an Eldis Resource
Mapping poverty and livestock in the developing world
Policy conclusions from pastoralist poverty mapping
Authors:
P.K. Thornton; R.L. Kruska; N. Henninger; P.M. Kristjanson; R.S. Reid; F. Atieno; A.N. Odero; T. Ndegwa
Publisher:
International Livestock Research Institute , 2002
Study includes a set of maps and tables that locate significant populations of poor livestock keepers, and broadly assesses how poor livestock keeping populations are likely to change over the next 3–5 decades.
It concludes that:
- Numbers of poor (and numbers of poor livestock keepers, as far as this analysis can be taken) are greatest in South Asia (SA), particularly in the mixed irrigated and rainfed agricultural production systems of the region and in SSA, particularly in the mixed rainfed systems. Because relatively large numbers of scientists in SA are working on livestock issues, it appears that SSA affords more general scope for livestock-related research and development interventions for the poor
- Population growth and climate change will produce substantial changes in livestock production systems over the next 3–5 decades. There are indications that the magnitude of these systems changes and the consequent need for adaptation and mitigation work, will be particularly large in SSA.
- Poverty and household survey data for East Africa in general, and Kenya in particular, indicate that many poor households keep cattle and have access to land for grazing them. Thus, these results show that large livestock are not solely the prerogative of richer households. The results further indicate that the poorest people in East Africa with significant livestock populations live in dry pastoral areas.
- Considerably more work is required to better inform donors and the research and development community of where hotspots of change are located, who is likely to be affected and how. More collaborative assembling of global data sets is indicated, together with high-resolution poverty mapping based on small-area estimation techniques, collation of geo-referenced household surveys and better understanding of poverty–resource degradation links.
- Poverty mapping information is key to any convincing framework for livestock-related research and development priority setting. A consensus on appropriate criteria is needed, together with an action plan to fund and carry out the collection and maintenance of crucial baseline data.
The report was commissioned as a policy study for the UK's Department for International Development (DFID)
