A. Planning approaches to livestock development
B. Land tenure policies
C. Livestock marketing and pricing policies
D. Animal disease control and eradication policies
E. Behaviour of the producer in his environment
19. The technical constraints impeding development of the livestock industry in Africa are well documented. The expansion of meat and milk production has been somewhat disappointing in many regions of the continent. It may be irrelevant to go into an extensive description of all the known constraints. Therefore, emphasis here will only be on those factors which currently keep livestock production in Africa below expectations, despite the efforts to stimulate it, and the considerable knowledge on how to remove the constraints.
20. The environmental constraints may be geographic or climatic, inasmuch as husbandry techniques vary considerably from the arid and semi-arid zones to the humid or sub-humid zones, or to the highland areas. The rainfall pattern determines the production of forage; the geology of the terrain determines the availability and the ease of access to underground water. Furthermore, the existence of vector-borne diseases such as trypanosomiasis, piroplasmosis or East-Coast Fever limits the use of large areas of Africa by livestock.
21. Many breeds of cattle and small ruminants, particularly exotic ones, have no genetic tolerance to vector-borne diseases. The problems posed by the eradication programme of the vectors especially tse-tse - are compounded by environmental implications. The size and genetic makeup of African breeds are also known to cause low-level productivity in these animals. Attempts to increase productivity by crossbreeding with exotic breeds have not always been successful because of certain diseases and environmental conditions.
22. The African continent is plagued with major infectious and contagious animal diseases: rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, African swine fever, pasteurellosis, anthrax, blackleg, foot-and-mouth disease, brucellosis, etc.. These diseases not only affect the development of the livestock industry, but also keep out livestock products from the more profitable markets of the EEC and the Middle East.
23. Institutional constraints (delivery of health services, research, extension, education, training, marketing etc.) are seriously felt at the local, national and sub-regional or regional levels in Africa. Coordination is often lacking and duplication and/or overlapping is not uncommon particularly where collective self-reliance is imperative.
24. Training and research efforts are dispersed; there is a dire need for linkage between training, research and extension, while non-formal training is becoming more and more urgent.
25. Whereas the funding (both national and international) of livestock programmes has been, and still is, a major constraint, recurrent financing and counterpart costs are becoming increasingly a serious problem. Development projects seldom last long enough to generate internal resources to meet operating costs.
26. At the social level, development objectives of governments are not often clearly indicated to producers while the producers' conception of livestock raising and their behaviour towards the environment have always been misinterpreted by governments and donor agencies. Access to land may still constitute the greatest bottleneck in many areas of Africa.
27. Probably the economic constraints, as will be analyzed later, most seriously impede livestock development in Africa. These are:
- production inputs: quality and quantity of natural fodder, availability and proper utilization of agricultural and agro-industrial by-products; availability and cost of manufactured animal feeds;- marketing: numbers, financial capacity and organizations of traders; movement of animals and products (meat, milk, hides and skins and other by-products) from production areas to consumption centres; contracting and standardization; credit financing and insurance; sanitary regulations; prices; competition from subsidized extra-African livestock products, market intelligence;
- pricing policies, both of live animals and meat and meat products as seen by government agencies, producers and operators;
- processing, which is generally handicapped by the lack of infrastructure and outlets for the finished products;
- data collection analysis and diffusion, an area long neglected by governments as well as by donor agencies. The reliability (or even the availability) of baseline data, often very low, causing many projects to miss their objectives.
28. Other constraints to livestock development in Africa include, among other things:
- the political perception or motivation of some governments, which may not endorse the notion of collective self-reliance in the livestock sector;- the lack of efficient communication networks and good road infrastructures;
- the lack of concerted action by governments.
29. Since the early 1970s major efforts have been directed toward removing the constraints facing livestock development in Africa. However, due to weaknesses in concept and approach, these efforts have not always measured up to the problem and the potential of the livestock industry. Thus, the results have so far been disappointing, mainly because of the failure of governments and donor agencies to take full account of the motivations, objectives, aspirations and strategies of the pastoralists when designing and implementing projects.
30. Quite often, African producers have no control over management of basic resources such as forage and water; so they have no motivation for the maintenance and improvement of these resources, and therefore, for the reduction of the impact of drought and/or disease. They have no control over the delivery of animal health services as these are provided by the government. Although the health services are particularly for the benefit of the producer, he has no say in the quality or the time of delivery of such services. Consequently, he resorts to keeping larger herds than available resources can sustain as security against natural calamities. He is thus assured of always having something to start with again, while managing at the same time to satisfy the subsistence needs of his family. Thus building-up of herds takes precedence over other decisions made by the producers, especially where offtake (sales for instance) is concerned. Although the behaviour of individual producers is rational, their aggregate behaviour often constitutes a major constraint to improved animal productivity and increased meat production. Only the removal of the causes of this constraint would reconcile the objectives of individual producers and those of the society as a whole. At present technological know-how is sufficient for reasonable progress to be made, but past and on-going programmes have found it difficult to deal effectively with the main factors leading to the herd-reconstitution drive. Consequently, this study stresses the reasons for this failure, and suggests ways of reconciling the objectives of producers and society on the one hand, and the strategies of pastoralists and governments on the other. The major constraints to livestock development in Africa have been classified into five categories for the purpose of this report.
