TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

56 IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL RANGELANDS
to personal preferences, capabilities, and available technologies. The
major factors that influence productivity are determined by the characteristics
-and interactions of (1) the physical environment, (2) the
economic environment, and (3) the social environment. Subsystems
can be recognized within range systems. Interdependencies and interactions
among resources (land, labor, crops, livestock, capital,
water, wood), environment (climate, topography, soil, market), and
humans (family members, relatives, friends, enemies) are essential
components of the analysis.
The tools for the economic analysis of range systems are essentially
the same as those for conventional farm management studies:
budget analysis by groes margins or partial budgeting, linear programming,
and discount procedures. However, when these methods
are applied to a range system, the results have become more reliable,
essentially because previously unidentified factors (inputs as well as
outputs) are taken into account.
Little (1984), however, recommending the systems approach, also
points to two major limitations: the assumption that the household is
the proper unit of analysis, and the lack offocus on macro and micro
linkages in problem solving. He therefore recommends a combination
of household production and regional analysis.
Rangeland management systems have been divided into two major
systems: nomadic and transhumant. Another distinction is based
on land ownership-that is, pastoral nomadic, open-range ranching,
and fenced ranching (Behke, 1984; Lawry et al., 1984). This distinction
is addressed in a later section of this chapter.
Rangeland Parmlng SYltems
Within the framework of range systems analysis, relatively little
work has been done on livestock-related issues. Several reasons
account for this neglect:
• Most of the research is done by crop-oriented agronomists
and social scientists, neither of whom are familiar with livestock and
therefore tend to overlook their role.
• Most of the livestock have multiple outputs (such as draft
power, meat, milk, manure, hides, status) and non-cash inputs (especially
for ruminants).
• A substantial part of these outputs is used within the household
(for example, draft, manure), and therefore only indirectly
contributes to the cash income of the pastoralist.