care international in ethiopia – pastoral drop out study - ELMT Home

livestock and the range resource they depend on for reproduction is everything to make
livelihood. The FGD participants further reiterated that being a livestock owner is important
but not a sufficient condition by itself for one to be classified as a pastoralist. A pastoralist
should have the skill and the knowledge to take good care of his animals and the resource on
which they depend in order to reproduce and provide livelihood to people. A pastoralist has
to involve directly in the whole management of his herd. In pastoral areas there are many
people who support themselves by selling fire wood, water, petty trading or cultivation.
Such people are still classified as pastoralists no matter how small is the herd they own or
stockless they may be as long as they meet the condition stated above, i.e., herding and
managing livestock and the natural resource base of the system.
In the FGD conducted with pastoralists who hosted dropouts, a sharp division transpired
between the participants on the question where to categorize a stockless person who lives in
pastoral areas by providing herding labor services to wealthier households. Less than half of
the members said a person who lives in pastoral area but does not raise his own livestock
cannot be called a pastoralist while the majority said as long as one lives in a pastoral area
and involved in herding be it his own herd or other people’s, it does not matter, he can be
classified as a pastoralist. However, all agreed that if an individual who is a stockless or and
who lives in pastoral area but doesn’t involve in one way or another in pastoral activities
such as herding, watering of animals he can’t be classified as pastoralist. He is considered as
a useless person (nyattu) and can be even cast out of the society. Also, all agreed that there is
no as such a threshold number of livestock one should own to be classified as pastoralist.
Like in any other social grouping there are wealthy as well as poor pastoralists. A stockless
person who stayed within the community is locally described as “qolle” while a pastoralist
who moved out of the pastoral area unwillingly to either urban or peri-urban area was
traditionally referred to as “nama nyaphati gale or eltma”, literally means a person who joined
alien community. Such a person is detached completely from his pastoral root and can’t be
identified as a pastoralist; such a person is rather considered as a dropout. A qolle who stays
among the pastoral community can support his family through herding other people’s
livestock. His household members can provide their labor to assist the herd owner in
watering, cleaning, etc. The wife can also assist in household activities. Even the small
children of the head can assist in herding the small stock of the herd owner.
28