31. The underlying cause for the poor performance of the livestock sector is the little knowledge and/or complete misunderstanding of the producers' problems and requirements. Thus, projects and programmes designed to alleviate such problems are often built upon wrong assumptions and inaccurate information.
Misunderstanding of the producers' problems
32 For many centuries the pastoralists have lived in their own environment, managing their herds and exploiting their God-given resources with minimal, and often without outside interference. In recent years has come the era of development projects. Project designers came in to review existing livestock production systems and presumably in consultation with the producers, to advise ways and means of reconciling the development objectives and strategies of governments and producers. However, there is ample evidence that most projects have been designed and carried out with minimal consultation between government agencies and producer communities. There is also abundant evidence that project staff and administrators tended to consider the objectives, strategies and behaviour of the producers as major constraints to achieving project goals, especially in beef production schemes. Therefore, the multiple functions of cattle and the multiple decisions of the producers have been ignored, although the bulk of the livestock concerned belonged to producers, particularly nomadic and transhumant livestock-keepers.
33. As a consequence, producers had no choice but to conform to the wishes of project staff and administrators, adapting their strategies to project activities to avoid confrontation; but this adaptation never succeeded (as it was not spontaneous) and therefore did not lead to progress in livestock development. This situation sometimes forced producers to flee from their own country to neighbouring countries where they could feel more at ease. That is why it is not uncommon to find producers, especially in Areas with a Comparative Advantage for Breeding (ACABs), holding more than one national identification card. It allows them to move freely from country to country.
34. Poor communication, or the lack of it, made development planners and policy analysts of the livestock sector misunderstand and/or poorly appreciate the herd reconstitution objectives of the producers; so, they tried unsuccessfully to change the behaviour of the producers through small-scale, experimental and piece-meal type projects and programmes. There are further indications that these projects and programmes created new technical constraints, without solving the problems for which they were designed. This was so in projects equipped with solar and/or diesel pumps, which did not have the concomitant training of repairmen.
35. It is obvious that one cannot hope to improve livestock production in Africa without modifying the producers' behaviour (in his own interest as well as that of society as a whole); yet it is important to introduce technological and social changes in rural societies in a logical way, while resolutely trying to solve problems such as those created by severe droughts and epizootics (the underlying causes of the reconstitution drive), especially watering, grazing and health care. Suggestions for dealing with these problems are made in the sections dealing with land tenure and the eradication of animal diseases.
36. For many years (from colonial days until recently), most of the investments in range areas (especially the ACABs) were carried out by governments, while herders only moderately contributed to the national budget through livestock head taxes. However, in recent years two things have become evident. First, many governments were not in a position to deliver the quantity and quality of inputs and services commensurate to the magnitude of the problems to be solved. Moreover, few, if any countries, can afford the high costs of past development schemes for which all investments were their responsibility. There are even indications that many countries are increasingly finding it difficult to maintain and fully operate existing infrastructures and equipment. Second, the herders were not much interested in public investment in which they did not participate directly. This then raises the problem of responsibility for the management and maintenance of such investments. The solution to this problem, as envisaged by government specialists (and more or less accepted by herders depending on the regions), was to make herders participate directly in the development effort in the form of user charges. User charges would cut short the free access to range resources, watering facilities and animal health services as public goods. The consequence will be an improved protection of the environment (control of stocking rates, control of bush fires, deferred and/or rotational grazing, etc.), a less wasteful usage of water resources, regular repair of broken-down equipment by the users themselves resulting in a reduced burden on the government treasury. It is no secret to anyone that the salaries of government officials make up a sizable portion of the budget of livestock services in most African countries. Whatever is left is hardly sufficient to cover the operating costs of the livestock sector. As a consequence, many herders had little or no access to government services.
37. The public ownership of range resources, the delivery of services free of charge, and the resulting mismanagement of basic resources and investments, increase the risk of drought and the outbreak of diseases, which in turn tend to favour the herd-reconstitution drive. Yet present development concepts seem to discourage private ownership of public investments. As a consequence, the herder bears little financial burden in his production, and has no motivation to sell more animals than necessary to satisfy the cash needs of the household which, in turn, is contrary to the government's objectives of supplying meat and milk in adequate quantity and quality to the local and export markets.
