Pastoralism: Definition and Classification

Pastoralism is one of the main production systems in the drylands⁵⁹ of the world. It uses rangelands for livestock production. Pastoral production takes up some 25% of the world’s land area; produces some 10% of the meat used for human consumption; and supports some 20 million pastoral households (Blench, 2001: iv).

Pastoralism is defined in many ways or has many definitions⁶⁰. Many of its definitions are honed in the issues of extensive ruminant livestock production, characterized by some form of mobility (WISP, 2006). Some examples of definitions of pastoralism are given in box 3.1 below.

59 Drylands are conventionally defined in terms of water stress, as terrestrial areas where the mean annual rainfall (including snow, fog, hail, etc) is lower than the total amount of water evaporated to the atmosphere.

Drylands can be found on every continent and cover extensive areas of land. They stretch over 41% of Earth’s land surface (World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism/WISP, 2006).

60 Pastoralism “can be described as both a means of production and a mode of subsistence. ‘Means of production’ is the act of production based on animals; ‘mode of subsistence’ is a configuration of productive strategies and social relations allowing the exploitation of natural resources and reproduction of the social groups involved” (Cribb, 1984, cited in Abdi, 2003:398).

Some of the important terms used for describing pastoral production strategies are contentious and can be described differently by different people. Many writers have also made different categorization of pastoral production system. Broadly speaking pastoral production is split into “extensive enclosed systems” (in North America, Australia and parts of South America), and the “open access systems” (in Africa, the Andes, Asia and Siberia). While the former is practised mainly in the developed countries using fenced ranges and the later is largely the domain of “traditional producers” in the developing countries (Blench, 2001:iv, 7).

There is no generally accepted classification of the different forms of pastoralism. Various scholars have made different classification of pastoralism. The criteria used for classification may include degree of sedentarism, distance of pastoral migration, composition of herds or species, management system, organization of labour involved in herding activities, geographic distribution, ecology, etc. (Khazanov, 1994; Blench, 2001; Abdi, 2003). The most common classification is based on the herd size, duration and distance of livestock movement, and organization of labour (Abdi, 2003:398; Blench, 2001:11; Wilson, 1982 cited in Ayalew, 1995). Moreover, other factors such as the degree of dependence on livestock products for the foodstuff of households and various types of agricultural activities, and foraging activities associated with livestock are also considered in classifying pastoral systems (Blench, 2001;

Khazanov, 1994). In general three pastoral systems can be distinguished: nomadism, transhumance and agro-pastoralism⁶¹. Each of these forms of pastoralism is briefly described as follows.

61 For details on classification see Khazanov (1994:17-25).

Box 3.1 Definitions of Pastoralism/Pastoralist

• Pastoralism: “may be defined as dependence upon domestic herd animals held and bred as capital”

(Chang and Koster, 1986 cited by Abdi, 2003:389).

• Pastoralism: “is a mode of production which depends on natural forage. In the arid regions this requires constant or periodic movement in search of pasture, a factor that differentiates this form of livestock production from those practised by farmers and ranchers” (Markakis, 1993:1).

• Pastoralism is “the predominant form of economic activity characterized by maintenance of herds all year round on a system of free-range grazing, periodic mobility within the boundaries of specific grazing territories, or between these territories, and the orientation of production towards the requirement of subsistence” (Khazanov, 1994:16).

• Pastoralism: “is a mode of production concerned with the exploitation of domestic animals” (Abdi, 2003:389).

• Pastoralism: “often refers to extensive husbandry of herds of different species (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, equines) requiring periodic migration to access pasture” (WISP, 2006).

• Pastoralist households are “those in which at least 50% of household gross revenue (including income and consumption) comes from livestock or livestock-related activities” (Swift, 1998 cited in IUCN/WISP, 2006).

