6.01 This paper has discussed a range of policy measures aimed at rehabilitation of livestock and farm, production following drought. Prom this discussion it can be seen that there are a variety of policies open to decision-makers, each with particular costs and welfare implications. Policies also differ with respect to their spill-over effects on other sectors of the economy, some being precisely targetted, like a subsidy to a certain producer group, while others cause widespread changes to the structure of prices and incentives within the economy. Out of these policy alternatives, decision-makers will face a more restricted choice, determined by the conditions faced in the post-drought period, in terms of the resources available domestically - pastures, livestock, grain, seed etc. - the local administrative capacity and the country's marketing and transport infrastructure. External finance will loosen the tightness of particular constraints, such as when governments can supplement local food supplies with aid in the form of grain and milk powder.
6.02 It would be wise for decision-makers to consider as many policy options as possible, since the conditions faced by different regions and producer groups will vary greatly. For example, where local tractor power is available, government credit or subsidies for tractor hire is an obvious option to pursue, especially where local draft oxen supplies are very limited and prices high. In areas where fodder supplies are scarce and highly vulnerable to drought, alternatives to oxen as sources of draft power should be considered, such as small-scale cultivating machines. While most herd and oxen reconstitution schemes have involved the provision of credit, gifts of livestock should be considered under certain circumstances, where repayment is likely to be subject to high risks and costs of collection.
6.03 An assessment of policy alternatives should include the consequences for the affected communities and the whole economy of making no intervention. Governments may either continue to provide food relief for destitute farmers and herders, or wait for them to reconstitute their systems of production by their own efforts. In either ease, there is a cost to taking no action, in terms of forgone output' the resources needed to purchase, transport and distribute food relief, and longer term social costs from the dislocation of local communities from self-sufficient production. Rehabilitation options looked at in this paper represent at most the cost of providing a basic grain ration to the household over 3 to 5 years and many policies, particularly those in the farm sector, produce a much faster return on invested resources invested in rehabilitation. When the social costs to the affected populations are also taken into account, the value to be attached to funding rehabilitation, as opposed to relief measures, is heightened further.
6.04 Policies for rehabilitation of local production systems need to be looked at in relation to short-term relief measures and long-term policies for establishing less drought-vulnerable systems of production. The speedy provision of relief food supplies to producers in greatest distress would reduce the subsequent need for rehabilitation measures. For example, if herders can get access to relief grain supplies, they will be under less pressure to liquidate their livestock capital at very low prices in order to buy food for themselves. Rehabilitation policy should also be formulated in coordination with longer term measures, since the post-drought period can offer a breathing-space within which to initiate changes in patterns of production and resource management. Longer term options are themselves constrained by trends in climate, population growth and resource productivity. For example, in the case of the Sahel since the end of the 1960s, rainfall has remained well below its long-term level for this century. Consequently, efforts to rehabilitate livestock production must take into account the lower productivity and greater fragility of the pastoral resource base in comparison with conditions typical of the pre-1968 period. Thus, rehabilitation should not necessarily be taken to mean the re-establishment of production systems along the exact lines of those existing in the pre-drought period.
6.05 The areas for action open to national governments and foreign donors overlap, but are obviously not identical. However, while price, taxation and trade policy measures are the preserve of national administrations, external financial aid can be of value in reducing the conflicting objectives faced by governments in the post-drought period. An example of this can be seen in the compensatory finance paid by the European Development Fund to several Sahelian governments after the 1973 drought to reduce the adverse imapct on national budgets of lifting direct livestock taxes. The temporary abolition of this tax probably had a significant effect on all owners of stock, producting widespread benefits for a relatively low outlay
6.06 Non governmental organisations (NGOs) have played a valuable role in developing small-scale projects suited to the particular conditions and problems of drought-affected communities, This is especially the ease for the Sahel? where a number of innovative herd reconstitution schemes have been set Up since 1973. The experience of these schemes provides other agencies with possible models for intervention. However, the relative success of much NGO work may depend precisely on its small-scale operation. Large-scale herd credit programmes will face greater problems from a shortage of animals available for redistribution and consequently higher prices.
6.07 Decision-makers in both government and development agencies are faced with a shortage of resources and a wide range of potential uses for funds. Following a period of drought, the conflict between alternative uses of resources is likely to be particularly acute' given the shortfall in meat, grain and foreign exchange earnings. In deciding on the priorities to be given to each objective, 8 number of factors need to be taken into account, as is seen in the following examples.
6.08 Domestic vs. export markets - while political considerations might encourage the diversion of meat and fodder supplies to domestic consumers and producers, account must also be taken of the possible loss of export markets to alternative suppliers. The Ivory Coast, for example now gets a substantial proportion of its meat supplies from non-African sources, having formerly depended almost entirely on imports of Sehelian livestock. This switch in the source of meat imports took place after the 1968-73 drought, when supplies of meat from the Sahel were scarce and highly priced. Meat exporting countries like Mali are now in a much weaker position in the Ivory Coast market since they face strong price competition from other meat exporters' such as Argentina.
6.09 Male cattle for meat vs. draft purposes - where oxen are an important input into farm production, some competition is likely to exist between the use of male cattle for meat, by their fattening and early slaughter, and their being used for draft purposes. The relative strength of demand from each sector will depend on the incomes and purchasing power of domestic and foreign consumers of meat and of the investment funds available to farmers. Where drought losses of work oxen have been high, farmers' ability to reconstitute their oxen holdings will be made more difficult where they face strong price competition from consumers of meat. In such cases, governments may need to intervene to achieve the desired balance between satisfying immediate demands for meat with the requirements for rehabilitating the productive capital of the farm sector.
6.10 Resources to aid the farm vs. the livestock sector - in a number of areas' decision-makers are likely to be faced by policy choices which either favour the rehabilitation of farm production or benefit livestock producers. For example, governments can choose to subsidise the distribution of animal feeds to certain groups of producers, such as owners of draft oxen or herding communities. It can be argued that re-establishing grain production should receive prior claim on resources, given the importance of grain in the diet of all consumers and of the poorest groups in particular. Re-establishing grain production is also likely to benefit livestock producers to the extent that increased grain supplies and lower grain prices will reduce pressure on herders" income and reduce the number of animals needed to constitute a viable livestock holding. On the other hand, it can also be argued that livestock production is the only Way of effectively using the resources of certain semi-arid areas. Grazing animals may be the only way of exploiting the sparse natural vegetation, converting these resources into valuable products for the rest of the economy as well as providing support to a proportion of the human population. Pastures which are not grazed constitute a waste of resources, a loss which can be reckoned in foregone milk and meat output. The overall balance in the distribution of resources to aid rehabilitation in farming as opposed to pastoral areas should consider these arguments.