38. At the same time, government investments can seldom meet true objectives; investments are often made say for 200,000 animal units (AUs) where the need is for 500,000 AUs. This is derived from a poor knowledge of the livestock population in many areas, due either to inadequate census, inaccurate declarations of the herders for the purpose of tax evasion, or to the excessive mobility of livestock because of the public ownership of range resources. Most of the investments are viewed by herders as a right because of the head tax they pay for their animals, rather than as investments for the up-keep of which they must be responsible.
39. However, as the demand for more investments (improved range, fire-breaks, diagnostic laboratories, boreholes, etc.) and better animal health delivery services becomes greater every day, there arises the need for a more responsible and dynamic participation of the herders. Governments will be less and less capable of providing such services and utilities in adequate quantity and quality. Thus, as a matter of priority, there is a need to evolve policies which will induce and ensure progressive and active participation of the producers in their own development. The institution of user charges to be managed by the producers themselves becomes a must. However, this approach needs to be adopted across the board by several neighbouring countries if it is to succeed in any of them. The experience of the sale of animal vaccines in areas where vaccination is mandatory made the herders flee to neighbouring countries where either the vaccines are free and/or vaccination is not mandatory.
The problems with development projects
40. Livestock development projects, as elaborated and implemented, have seldom been considered as a means (rather than as an end) to solving particular problems. Instead, they are viewed as appendices to the government administration, especially when benefits accruing to project staff are disproportionate to benefits for non-project staff, and when such benefits bear no relationship to the performance of the individual project staff or the project output itself. Rivalry between project and non-project staff, and sometimes between expatriate and counterpart staff, is not uncommon and can be attributed to the great difference in salaries and other benefits. Often social or political pressures lead to overstaffing and frequent changes of project managers. The consequence of all this is poor project performance, stagnation of the livestock sector and mis-allocation of scarce resources.
41. As already indicated, the baseline data on which a project is built is often scanty and quite unreliable. Information on the needs and on the behaviour of the herders is distorted. Economic projections are no more than educated guesses; there is little provision for generating new data. Project headquarters are often located far from the project site, usually in the national or in the regional capital city; the institution accountable for the project is not clearly identifiable, or its relationships with ministerial departments are not well-specified. The monitoring and evaluation tools and mechanisms are not built into the project. The overall consequence is that many projects terminate without having solved the problem for which they were designed. The first requirement for designing a viable project appears to be the baseline data. It is essential to define the type of data required, to collect and to analyze it on a permanent basis. For livestock, animal numbers and bio-economic parameters are essential. Regular livestock censuses (5-year intervals for instance), monitoring of livestock movements, periodic inventory of available natural resources, all these concomitantly in neighbouring countries, may be good approaches to generate acceptable data.
42. Generally, the donor country or agency plays a leading role in project design. The donors' ideas and objectives must often be taken into account for funds to be released to the recipient government. Experience has shown that such ideas are not always in line with the development objectives of the country, or of the particular herders concerned. In the case of comprehensive programmes, a donor agency might choose to finance only one activity, which often is not essential to the success of the programme. This activity may only be experimental in nature, and its failure to succeed could well over-shadow all other objectives, and result in a discontinuation of every other type of funding of the comprehensive programme. This has been so in many arid zone projects in which less than adequate management of a borehole caused the suspension of total project funding, despite all other benefits derived from the programme. Therefore, it can only be requested of donors to refrain from imposing their ideas and to show a longer-term commitment in their efforts to assist recipient countries. They should, in agreement with recipient governments, study ways and means of giving the local project staff conditions adequate enough to ensure good performance and to avoid a high turnover rate. However, to facilitate this, greater national efforts should be the mainstay in the
development of the resources. Therefore, external assistance should only supplement such efforts, which is possible in the livestock sector of major producing countries.
The planning process
43. Another, no less important factor, is the choice of project ideas and the selection of project areas. Policy formulation and coordination among departments and government institutions are at stake here. The planning process is usually centralized to make for better utilization of scarce national financial and manpower resources. In many instances the urgency of the work is such that the answer is required even before work has started. Consequently, most development plans have been no more than a catalogue of project ideas, with rough estimates of aggregate costs and the enumeration of qualitative benefits to be derived. Thus, it has been almost impossible to achieve vertical and/or horizontal integration of activities, and often the objectives could not be realized within the plan period making the effectiveness of planning less evident. In the planning process, there are also indications of poor identification of problems and formulation of objectives, incorrect setting of priorities, inadequate funding and ineffective monitoring and evaluation of activities of the livestock sector. In 1983, Tanzania recognized that, because of poor planning and organization, it was still far from self-sufficiency in meat, milk and other dairy products, despite a cattle population of 12.5 million head. Therefore, it is deemed that any planning process should rely on sound conceptual foundations, and ensure that there is a clear understanding of problems and goals on which to develop the appropriate model for livestock development. Equally important are a meaningful and appropriate data base and an understanding of the empirical relationships necessary to predict the outcome of alternative policies. Otherwise, it will become increasingly difficult to implement comprehensive and well-integrated plans in the face of financial, management and organizational constraints.
