INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENHANCING PASTORALISTS’ RESILIENCE AND

LIVELIHOOD THROUGH MARKET EXPANSION

Alternative Livelihood Options and Entrepreneurship for Pastoralists

DANIEL TEMESGEN GELAN

March 17-18, 2017Haramaya University, Ethiopia

Why Alternative Livelihood?

Debates on the viability of Pastoral livelihoods

• The existing ecology in the pastoralist system is feasible to pastoralisteconomic system and hence argues that pastoralism as a systemshould sustain and continue as one of the economic options.

• External and internal factors affecting pastoral system demandsshifting the livelihood options for the pastoralists as a copingmechanism and hence pastoralism by itself cannot withstand thenatural and manmade calamities).

Implications on interventions

• Livestock based interventions( livestock productivity, marketing, Health, Natural Resource Management, etc.)

• Non-Livestock interventions( focuses on those people who are leaving the pastoralist system because of the calamities and seeking for alternative livelihood options through enhancement of life skill training, entrepreneurship development).

• The third is Supporting both interventions based on context.

Livelihood Options for pastoralists can be summarized as….. Based on particular context

• Sustaining pastoralism

• Introduction of selected fit alternative livelihoods

• Sustaining pastoralism + selected fit alternative livelihoods

• Sustaining pastoralism + Added-Value Diversification

• Sustaining pastoralism + Added-Value Diversification + Introduction of alternative livelihoods

Exploiting sustainable pastoralismThe analysis of the scope for exploiting pastoralism in dry lands summarized (Two Scenarios with BAU and appropriate interventions on pastoral assets)

• Increasing the contribution of pastoralist to the rising demand in for animal-source products.

• Livestock-keeping households likely to be forced to seek alternative livelihood strategies under a BAU scenario, 2030 (%) ( de Haan et al. 2015)

• in BAU scenario feed and animal resources will be insufficient to provide secure and adequate livelihoods for all of the people who depend on livestock as their principal livelihood source. (de Haan et al. 2015)

The second scenario

• Investments in Adoption of the package of best-bet interventions could reduce the share of livestock-keeping households who feel pressure to exit from the sector to as little as 7 percent. (de Haan et al. 2015)

Exploiting sustainable pas….

Such interventions include:

• (1) Development of water resources to allow better access to underexploited rangelands,

• (2) Organization of feed markets to improve availability of feed in remote areas, and

• (3) Introduction into land use planning of measures designed to facilitate movement of herds and flocks

• By improving access to feed, such measures designed to improve mobility can have a larger impact.

Exploiting sustainable pas….

• Other interventions can also play an important role in reducing exposure to shocks

(1) Implementation of conflict resolution mechanisms

(2) Development of early warning and response systems to support early destocking when a drought shock is imminent and animals can be sold before they suffer a loss in value;

(3) Programs that facilitate rapid restocking after the shock has passed.

Exploiting sustainable pas….

Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship as an opportunity to create value, and acting on opportunity

• Stimulating entrepreneurship can contribute substantially to non pastoral income generation and employment .

• A weak business environment, low productivity , with the dominant informal sector characterizes the economy

• Even though the private sector has expanded rapidly in the last decade, employment the formal private sector is still very small;

• Paid work in this sector accounted for less than 5 percent of total employment.

Entrepreneurship

• Business enterprises growth is limited by entrepreneurs‘ low education, skills and knowledge (technical, entrepreneurial and managerial).

• Unfortunately, the availability of training is limited and the quality of services is often low.

• Entrepreneurship training and support schemes are the lowest in pastoral areas

• Low awareness at grass root level

Entrepreneurship

• The vulnerable situation , coupled with few jobs in the formal sector, the large expansion of education, the high population growth and a rapid acceleration of urbanization (World Bank 2010) all contribute to a large and increasing percentage of people need employment and entrepreneurship

Ethiopian Entrepreneurship development center trained entrepreneurs by regions

Region No of entrepreneurs trained %

Tigray 6285 16.44

Amhara 11,847 31.04

Oromia 7,205 18.88

SNNPR 5,460 14.31

Addis Ababa 5,817 15.24

Benshangul Gumuz 114 0.29

Diredawa 1279 3.35

Harari 112 0.29

Somali 31 0.081

Afar ---

Source, EDTC 2016

Entrepreneurship

• Lack of access to finance is one of the biggest constraints for small business growth

• The microfinance sector is relatively young and not well developed

• The largely work with the group-lending methodology .

Entrepreneurship

• Substantial opportunities exist to increase earnings of existing business

• there is a huge untapped potential for entrepreneurs to use existing simple technologies

• the number of technical institutes providing technical support and technology transfer are not developed in pastoralist areas

Entrepreneurship

• Pastoralists not showing strong interest to make use of the employment opportunities mainly due to long lived cultural barriers.

• The pastoralists system and need to be given range of alternative livelihood options choosing among it should be open to them

• The pastoralists should be free to choose the destination

THANK YOU