Pastoralism

A campment of the Bakhtiari people, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran.

Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the

raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals
such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect,
moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and water.

Pastoralism is found in many variations throughout the world. Composition of

herds, management practices, social organization and all other aspects of
pastoralism vary between areas and between social groups. Many traditional
practices have also had to adapt to the changing circumstance of the modern world.
Ranches of the United States and sheep stations and cattle stations of Australia are
seen by some as modern variations.

Origins
One theory asserts that pastoralism followed mixed farming (rainfall-dependent
agriculture with animal husbandry). A model presented by Bates and Lees suggests
that it was the introduction of irrigation to farming which resulted in the selective
pressures for specialization. The increased productivity of irrigation agriculture
ultimately resulted in population growth and pressure on resources, which lead to
greater land and greater labour requirements for intensive farming. Marginal areas
of land were often all that was left for animal rearing. To acquire enough forage,
large distances had to be covered by herds. This resulted in a higher labour
requirement for animal tending. As a result of the increasing requirements of both
intensive agriculture and pastoralism, the two practices diverged and specialization
took place. Both developed alongside each other, with continuing interactions. Other
proponents of this view include Levy (1983) and Hole (1996).

Another theory is that pastoralism was derived directly from hunting and
gathering. In this view, hunters of wild goats and sheep already had knowledge of
herd dynamics and the ecological needs of the herd animals. These groups were
already mobile, and followed wild herds on their seasonal round. The process of
domestication began before the first wild goat or sheep was tamed as result of the
selective pressure of hunter prey-choice acting upon the herd. In this way, wild
herds were selected to become more manageable for the proto-pastoralist nomadic
hunter and gatherer groups.

Resources
As explained in the origins section, pastoralism takes place mainly in marginal
areas, where cultivation (and the higher energy achieved per area) is not possible.
Animals feed on the forage of these lands; an energy source which humans cannot
directly utilize. The herds convert the energy into sources available for human
consumption: milk, blood and sometimes meat.

There is a common conception that pastoralists exist at basic subsistence. This

assumption is not true; groups often accumulate wealth and can be involved in
international trade. Complex exchange relationships exist with horticulturalists,
agriculturalists and other groups; pastoralists rarely exist exclusively with the
products of their herd.

Resource management
Pastoralism is well adapted to the environments where it exists; it is a successful
strategy to support a population with the limited resources of the land. Important
components of the pastoralist adaptation include low population density, mobility,
and dynamism, and complex information systems.

Mobility

Mobility allows pastoralists to simultaneously exploit more than one environment,

thus creating the possibility for arid regions to support human life. Rather than
adapting the environment to suit the "food production system" the system is moved
to fit the environment. Pastoralists often have an area with a radius of 100-500 km.
This is not to suggest that pastoralists and their livestock have not altered the
environment. Lands long used for pastoralism have evolved under the pressures of
regular grazing on one hand and, on the other, anthropogenic fire. Fire was a
method of rejuvenating pasture land and preventing forest regrowth. Over time, the
combined environmental pressures of routine fire and livestock browsing have
transformed landscapes in many parts of the world. With fire as the main tool,
pastoralists have deliberately tended the land, keeping it in forms of pasture suited
for their herds. An example such a landscape is the Maquis shrublands of the
Mediterranean region, which are dominated by pyrophytic plants that thrive under
conditions of regular fire and browsing.

Different mobility patterns can be observed:

Nomadic pastoralists: 1) it is a generalized food-producing strategy with its main
base relying on the intensive management of herd animals for their primary
products of meat and skin, and for their secondary products such as wool or hair,
milk, blood, dung, traction, and transport; 2) because of the different climates and
environments of the areas where nomadic pastoralism is practiced and because of
the ecology of their herd animals, this management includes daily movement and
seasonal migration of herds; 3) because a majority of the members of the group are
in some way directly involved with herd management, the household moves with
these seasonal migrations; and 4) while the products of the herd animals are the
most important resources, use of other resources, such as domesticated and wild
plants, hunted animals, goods available in a market economy, is not excluded.

Transhumance: where members of the group move the herd seasonally from one
area to another, often between higher and lower pastures. The rest of the group are
able to stay in the same location, resulting in longer-standing housing.

Mobility throughout altitudes and the resulting precipitation differences is

important. In East Africa, different animals are taken to different regions
throughout the year, to match the seasonal patterns of precipitation.

The actions of herders are carefully planned, but also constantly adjusted, to match
changing conditions. The system is dynamic, to suit the unpredictable landscape. All
pastoralist strategies exemplify effective adaptation to the environment.

Information

Intrinsically linked with mobility is the complex “maps” that pastoralists keep in
their minds, marking out the usefulness of certain areas at different times of year.
Pastoralists have a detailed understanding of ecological processes and
environmental inputs. Information sharing is essential for creating such deep
knowledge. This is made possible by formal visiting rules and networks, keeping
dispersed societies linked.