44. As opposed to many other sectors, livestock production and trade activities are largely in private hands throughout Africa. Attempts to replace the private sector through the promotion of initiatives in the public sector as well as government initiatives through projects and parastatal organizations have been unsuccessful throughout much of the continent. Therefore, in planning livestock development, efforts should be directed towards constructing the appropriate framework to stimulate the creativity of the producers and the research and development staff; encouragement of innovations and the adoption of innovations in the livestock sector are part of this framework.
45. There is also a lack of harmonization and coordination in the planning process at sectoral and national levels. A lack of integration of livestock development policy and planning into overall economic planning is particularly common in Africa. How often are agro-industrial by-products exported as raw materials, while plans are approved at national level to use them as feeds in the livestock fattening industry? Also, in planning the allocation of land there is a tendency to continually push livestock producers to peripheral areas and thus earmark all fertile land endowed with good rainfall for cultivation. This trend may continue as long as food security problems assume increasing importance in the majority of African countries. Furthermore, in the planning process of the rural economy, the livestock sector does not enjoy the same inputs and credit as does the cash-cropping sector, although the livestock sector may be comparable in terms of generating income.
46. Another drawback in the planning process of African countries is the failure to bear in mind the principle of collective self-reliance, as clearly spelt out in the LPA. For the livestock sector as well as other sectors, this principle should imply the pooling of resources manpower, markets, institutions, finance, etc. - at the subregional and regional levels achieving effectively the objectives assigned to the sector. Since meat is considered in Africa as a strategic commodity, even the meat-deficient countries have earnestly striven without much success to become self-sufficient in meat production, regardless of production cost. It has often been seen that countries with low potential for animal production have spent huge sums of money to produce, after five years of effort, sheep weighing 18 kgs. live, whereas countries with the necessary advantage were in a position to produce mutton carcasses of 20 to 25 kgs. on natural grazing. At the same time livestock countries have been striving to maximize their export revenues from livestock and livestock products. These conflicting attitudes create unnecessary competition for the limited financial resources made available by donor countries and agencies, and impede the efficient implementation of vital national, sub-regional or regional programmes. Therefore, efforts should be made to prepare integrated strategies at the national and subregional levels for a better coordination and monitoring of programmes, and a more efficient use of national and international resources.
47. Since independence, many African governments took over by decree the ownership of all land, mainly for equity motives. Thereafter, rights of specified portions of land had to be obtained from government and/or appointed traditional chiefs. This was particularly true in Areas with a Comparative Advantage for Cropping (ACACs) and Areas with a Comparative Advantage in Intensive Production (ACAIs). However, in ACABs, rangeland remains largely publicly owned and is used communally with or without an effective code of use and proper method of management of range resources. It should be recalled that in many ACABs, the traditionally evolved regulations for access to grazing land and water were either abolished without anything else replacing them, or governments introduced new regulations thought to be more suitable or efficient. Also, the access of livestock producers to land in humid zones, where rainfall is relatively regular and abundant, is often limited by the presence of tse-tse flies and ticks, as well as by a tenure policy which tends to favour crop cultivation through the earmarking of all fertile land endowed with good rainfall. Analysts of rangeland policy in Africa are faced with a dilemma since they are caught in between three inter-related evolutionary processes of land tenure systems. There are two types (variants) of communal tenure systems and one of individual tenure which may exist side-by-side in the same country.
Communal Tenure: Variant 1
48. Under this tenure, the rangeland is publicly owned and used communally without a set of regulations and mechanisms governing users' access. The decision making process concerning the use, management and development of range resources (water and forage), particularly for controlling carrying capacity as well as the disposal of products, becomes very complex and costly. Therefore, no individual or group of individual producers is sufficiently motivated to invest in improvement programmes, or even to maintain the quality of existing resources. In addition, the producers feel little responsibility to the society for the protection of the environment, and this has resulted in increased fragility and further degradation of the eco-systems. Therefore, under the system of publicly owned and communally grazed land, conservation measures, investments or improvement programmes are almost exclusively the responsibility of the government. Furthermore, the land tenure policies of most African countries (especially in the ACABs) do not allow for optimal allocation and efficient use of the scarce range resources, and therefore are not conducive to progress in the livestock sector.
