Pastoral livelihoods, vulnerability, commercialization and diversification in Afar Region

Afar region is structured into five zones and 29 weredas. It is located in the northeast part of Ethiopia and covers an area of about 94,760 square kilometers. According to the 1994 Population and Housing Census, the population of the region is estimated at about 1.33 million in 2004. The literacy rate in the region is very low at 9.2%. The people are predominantly pastoralists who raise about 10 million head of mixed species of livestock, mainly cattle, sheep, goats and camels. The overall situation of the people in the region was examined using data taken from the Ethiopian Agricultural Sample enumeration (2003): most householeds (58.56%) were below a minimum subsistence threshold with respect to livestock holding. More than half of the studied households in each of Zone 2, Zone 4, and Zone 5 were below the subsistence threshold. It was also observed that the mean livestock holdings (per adult) of the five zones differed significantly. Mean holdings in one zone, Zone 2, were also below the subsistence threshold. The poorer households were proportionally more involved in non-pastoral activities, though the extent of diversification in the region is very low. More than 59% of the total livestock belongs to the richest 20% of the studied households and a little more than 2% belongs to the poorest 20%. In addition, the Gini index was applied to mathematically represent the degree of inequality in the distribution of livestock among pastoral households. This inequality measure was computed at 0.5625, which indicates that there is a relatively high inequality in livestock ownership per household. The inequality was further disaggregated into within- and between-zones contributions. It was observed that the difference between mean livestock holdings of zones is a more important factor in the overall inequality than the within zones variations. Male-female ratio is used as a proxy measure of commercialization and the result in general revealed that large commercial off-take of male animals is practiced in the region. Some policy implications are indicated based on the results obtained. These suggestions are the need for policies about: creating non-pastoral activities; educating pastoral people of the region; establishing financial services; increasing animal productivity particularly goat productivity and; developing and implementing pastoral risk management strategies. These suggestions are the need for policies about: creating non-pastoral activities; educating pastoral people of the region; establishing financial services; increasing animal productivity particularly goat productivity and; developing and implementing pastoral risk management strategies. These policy suggestions are most vital to ensure food security in the region.