Elders discuss and cautiously plan in advance, using the knowledge they acquire, in
order to act in the most appropriate way.

Disruption of management strategies

This ability for careful control and planning was wiped away with colonialization.
In the Sahel region of Africa, mobility was restricted, settlement was encouraged
and the population tripled with improved sanitation and medical care. The previous
balance of the pastoralist system was disturbed.

Tragedy of the commons?

Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons (1968) described how common property
resources, such as the land shared by pastoralists, ultimately become overused and
ruined

Following this paper, the pastoralist land use strategy suffered criticisms of being
unstable and a cause of environmental degradation

Tuareg pastoralists and their herds flee south into Nigeria from Niger during the
2005–06 Niger food crisis.

A particularly strong example of this is based in the Sahel zone in Africa, where
human mismanagement by pastoralists was blamed for desertification and depletion
of resources. The problems were actually due to previous interference and
particularly severe climate conditions. However, Hardin’s paper suggested a
solution to the problems, offering rational basis for further privatization of land.
This encouraged more intrusion and the transfer of land from tribal peoples to the
state or to individuals. However, modernization and privatization programmes
negatively affected the livelihood of the pastoralist societies and actually worsened
the ecological impact.

Examples of this throughout the world are believed to provide further evidence that
the pastoralist way of life is an efficient system; one of the few ways of supporting a
population in a difficult environment and representing a sustainable approach to
land use. With traditional pastoralist strategies, the “tragedy” is avoided through
the management practices described above.

Social organization
Each pastoralist adaptation occurred in different contexts; there is therefore no
specific form of social organization associated with pastoralism. However,
pastoralist societies are often organised in tribes, with the ‘household’ (often
including extended family) as a basic unit for organization of labour and expenses
Lineages can be the basis for property rights. An in-depth discussion of one
particular nomadic pastoralist social structure can be found in the Bedouin article.

Mobility allows groups of pastoralists to split and regroup as resources permit, or as

desired with changes in social relations.
Examples of pastoralist societies
Traditional

North & Northeast Africa

• Afar of the Horn of Africa

• Bedouin of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
• Beja of North Africa and the Horn of Africa
• Berbers of North Africa
• Oromos of the Horn of Africa
• Rendille of the Horn of Africa
• Saho of the Horn of Africa
• Somalis of the Horn of Africa
• Tigre of the Horn of Africa
• Tuareg of the north-central Sahara

Sahel

• Fula people of Sahelian West Africa

• Toubou of Niger and Chad

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Karimojong of Uganda
• Maasai of East Africa
• Pokot of East Africa
• Samburu of East Africa
• Turkana of East Africa

Near East

• Kuchis of Afghanistan
• Yörük of Turkey

South Asia

• Ahir found through out North India

• Baghel
• Bakarwal found in Jammu and Kashmir
• Bodla found in Pakistani Punjab
• Chishti found in Pakistani Punjab
• Dhangar found in North India
• Gaddi of Himachal Pradesh
• Muslim Gaddi
• Gaderia
 • Ghosi
• Gujjar found in North India, Afghanistan and Pakistan
• Kuruba found in South India
• Rabari of Rajasthan
• Ranghar found in North India and Pakistan
• Wattu found in Pakistani Punjab
• Raika found in Rajasthan

Central Asia

• Tuvans of Mongolia

Southern Europe

• Aromanians of Balkans
• Sarakatsani of Greece

Northern Europe

• Komi of northern Russia

• Sami of Scandinavia

North America

• Navajo of North America

Modern

One of the consequences of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent
political independence and economic collapse of its Central Asian republics is the
resurgence of pastoral nomadism. Taking the Kyrgyz people as a representative
example, nomadism was the centre of their economy prior to Russian colonization at
the turn of the C19/C20, when they were settled into agricultural villages. The
population became increasingly urbanized after World War II, but some people
continued to take their herds of horses and cows to the high pasture (jailoo) every
summer, i.e., a pattern of transhumance. Since the 1990s, as the cash economy
shrank, unemployed relatives were absorbed back on the family farm, and the
importance of this form of nomadism has increased. The symbols of nomadism,
specifically the crown of the grey felt tent known as the yurt, appears on the
national flag, emphasizing the centrality of their nomadic history and past in the
creation of the modern nation of Kyrgyzstan.

Nomadic Pastoralists in the modern world

Livestock production is the world’s most extensive form of land use, but pastoralist communities
receive relatively little attention in geographical research – perhaps because pastoralists are
often nomadic peoples, whose way of life is sometimes dismissed as an anachronism in today’s
world.

However, nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralist groups are very much involved in key
contemporary issues. Many governments have attempted to settle nomadic groups, settled
populations being easier to control. Conservation has also threatened traditional livelihoods, as
pastoralists have been blamed – wrongly – for the degradation of rangelands and expelled from
their traditional grazing areas. A recent travel article describes the contemporary Masai in
Tanzania, who are rapidly losing their traditional pastoral way of life and becoming ever more
marginalised, despite the romantic image of them presented in travel brochures: “The Masai
always come in third, behind tourism and conservation”.