49. However, it has to be stressed that few, if any, countries could afford the high cost of the past development schemes and in recent years many African governments have increasingly found it difficult to maintain and fully operate the existing infrastructure and equipment. Consequently, the producer and particularly the pastoralist, who is risk adverse, has no choice but to reinforce herd reconstitution by minimizing the offtake of animals for cash sale, and maximizing the number of animals he owns or keeps. Unfortunately, wrong conclusions have always been drawn about the motives of the pastoralist because his actions have been wrongly analyzed and interpreted. For example, the tendency to hold large numbers of animals has often been interpreted as a desire to satisfy social status in a society which is known to be constantly on the move (transhumant or nomadic) or to maximize his benefit from the common range resources. In fact, the producer's rationale behind minimizing the offtake of animals has been to enable him to reconstitute his animal numbers, while still being able to satisfy the subsistence requirements of his household after outbreaks of disease and drought. Disease outbreaks and drought are occurring with increasing frequency and are becoming more widespread than in the past further reinforcing the reconstitution drive.
50. Also, the family, as well as the animal resources of the producers, are split and scattered over a good portion of every year in search of forage and water, a fact which has made it increasingly difficult to take full advantage of the services and goods available to the urban consumers, and therefore to improve the standard of living of his family beyond subsistence level. This also inhibits his ability to take full advantage of the available techniques for the management of range and animals.
51. At the national level, the impact is felt in terms of further deterioration in the self-sufficiency ratio, per caput supply and balance of payments, and in higher rates of under-employment, particularly among pastoralists and high- and middle-level trained animal health staff, and under-utilization of existing animal health and marketing facilities and equipment. AU in all, the application of such tenure policy leads to the further impoverishment of the pastoral society in particular and of society at large. It also results in the greater dependency of Africa on external sources of supply of meat and milk.
Communal Tenure: Variant 2
52. Under this tenure, access to range resources is regulated either traditionally or with the assistance of a project as in the case of group ranching, which was particularly widespread in East Africa. Variant 2 is better than Variant 1 since the decision makers are few, and therefore known to each other. Also, the community is made collectively responsible for the conservation and management of the range resources.
53. As stated earlier, well-established traditional mechanisms for regulating access to rangeland were destroyed in most ACABs. In contrast, the failure to adhere to the plans as spelt out in the project has impeded the success of most group ranches. In particular, it was often impossible to agree on the disposal of animals so that as compared to Variant 1, the offtake was higher, but less than expected or required. Also, the degradation of range resources was lessened, but not to the fullest extent.
Individual tenure
54. The third system is the individual tenure, based on the principle of demarcating a piece of rangeland for year-round use by the individual or group of individual holders. This tenure has rarely been practised in the ACAB and therefore its adequacy and relative merit are difficult to judge. However, if one considers the experience in Areas with a Comparative Advantage in Cropping (ACACs) of private and public ranches, particularly concerning beef and milk production, the number of failures Is greater than that of success, although this state of affairs cannot be attributed solely to the particular tenure system.
55. In proposing individual tenure as a possible solution in ACABs, the land policy analyst is asked the following questions: firstly, how do you solve the problem of equity, particularly as regards the distribution of range resources, between the large and small stockowners? The distribution of range resources should be carefully planned in consultation and collaboration with large as well as small stockowners. It is also important to devise and effectively implement regulations to fulfil the income distribution objectives, particularly within the pastoral society. Equally important is to have legislation with a view to ensuring a proper balance between range availability and animal resources. Secondly, questions are raised as to how many producers can afford even the minimum investments needed to make livestock production profitable. The answer is not too many. However, it has to be stressed that if the individual tenure system is adopted, the interventions of governments in the livestock sector need to be reoriented toward facilitating the delivery of services, inputs and credits to producers through both private and public channels in order to ensure the success of the system. Other questions are related to the sedentarization of transhumant or nomadic populations. Foremost, it has to be borne in mind that transhumance and nomadism are primarily techniques to cope with the seasonal variations of range resources than a way of life, as often implied by anthropologists.
56. From the foregoing, it can be inferred that something must be done regarding land tenure systems, particularly in ACABs. The complexity of the problems and the possible political and social implications should not become excuses for not tackling the land tenure question, if livestock production in Africa has to increase in response to demand, and in a self sustained way. The question remains: what should and can be done?
Possible approaches to solving land tenure problems
57. In proposing new or desirable tenure systems, it is essential to take into account all major weaknesses and strengths of past livestock development schemes. Initially, it should be based on the principle of individual, national and collective self-reliance as spelt out clearly in the LPA. In particular, own-effort should be the mainstay of the development philosophy in the African livestock sector, and external assistance (i.e., outside assistance to the producers or country or Africa) should only supplement such effort. Therefore, development should come from inside rather than from outside, and the producers should be progressively made responsible for the maintenance and development of the basic resources required for livestock production. Above all, the proposed tenure should be aimed at reconciling the objectives and strategies of all those who are concerned with livestock, notably those of the individual producer, government, traders and consumers. It should assist in lessening the vulnerability of livestock production systems to drought and disease and to create and maintain conditions which are at least conducive to productivity and output levels observed in ACABs during recovery periods following droughts and disease outbreaks.
