demands), and traditional institutions of mutual aid have been used to maintain the sustainability of the pastoral system both ecologically and economically. However, as indicated earlier over the past three to four decades this system has come under mounting pressure and increasingly becomes vulnerable to various stresses (economic, political and environmental ones). Changing land use, political, economic, demographic and institutional changes have all either in single or combined brought a growing pressure on Afar pastoralism. In other words these mounting environmental, demographic and political forces have put their long-adapted strategies at a test. I will be back to these factors at length in section 5.2.4. Here I first briefly discuss the main herd management strategies employed by the pastoral Afar.

As discussed in Chapter 3, among the Afar and in many pastoral groups in East Africa herd management strategies are responses to many factors such as limitations set by ecology, physical needs of the stock, the social needs of people who keep the herds and, other socio-cultural factors (Getachew, 2001a:38). For instance different species of stock prefer different niches and have different feeding habits; require distinct herding patterns; have different breeding rates and tolerance to vagaries of nature; provide different amount of yields; and have different social, cultural and religious significance. Therefore, it is in the light of all these considerations that herders or pastoral households pursue various herd management strategies and organizing their household labour.

Households are production, reproduction and consumption units. The stock management unit in Afar is the household unit/extended family (Burra/Dahla) whose basic objective is geared towards provision of sufficient milk and exchange, and balancing the reproduction and further survival of stock after droughts or misfortunes (Getachew, 2001a). In general for a successful pastoral production system in an economically risky and politically volatile environment like that of the current situation in the Afar Region requires an effective livestock management strategy; stock diversification; mobility of stock; stock redistribution and transfer; establishing stock alliance and mobilizing social networks; change of residence by households, etc. Each of these strategies is elabourated below.

i. Accumulation and diversification of stock: One of the challenges of the pastoral households is the growth of livestock or to acquire more livestock and to diversify species in order to be a viable production unit and to recover from unexpected losses or misfortunes.

Therefore, the Afar pastoral households in each extended family try to acquire more stock and

to keep multiple species as much as possible for feeding family members, for social investment and insurance against unexpected losses due to raid, disease or drought consequences. To this effect they strive to keep a sufficient number of cattle, camels, goats, and sheep. Particularly family members refrain from selling productive female stock and young heifers. Moreover, lineages or kinship groups often discourage and prevent members from depleting their stock (particularly camels and cattle) by selling for purchasing unessential urban consumer goods. Even transfer of stock to an individual family, who has lost its stock for one reason or the other, needs to ensure the availability of proper stock management, adequate and appropriate labour and skill in the recipient family. If a recipient mismanages a loaned stock, immediate recall of a loan stock can take place. All this is to build up family’s or lineage’s stock for provision of sufficient food, social investment, and for safeguarding against destitution which may result from unexpected stock losses or misfortunes. Transfer of stock between households also resolves shortage of herding labour for households who own relatively more stock than labour power. However, in recent decades the strategy of herd accumulation has been constrained by loss of stock because of recurrent drought impacts, shrinkage of pastureland and loss of key resource areas to non-pastoral uses.

ii. Livestock mobility and labour organization: As stated in Chapter 3, the most conspicuous adaptive strategy of the pastoral production system is the mobility of herders and livestock.

The mobility of herders and herds which is mainly dictated by the availability of forages and water can follow different patterns, but is always characterized by a combination of individual stock ownership and communal land use.

Among the Afar the strategy of mobility is pursued mainly to minimize stock losses and to provide access to seasonally varying grazing resources and to sufficient water. Mobility also occurs to escape floods, mosquito infestation and livestock diseases. The Afar pastoral system is based on the utilization of rangeland resources which vary temporally and spatially. In order to utilize such different rangeland resources, the pastoral groups adopt various patterns of mobility depending on seasonal availability of pasture, vegetation and water. As the Afar Region is characterized by extreme variability in and low amounts of rainfall, the Afar have developed an extremely flexible system of livestock and rangeland management that utilizes the poor/scarce livestock feed resources available to them in a highly efficient manner.

Spatial mobility is made to dry-season and wet-season pastures involving short-range mobility and/or long distance migration. Transhumance is practised between dry-season pasture within flood plains of the Awash River and key resource areas at the banks of some perennial rivers and the wet-season pastures on the high grounds outside of the riverine lands and on foothills or escarpments in the western part of the Region. (See map 6 for directions of livestock movement within and beyond the Region).

Map 6 Livestock Movement during Wet and Dry Season

During the dry season people and livestock retreat to areas with relatively secure water supplies. During the short rain herders split their livestock into grazers and browsers, and into

“wet” (milk) and “dry” animals. Using a highly developed system of scouting and verbal communication (Dagu) they direct their animals to areas where browse and/or pasture are temporarily at their best. (This point is elabourated in Chapter 6 on basis of case materials from the study community).

Mobility also involves the division of management units (i.e. the households and their stock).

