TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

DROMEDARY PASTORALISM IN AFRIOA AND ARABIA 271
with the growth ofthe state, and predatory camel owners are possibly
reduced to subsistence or commercial producers.
THE ruTURE or CAMEL PASTOllALISM
The future ofcamel pastoralism leems to be at stake despite the
wealth of technical knowledge and cultural accomplishments that
it represents. The practical and political needs of camel nomads
have long been neglected by national governments. Today, there is a
growing interest among planners and researchers in the potential of
the camel as a meat animal. It is hoped that their efforts to develop
the camel industry will benefit the pastoral camel people, but it is not
self- evident. The different goals ofdevelopment do not necessarily go
hand in hand. In fact, it is usual with livestock development efforts
in the arid zone that the local pastoral producers are only one of the
-target groups" involved in the development objective. Their rights
to social and economic welfare tend to play a more important role in
rhetoric at the planning and fund-raising stage than in formulating
actual policies, while concern for national interests and the pressures
from politically influential urban consumers and traders may be more
decisive.
It is illuminating to draw parallels to cattle sector development in
East Africa. A popular model for development is that of a stratified
system whereby livestock produced in arid regions under traditional
pastoralism are brought to commercial fattening ranches in areas
with better grazing. Labor costs for the cow-calf operation are 80
high that it cannot be profitably pursued within the context of an
enterprise relying on wage labor (Von Kaufmann, 1976). Fattening
requires less labor and is the part of the production process that has
the highest capacity for profit, whether undertaken by the commercial
rancher or the traditional pastoralist. This form of integration
of traditional production with the modern beef industry gives little
protection to the small primary producer but passes risks and cost on
to him. Wealthy pastoralists who have the choice keep their animals
until they are fully grown. Poor stock-owners, on the other hand,
may have to sell whatever stock they have, irrespective of age and at
a low price in order to cover urgent needs. The weakening of traditional
systems and the subsequent impoverishment tends to start a
vicious cycle of deteriorating husbandry practices, range degradation
through decreased mobility, and lessened food production (Dahl and
Hjort, 1979).