58. In this study attempts have been made to propose approaches to the reformulation of land tenure policies. The need for further detailed study is fully recognized and recommended.
Actions required in the short and medium-term
59. In areas where Variant 1 of communal tenure exists, every effort should be made to design an appropriate code of use of communal grazing land with the required legislation for its effective implementation. In the medium-term and in all areas, an improved version of Variant 2 should be generalized. In all attempts to introduce changes, education of the producers is important with the producers being consulted early enough to ensure their cooperation later.
Actions required in the long-term
60. In the long-term, governments should encourage a move towards:
1. individual tenure, whenever feasible and appropriate, and the creation of conditions for small-holders of- stock, to pool their resources so as to benefit from economies of scale:2. the creation of reserves as well as experimental and public grazing land at strategic sites. As in forestry, Reserve Grazing Lands (RGL) are required to ensure the protection and conservation of the environment and to assist producers when, due to localized drought, there are failures on individual plots. Experimental Grazing Land (EGL) should serve the research and extension institutions as a means of testing under the same natural conditions as the producers. This should provide an alternative to conventional extension services in agriculture. The Public Grazing Land (PGL) may play the role of regulating the market of roughage, feeder and slaughter animals to maintain their prices within a satisfactory range. The PGL may be used for integrating on a large-scale indigenous and new technologies to help close the gap between them. Joint ventures between private and public organizations, particularly in the intensive production of beef, milk and feeds should be encouraged on PGL;
3. careful planning and maintenance of cattle routes to markets based on the levy of charges;
4. supplying, when necessary and feasible, water to producers at a cost charged to them.
Measures to accompany these proposals
61. As stated before in this paper, the movement of animals and their owners across national boundaries is a common practice in Africa. To facilitate their movement across borders with cattle, the producers usually hold more than one national ID card. This means that major reforms in one country may affect or may be affected by what is done in adjacent countries, or by the attitude of neighbouring governments towards that reform. Therefore, to achieve notable progress and success in the livestock sector, the LPA principle of collective self-reliance which implies the pooling of manpower, institutions and resources, particularly range and financial resources at the sub-regional and regional levels, should be pursued. Foremost, the ACABs at national and sub-regional levels, should be clearly defined taking into account the ecological and socio-economic factors involved in demarcating these boundaries. As far as possible, agreement should be reached on the tenure system to be enforced simultaneously in all ACABs.
62. To ensure proper and accelerated implementation of the actions proposed to mitigate land tenure problems, governments need:
1. to design and effectively implement regulations to assist in achieving development objectives, including those of income distribution;2. to facilitate the creation of dynamic and adequate delivery systems of services, inputs and credit required in the livestock sector and related industries. This should include:
(a) Credit. The need for credit arises from the long-term target for achieving development objectives in the livestock sector. To facilitate the extension of credit to livestock development, the creation of special financial institutions is necessary in most African countries. At the national level setting up a Livestock Development Fund (LDF) would be an important and helpfufl step. These should therefore be encouraged. For forestry, similar institutions exist in many French-speaking countries and a LDF in Mali is under study. At the sub-regional level, the financial institutions of major economic groupings, especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Preferential Trade Area of Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA) should be called upon and encouraged to institute a Livestock Development Window (LDW) by allocating to the sector quotas or shares of credit primarily for financing viable livestock development projects and programmes. The same arrangement should be made at the level of regional financial institutions, such as the African Development Bank (ADB) and the newly-created OAU Fund for Drought and Desertification. These national, subregional and regional LDFs and LDWs should assist in mobilizing bilateral, multilateral, national and individual, including livestock owners and dealers, financial resources for livestock development. They should intervene in financing and/or guaranteeing loans made available to the livestock sector by local or foreign financial institutions.(b) The harmonization of marketing and pricing policies in the livestock sector. In facilitating the exchange of livestock products with other commodities and the integration of production structures across national boundaries, thereby enhancing collaborative and complementary actions in production and trade, harmonization of pricing policies in the livestock sector is required. A study on this subject is underway in the West African subregion as requested by the 1983 Niamey-based MULPOC Council of Ministers. The LDFs and LDWs may well be suited to coordinate the implementation of such policies.
(c) Joint ventures. Joint ventures between the private and/or public organizations at national, sub-regional and regional levels for the procurement, production, maintenance and distribution of basic inputs and equipment should be encouraged. Equally important are joint ventures in the production and trade of livestock products and by-products, as well as research and training.