Herding unit is often based on types of animals, age, sex and lactating status. The herd is divided into camel, cattle and small stock herding units which in turn sub-divided into main/permanent settlement-based lactating stock (Homa) and temporary camp-based dry-herd stocking unit (Magida). Likewise labour resources of households are organised into herder groups on the basis of age, gender, kinship relation, traditional rules and settlement. If we see labour organization in terms of type of stock, age and gender of herders, camels are often kept only by adult men and cattle by adult men and women. Small stocks are mainly herded by children and women who are in fact overseen by adult men to ensure their security against any external threats (e.g. theft, wild beasts, raids from Issa, Karrayu). Livestock are penned in accordance with kinship relations. Kinship groups or households within extended families often pool their labour, organize and herd their stock together. As a rule camels are herded and milked only by men, cattle by men and women, goat and sheep by children and women.

Elders supervise the management of herd units both in main settlements and temporary camps. They also tend lactating, small stock, some pack animals, weak and work stocks which are kept near the base camp (Homa). On the other hand junior, unmarried and energetic young men drive dry-herd from the main settlement to wet and dry season grazing areas (see box 5.1 below about livestock in space vis-à-vis homestead/family enclosure in the study community).

Box 5.1 Livestock in Space

Hut and animal kraal

1 2 3

1. Gudata (Kelao): space allowed only to extended households to graze kids and calves. Other large animals can stay for short time in Gudata. Gudata is closer to the homestead and often reserved for small kids and calves.

2. Dahari: area designated mainly for goat, sheep and cattle

3. Der-dahari: Area far from homestead and mainly used for camel and cattle grazing.

Sources: Focus Group Interview, December, 2005

The range of mobility varies spatially as well as seasonally. Previous studies done in the Awash Valley (e.g. Getachew, 2001a:50; Voelkner, 1974:21) indicated that the mobility range of the main settlement camp of the Afar family is estimated to be between 0 to 5 kms, but sometimes it is between 5 to 30 kms radius and conversely the dry-herd satellite camps have ranges of migration between 30 to 100 kms radius. Long distance migrations are practised during the rainy season and enable efficient use of the distant pasture and preservation of the nearby for the later use.

However, over the past three to four decades the Afar pastoral mobility into the dry/wet seasons’ key resource areas has been highly affected by the introduction of irrigation schemes in the Awash Valley; the change of the Awash River course and flooding; delineation of national parks; the intrusion of Issa and other neighbouring groups into the Afar land; and the mounting of intra and enter-clan and ethnic conflicts over the use of scarce resources, and shrinkage of pasturelands. Each of these constraints is discussed in section 5.2.4 below. But here let us proceed with discussing on herd management strategies employed to overcome stock losses during dry or drought seasons.

In Afar society the last part of the dry season is the most difficult period for the pastoralists. It is a period where household heads and clan/lineage leaders have to make critical decisions to overcome stock losses. Until the rainy season comes they tend to the disposal of part of the stock through sale, transfer to other households or bond friends, exchange of animals, etc (Getachew, 2001a). Equally critical is the drought period where pastoral households have to resort to distress migration, stock disposal, slaughtering animals and destocking. Some of these strategies are elabourated below.

iii. Stock distribution and transfer: Stock redistribution and transfers are made on the basis of kinship relations. Stock can be transferred in different contexts in the form of gifts, loans and exchange (Getachew, 2001a; Ayele, 1986). Stock transfer starts from birth through marriage to establishing of independent households (i.e. cycle of household development).

Each son acquires the birth gift from his father, paternal and material kin and affines.

Likewise a daughter also acquires gifts from parents and relatives. Birth gifts constitute the core herd by the time a son gets married. As a boy grows he again acquires additional gifts of stock from his father, mother and close kin at circumcision and marriage. (This point is elabourated in Chapter 6 on basis of case materials from the study community). Besides he could acquire stock through his own effort by engaging in herding and wage employment in town and non-pastoral works.

On the other hand households or individuals who face misfortune and loss of their stock could ask for free gifts or loans of stock from their close kin. A household head that could not afford his children’s marriage, circumcision, mortuary rituals, or could not cover cost of treatment of ill-dependent could ask his relatives or kinsmen for loans or gifts. A poor or a household head who could not sustain his household members could ask his paternal, maternal kin and in-laws (affines) of milk-stock (Hantilla/Hantita), or redistribute his children among these groups of relatives. Stock distribution or transfer through Hantilla could be viewed in terms of practical livestock management strategy which includes security guarantees and ecologically efficient resource uses. The transfer of stock to relatives living away from the

giver’s residence is preferred and considered as more advantageous to those living closer (Getachew, 2001a:42). Various stock transfer and mutual aid associations exist among the Afar. These associations are described in Chapter 6 using case materials from the study community.

