Pastoralism: Reimaging Livestock As Integral to Food Security in Africa

"The biggest misconception or misunderstanding is that pastoralism is old simply because it is tradition. Policy makers sometimes equate age with backwardness [...]. The truth is, pastoralism is not simply aware of life. It is an economic system that has evolved over a generation to make productive use of the environment where the conventional crop agriculture is often difficult or even impossible at all [...]. What is often overlooked is the economic value that pastoralism create over years. Livestock are not just animals. They are household assets. They are savings. Their food sources and the source of income for hundreds and millions of households across Africa [...]. I think pastoralism has the potential to become an even more important component of African food security. My first reason for this is ecological. Look at it this way, large part of Africa are dry land where crops are highly vulnerable to rainfall variability. But on the other hand, livestock can convert vegetation that humans cannot eat into food, into income, into economic value. However, to unlock that potential, government needs to stop treating pastoral areas primarily as a humanitarian space that requires emergency intervention whenever droughts occur. We need a long-term investment in livestock health, long-time investment in water infrastructure, in grazing management, in livestock market, in transport, in value addition of the livestock product, in livestock insurance, and even in climate," Bilinga said.