63. One question is often raised, both within government agencies and in international fora: should livestock production be increased (in quality as well as in quantity) to boost its marketing; or rather should the emphasis be put on marketing with the hope that it will stimulate production? This only stresses the importance of the issue of marketing.
64. A major concern for livestock producing countries is to ever increase their output of quality livestock, (i.e of quality meat and meat products) at the most profitable price possible, whereas the livestock and meat importing countries are ever seeking sources of high quality products at the least possible cost. These two positions can be reconciled only if the necessary actions are undertaken to improve the efficiency of marketing and marketing channels and to organize those operators who deal with live animals, meat, hides and skins as well as animal feeds. Some of the preliminary actions undertaken include constructions and equipment for livestock auction markets, the improvement of transportation, trekking routes and slaughter facilities intensive cattle fattening on range supplemented with agricultural and industrial byproducts were underway, credit systems were launched, bilateral agreements were entered into by neighbouring countries (even if their enforcement or applicability was sometimes open to question). Market data collection was started and exchange of information between countries was attempted. Regional or sub-regional organizations have become more active (Preferential Trade Area of Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA), Communauté Economique de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDAO), Communauté Economique du Betail et de la Viande (CEBV), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Integration Secretariat between Egypt and Sudan, etc.). But still a lot remains to be done.
65. The approach to the marketing of livestock and livestock products differs greatly from country to country. While in some areas this activity is by and large in the hands of private interest groups, in others the trend has been towards creating monopolistic parastatal marketing institutions and slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. In both marketing systems there are advantages and disadvantages depending on the economic orientation and the social structure of the country. Problems may arise only when a supplier wants to find a suitable business-minded partner in an importing country or vice-versa.
66. The toughest bottleneck in the system is the pricing policy. For a long time, both producing and importing countries treated the livestock industry as a subsistence activity and therefore with a very low cost of production. Thus, since meat is considered as a strategic commodity, the temptation to control livestock and meat prices was great. The fixing of such prices has often excluded the participation of producers and traders. Therefore, it can only be based on the purchasing power of the consumers (particularly those in the urban areas). As such, it does not take into account the fact that herders, merchants and butchers also must feed and clothe themselves. It has been estimated in some countries that over the past twenty years, while the price of sugar has increased more than 300-fold, the price of meat has gone up by less than three times. Such a situation is neither conducive to better quality meat production nor to the expansion of the livestock industry.
67. Finally, meat inspection regulations, most often artificially set in Africa, have tended to impede official trade among countries where borders are quite wide open to the movement of livestock.
68. One may wonder why, despite the aforementioned efforts, the marketing system and pricing mechanism have not improved to the point where they can stimulate livestock production and productivity. Areas with Comparative Advantage for Breeding consistently failed to supply areas suitable for intensive production with feeder animals. Indeed, except for a few countries, there exists no price incentive for feeder animals, and until that becomes a reality, there is little hope of changing the situation despite the regular recurrence of drought. Until and unless the situation changes for the better, the herd-reconstitution drive will remain strong among herders, and in the absence of any need for cash, they will have no propensity to increase offtake. Thus the harder it will become to integrate marketing programmes into the general livestock activities and the slower will be the pace of livestock development.
69. For Areas with a Comparative Advantage in Intensive Production to offer an attractive price for feeder cattle, they must be able to work without cost restraints. However, the animal feed (when it is not cottonseed, peanut hulls or other agricultural by-products), must be imported or processed with imported machinery. In this latter situation the capital investment is rather prohibitive. Therefore, ways and means must be found to break this vicious circle.
70. The constraints to livestock marketing are compounded by the lack of organization of the system or the bureaucracy of government agencies. In most (if not all) countries cattle, meat and hides dealers need administrative clearance to move their product from one country to another. In recent years, the process of obtaining this clearance has become so slow and complicated that most operators prefer to smuggle across borders at both their own and the consumers' risk. This results in loss of foreign exchange earnings and tax revenues for the exporting country, with the risk of disease spreading in the importing country, and considerably distorting trade information for both countries. The latter even leads to shortage of meat in exporting countries, where the production of export quality animals is dominant on the livestock market.
71. Improvement of marketing may also depend greatly on market intelligence, and on grades and standards. These are at present lacking in Africa, or if they exist, they are embryonic. Competition from non-African suppliers and the tendency of importing countries to encourage unofficial trade also block the expansion of intra-African trade in meat.
72. It can be summarized that current efforts to improve livestock and meat marketing in Africa have not provided the necessary incentive for efficient allocation of resources in production and trade activities. Sometimes, they have even resulted in a higher unit cost for feedlot operators and higher meat prices for the consumers, irregular supply and low quality meat, and the development of unofficial trading channels. The possibility of providing enough economic incentive for the feeding of feeder or culled animals in areas suitable for intensive production should be explored and tested, particularly in livestock producing countries. It is also highly desirable that marketing and pricing policies be harmonized between countries to stimulate intra-African trade on whose orderly development will also depend the standardization and the proper identification of every animal or consignment put through export channels.