• Pastoralist: “often describes an entire ethnic group, irrespective of whether all members actually keep livestock or not” (Baxter, 1994 cited in WISP, 2006).

i. Nomadism: is a type of pastoral system in which pastoralists are “exclusively”⁶² livestock producers who do not grow crops and thus simply depend on sale or exchange of animals and their products. In this system herders movement is opportunistic and follows the pattern of pasture resources. Forage availability has a direct impact on the movement of herds; and mobility pattern is highly irregular (Blench, 2001; Rass, 2005). However, the idea of exclusive reliance of pastoralists on livestock products is disputed, as pastoral society may practice both pastoral means of production and agricultural means of production, or a pastoral mode of subsistence may coexist with an agricultural mode of subsistence (Abdi, 2003).

Another author (Scholz, 1995 cited in Merkle, 2000:1) defines nomadism as “a region specific, temporally and spatially ubiquitous survival strategy that was based on subsistence, and coexisted as an alternative to the sedentary cultures of agricultural and urban societies”.

Pastoral groups may also rely on trade with sedentary communities for grains and other products to supplement their livelihood (Chang and Koster, 1994). This suggests that societies known to be ‘pastoralists’ do also practise some agriculture or trading.

ii. Transhumance: This system involves the ‘regular movement’ of herds among the fixed points in order to exploit the seasonal availability of resources. It is a “specialized form of (mobile) pastoralism that is still based on settlements, but involves seasonal movement of the herd between pastures with some use of campsites” (Abdi, 2003:398). Transhumance pastoralists have a permanent homestead or base camp where older members of the community remain the whole year. Herd splitting is the characteristics of transhumance.

Herders take most of the animals to search for grazing, while some especially among lactating animals are kept at homestead. Weak animals or work animals are also left behind in the permanent camp (Blench, 2001; Ayalew, 1995).

iii. Agro-pastoralism: where pastoralists are permanently settled and engaged in agriculture as their major economic activity. In this pastoral system agriculture constitutes the subsistence base, and agro-pastoralists derive the bulk of their subsistence from crop production.

Producers depend on their own or hired labour for crop cultivation, and invest more on housing and infrastructure (Blench, 2001). In such societies pastoralism occupies an important place in their value system and its social reproduction is maintained.

Concerning the relationship between agriculture and pastoralism some authors suggested that

“most societies known to be ‘pastoralists’ do also practise some agriculture; as a result, no pastoral society subsists exclusively on the products of livestock. Therefore, the combination of pastoralism and agriculture can be viewed as a continuum with ‘pure’ pastoralism and

‘pure’ agriculture respectively as the logical extremes” (Brandstom et al., 1979 cited in Ayalew, 1995:8). Similarly another author states that “pastoralism occurs in a continuum from fully sedentary (village-based herding) to fully mobile (nomadic) pastoralism” (Abdi, 2003:398).

Regarding forms of pastoral systems Blench also remarked that “any classification must be treated as simplification; pastoralists are by their nature flexible and opportunistic and can

62 Currently, however, the notion of exclusive dependence of pastoralists on livestock products has been challenged, as producers shift between herding and cultivation depending on the economic and ecological conditions.

rapidly switch management systems as well as operating multiple systems in one overall productive enterprise” (Blench, 2001:11). Khazanov (1994:16) also states that “forms of pastoralism are not absolutely static; on the contrary they merely point to the parameter of a changeable economy which is capable of transformation”. In relation to this, on the basis of findings of economic and social history of nomads in the Old World Dry Belt, Scholz (2001:1) noted that given the right conditions, nomadism, termed as a socio-ecological mode of culture, was able to appear and disappear at any place and any time. In general the above description of pastoralism shows the change and continuity of pastoralism, disappearance and reappearance of its various forms in specific contexts and conditions, and the coexistence of pastoralism and agriculture. However, given the current rapid modernization and mounting external pressures, mobile pastoralism has currently faced challenges to continue in its traditional way. Therefore, it is here important to review the existing debates on pastoralism.

The following sections present the current discourse and perspectives to pastoralism.

3.1.2 Discourse on Pastoralism