Policy framework for Pastoralism in Africa

many African countries have already made considerable advances in terms of supporting alternativeanimal health delivery systems with pastoralists, especially systems which link community-basedanimal health workers to higher levels of para-veterinarians and veterinary professionals. There isalso increasing support to the private sector provision of clinical services, under the regulation andsupervision of national veterinary services. All of these approaches are supported by the internationalstandards of the World Animal Health Organization (Office international des epizooties)and AU/DREA. Some African countries have also revised veterinary legislation as a means to formalizeand regulate privatized, CAHW-type systems in pastoral areas. There is now a need forfurther support to these systems to ensure wider application in pastoral areas, and stronger linksto national livestock disease surveillance systems.b) Risk-based disaster managementThe principles of risk-based drought management are widely known in Africa. Drought is a slowonsetdisaster and although the exact timing of drought cannot be predicted, within a given period(e.g. five years) it can be predicted that a major drought will occur at least once. Therefore, droughtis both expected within a given timeframe, and when it occurs, allows sufficient time for detectionand early response.Evaluations of early drought responses in pastoral areas of Africa have demonstrated the economicrationale for working with pastoralists to protect core livestock assets during drought. Pastoralistsrarely aim to protect all livestock when drought occurs, but focus on the maintenance of adultbreeding stock with a view to maximizing post-drought recovery. Early market-based interventionssuch as commercial destocking with private sector partners, combined with supplementary feedingof selected breeding stock, have been highly effective. These approaches are supported by internationalguidelines and standards for emergency livestock projects, and in some countries, nationaldrought management guidelines.However, livelihoods-based drought cycle management has yet to be fully institutionalized in mostAfrican countries whereas in contrast, food aid is institutionalized and therefore, the standardresponse to drought. Strategy 2.3 includes the need to re-align disaster management policies towardsrisk-based, livelihoods approaches and early response in pastoral area, rather than waiting forlivelihoods crises to evolve, and then delivering food aid.Strategy 2.4 Marketing of pastoral livestock and livestock productsThe marketing of pastoral livestock and livestock products takes place at three levels: domestic,regional (including cross-border trade), and international. Some constraints to market access canbe common across all three broad market categories, whereas other constraints are specific to thetype of market. For example, excessive taxation is a common constraint, whereas internationalstandards and related challenges apply mainly to access to international markets. Each type ofmarket also has advantages and disadvantages, with high value markets in terms of foreign exchangebeing relatively high risk and high cost, compared to lower value domestic markets which carrylower risks. There are also area-specific variations in constraints and options, and many constraintsare not specific to the livestock sector e.g. the availability of air freight to transport chilled meatwithin Africa. It follows that efforts to improve the marketing of livestock and livestock productsrequire economic and market analysis, including comparative analysis of the different marketSecuring, Protecting and Improving the Lives, Livelihoods and Rights of Pastoralist Communities39