Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
The rangelands of Africa remain home to millions of people who try to make a living by raising livestock on natural forage. Recent increase in human and livestock populations, however, along with a lack of economic development, has relegated many people to poverty and vulnerability. The semi-arid Borana Plateau of southern Ethiopia is a case in point. About 250,000 people herd one million head of livestock there. Thousands of animals die in periodic droughts and people are food insecure. It has been proposed that one way to better manage risk in this system is through economic diversification to reduce vulnerability (Desta & Coppock, 2002). The need to better address problems requires that local human capacity be built and solutions carefully targeted. To this end some members of the USAID-funded Pastoral Risk Management (PARIMA) project have adopted participatory research methods where scientists, communities, and development agents share power in a process of problem solving.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Avenues for Enhancing Traditional Livelihoods from Grasslands: Income Diversification Among Pastoral Women’s Groups in Southern Ethiopia
The rangelands of Africa remain home to millions of people who try to make a living by raising livestock on natural forage. Recent increase in human and livestock populations, however, along with a lack of economic development, has relegated many people to poverty and vulnerability. The semi-arid Borana Plateau of southern Ethiopia is a case in point. About 250,000 people herd one million head of livestock there. Thousands of animals die in periodic droughts and people are food insecure. It has been proposed that one way to better manage risk in this system is through economic diversification to reduce vulnerability (Desta & Coppock, 2002). The need to better address problems requires that local human capacity be built and solutions carefully targeted. To this end some members of the USAID-funded Pastoral Risk Management (PARIMA) project have adopted participatory research methods where scientists, communities, and development agents share power in a process of problem solving.