Generally, among the Afar, kinship groups have a shared claims and rights in each other’s stock, and moral responsibility for raising the necessary number of animals or cash in assisting members who face misfortunes for one reason or the other and/or could not sustain their household members, since they are involved in mutual aid and cooperation. The arrangements of stock transfers are the function of social organizations and effective herd management strategies. Transfers are done within a household and across households linked by kinship relations in order to tackle shortage of milk and breeding stock by the recipient households. However, nowadays the amount of transfers and the degree of mutual aid have been constrained by decline of assets both at household and community levels among the Afar. Though solidarity, good will and the ethos of mutual help are still strong among the pastoral groups, the amount of transfers has been gradually insufficient either to rebuild stock or to cope with severe crisis. This point will be illustrated in Chapter 6 by the way of analyzing the case study of Aghini pastoral community.

iv. Stock-Alliance and Animal Entrustment: For an individual or a household it is customary to have bond friend(s) (Kataysa) from the own clan group or from non-Afar groups. Bond-friendship is one way of forming an alliance or networking for reciprocity or resource sharing.

Such alliance is based on voluntary, self-selected contracts between individuals or households. Thus individuals and households who have established bond friendships exchange gifts, loans and form stock-alliance.

Stock-alliance is established between individuals or households. It is customary for an individual to have four stock-partners, two of his own and the other two of his father.¹²⁸ If one gave one particular animal to his friend, his friend could ask him for another animal at another time (Ayele, 1986:37). The stock partner could also tend livestock of his ally for a certain period, and in return he could receive animals or firearms for his service.

The relation between Afar and neighbouring groups (Oromo, Argoba and Amhara) is characterized by both conflict and cooperation. The relations of Afar with their neighbours living in the west part (i.e. Oromos and Argoba) have been friendly, peaceful and important as compared to that of the Issa. There have been economic and social relations. Intermarriage and friendship (Kataysa) as well as relationships with their neighbours have been important in creating peaceful trade relations and access to scarce pastoral resources and markets (Getachew, 2001a). In order to escape drought risks, shortage of feed and livestock diseases the local Afar move part of their stock to their Oromo or Argoba friends (Kataysa). Likewise their Oromo friends bring their stock to their Afar friends during wet seasons. Moreover, the Afar and the neighbouring groups exchange pasture resources and stubble (crop residues). In recent years, however, forging stock-alliance with neighbouring Oromos has been reduced.

128 Kataysa (bond-friendship) is inherited among the Afar. Children often continue their relations with their father’s Takaysa, when their father passes away.

This will be explained in Chapter 6 by analyzing the relationships of case study community with its neighbours.

v. Slaughtering, Destocking and Restocking Livestock: The pastoral Afar sell or slaughter only specific types of animals like dry females, kids (Bakal) and older animals. In normal times older animals and non-productive stock are often disposed either through selling them at market or slaughtering them for household consumption or offering for the feast called Dasiga. As a rule female stock are not offered for market unless they are old or non-productive. Old and non-productive stock are offered for Dasiga. Dasiga is an Afar term that denotes sharing meat in the bush. It is practised mainly by young men who want to hold a meat-sharing feast. An animal is often offered for such a feast on payment in kind. For instance, a camel slaughtered for a Dasiga is equivalent to 90-100 goats (Helland, 1980, cited in Getachew, 2001a:51). The practice of Dasiga is partly to overcome craving for meat. On the part of the stock owner, it is a way of disposing an old stock, and reconstituting the herd by young and productive ones. In relation to Dasiga as a means of disposing unwanted stock and restocking, my key informants stated as follows:

In the study community unless there is severe problem, female-animals are not often offered for sale. Under the normal conditions male-animals, old animals (both sexes), those female-animals with less yield, or with deformed breast, or those which are emaciated or thin; or a cow whose calf could not grow (called Sobiyalie), and finally heifer are often offered for sale at market. Male-camel which is fattened or old can be offered for meat to the clan members on loan basis for the feast called Dasiga. Dasiga is often feasted with a group consisting of seven or nine or eleven members. The number of Dasiga group is always odd number. A herder who has a fattened or old camel offers it for Dasiga. The owner in return can receive nine female-goats immediately (i.e. in advance). After 2 years, the owner will receive nine castrated bulls. Then the owner will fatten and sell the bulls for cash, or exchange them for heifers, or rent out the bulls to the neighbouring sedentary cultivators for grain and to be used for plowing (Key informant interviews, December, 2006)

The Afar also dispose stock selectively even during dry season or drought period. They also cull animals when there is a critical shortage of feed during drought, and during disease epidemics. They tend first to sell old, non-productive and male stock early to avoid losses due to shortage of feed and to preserve the existing scarce feed for those core and productive-female stock. When a drought becomes severe they slaughter very young ones or calves as the dams could not provide them with sufficient milk and withstand the exposure to drought effects.

5.2.3 The Increased Involvement of Afar Pastoralists in Non-pastoral Activities: Trade