73. In most African countries, animal health is probably the area which has benefitted the most from government efforts. Since colonial days, the delivery of health services has long been a major concern. Only veterinarians were trained before African countries knew that there was more to livestock development than just health care. Unfortunately, the continent is still plagued by major contagious diseases, and is far from being successful in eradicating the tse-tse fly and ticks which preclude the utilization of large areas of the continent for livestock production.
74. For a long time after independence, African countries struggled individually with their problems. But the permeability of the borders proved that the individual country approach came to no avail. The first major common endeavour was the JP 15 Campaign against rinderpest. This project in itself was a success, but since African countries did not pool their resources to sustain the preventive measures, rinderpest soon reappeared. In recent years, there has been sufficient indication that efforts are being pooled for the eradication of vectors, rinderpest and other major livestock diseases, either on a regional or subregional basis.
75. Livestock health services are supported by several sub-regional vaccine laboratories, and a few regional reference diagnostic laboratories. Today, training of veterinarians is quite widespread in Africa. But these research and training efforts are adversely affected by improvization, lack of concerted action and coordination and a poor definition of real needs.
76. The prevalence of animal diseases results in the reinforcement of the reconstitution objective of the producer who tends to build up his stock and maintain large numbers as security against disease. Owing to the lack of confidence in the adequacy and continuity of the public animal health services, the producer tends to have less incentive to protect animals through government animal health services as compared with traditional methods. Also, the prevalence of animal diseases leads to low productivity of stock and to substantial post-harvest losses, particularly at the slaughter stage. Furthermore, the presence of disease restricts access of African live animals and meat exports to foreign markets, particularly the European and Middle East markets.
77. There are indications that if the present stock of knowledge is efficiently applied and the animal health delivery systems are improved, significant progress would be made in reducing losses in both animal productivity and post-harvest losses. As the demand for animal health services is usually great, it is suggested that some fees be charged to producers. Private distributors of medicines and delivery of health care should also be encouraged to increase efficiency and reduce the burden on the government budget. Furthermore, to realize the full advantage of animal health services, they should be integrated with water and range development programmes. There is also a need for closer collaboration and cooperation at sub-regional and regional levels in animal disease control and eradication.
78. The behaviour of the traditional producer is not always consistent with the objective of maximizing meat production. The extensive livestock production system dominant in Africa is practised in areas where rainfall is low and there is a shortage of water for more than half the year. In the Sahel, for instance, during the dry season animals are watered twice a week for about half the year, the distance between the watering point and the pasture sometimes exceeding 25 kms. Under such circumstances, it is desirable to provide supplementary feeds to animals around water points during the dry season to reduce the radius of grazing areas around water points. However, with the present condition of the livestock sector, this would be costly and uneconomic. Droughts are becoming more widespread and more frequent. Therefore, the drought element has assumed increasing importance as one of the significant variables in the management decision of the producer. So far, it has not been possible to predict the occurrence, length and magnitude of droughts. In addition, veterinary services coverage is often poor, especially for animals in remote areas. As a result, the herd in these areas becomes heavily subjected to droughts and diseases and the natural reaction of the herder is to hedge against these risks and their accompanying losses. In the Sahel, for instance, most herders think in terms of subsistence in the short-term and of survival in the medium- and long-term and entrust animals of various sexes, ages and species with relatives living far away as a means of risk aversion. Also, they minimize the offtake resulting in an increased number of stock against the limited availability of pasture and water supply. Consequently, survival of these animals takes paramount importance in pastoral society culminating in the producers interest being more in livestock numbers rather than quality. On the surface, this behaviour might look irrational, but deeper analyses reveal that it is rational within the context of the individual producer's environment and circumstances, though it may be irrational from the point of view of society.
79. Barter economy still prevails in some rural areas. The herders usually exchange milk against cereals, and manure against agricultural by-products and watering of animals. Most of the producers have limited demand for cash income and because of this they have limited supply responses to prices. It has thus been observed that beyond a certain level of prices, the producers, particularly pastoralists, make available fewer animals for sale. The herders' diet consists mainly of milk and meat which they produce themselves. Consumer goods are often in short supply in rural areas. Most of the resources required for livestock production are free so that the cash cost of production is very small. Often, there is no profitable economic activity for herders other than livestock raising. For all these factors, producers have limited demand for things money can buy except for a few consumer goods, payment of taxes, school fees, etc., payments which altogether would normally involve the selling of few animals. The consequence of these environmental factors is the low offtake rate adopted by the herders.