Yeh and Gaerrang’s article in Area examines both continuity and change in pastoralism on the
Tibetan Plateau in a neoliberal context, showing how pastoral communities have integrated
their traditional practices with a market economy without compromising their identities.

This demonstrates the importance of this field of research. Pastoralists and nomadic peoples are
not an anachronism in the modern world, nor are they isolated from it. Traditional use of
rangelands has now been shown to be an efficient means of sustainable land use; far from
threatening conservation or leading to a tragedy of the commons, the presence of pastoralists is
vital if we hope to conserve biodiversity and prevent land degradation. Nomadic lifestyles are
an important reminder of alternative approaches to ideas of migration and international
borders, and of different ways of conceptualising nature and social organisation. They are as
relevant today as they ever have been

The earliest agriculturalists and pastoralists

Neolithic agriculture in the Indus valley and Baluchistan

The Indo-Iranian borderlands form the eastern extension of the

Iranian plateau and in some ways mirror the environment of the Fertile Crescent
(the arc of agricultural lands extending from the Tigris-Euphrates river system to
the Nile valley) in the Middle East. Across the plateau, lines of communication
existed from early antiquity, which would suggest a broad parallelism of
developments at both the eastern and western extremities. During the late 20th
century, knowledge of early settlements on the borders of the Indus system and
Baluchistan was ... (100 of 156078 words)

pastoralists in india are as follows;

1. Even today the Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir are great
herders of goat and sheep. Many of them migrated to this region in
the nineteenth century in search of pastures for their animals.
Gradually, over the decades, they established themselves in the area,
and moved annually between their summer and winter grazing
grounds. In winter, when the high mountains were covered with
snow, they lived with their herds in the low hills of the Siwalik
range. The dry scrub forests here provided pasture for their herds.
By the end of April they began their northern march for their summer
grazing grounds. Several households came together for this journey,
forming what is known as a kafila. They crossed the Pir Panjal passes
and entered the valley of Kashmir. With the onset of summer, the
snow melted and the mountainsides were lush green. The variety of
grasses that sprouted provided rich nutritious forage for the animal
herds. By end September the Bakarwals were on the move again, this
time on their downward journey, back to their winter base. When
the high mountains were covered with snow, the herds were grazed
in the low hills.
In a different area of the mountains, the Gaddi shepherds of
Himachal Pradesh had a similar cycle of seasonal movement. They
too spent their winter in the low hills of Siwalik range, grazing their
flocks in scrub forests. By April they moved north and spent the
summer in Lahul and Spiti. When the snow melted and the high
passes were clear, many of them moved on to higher mountain

"Pastoral groups maintained several types of animals; the exact number and
composition was a combination of ecological considerations, i.e., what food and
water was available, the owner's social status, and the necessity to take precautions
against possible disasters. . .

Camels, cattle, sheep, and goats all have different biological needs. Conditions fatal
to one species may be quite appropriate for the well-being of another. . .

Should food resources for one species become drastically reduced, it is possible that
the other species in the nomad's herd would still be able to survive and produce
food." (Franke p.42)

Animal Food Water Reproduction Resources

best adapted to deliver their means of
arid zones, able young once a transport, milk,
Graze and to go for a week year, in the rainy meat, hide.
browse, eating without food or season, a time
Camel
the branches and water during the when food and
leaves of trees hottest times of water are readily
and shrubs. year and able to available
travel relatively
long distances in
 a day
the hardiest and meat, hide, and
can live entirely in the cool season quickest breeding provide milk for
on browsing, can do without of all the most of the year
requiring no water for up to domesticated unless conditions
Goat grasses at all two weeks species in West are exceptionally
Africa bad

can go for only

breed more than
require grass two days without wool, meat.
once a year.
sustenance
Sheep
deliver their
young once a
can go for only year, in the rainy
require grass two days without season, a time milk, meat, hide.
sustenance when food and
Cow water are readily
available.

Pastoral/Agriculturalist Symbiosis

"During the 12th and 13th centuries, the pastoral Fulani migrated eastward.
Traveling either as individual family units or in very small groups, they posed no
threat to existing social groups. They were not competing with them for land, since,
like their ancestors, they were able to make use of areas that were of no value to the
farmers. Coexisting in a symbiotic relationship with the farmers, they remained a
distinct ethnic minority with their own language and culture.

It was especially during the dry season that the exchanges of food and services
would take place between herders and farmers. The farmer's harvested fields would
become the Zebu cattle's temporary pasturing grounds.

Important as the farmer's grain might be to the Fulani and the Fulani's milk a
supplement to the farmer's diet, the cattle themselves provided a most valuable
service to the land. The animals, grazing on the harvested stalks, would manure the
land, an essential part of the process of keeping the agricultural lands fertile.
Modern studies have found that the organic carbon content; a rule-of-thumb
indicator of fertility, was two- to three-times higher in fields where cattle had been
present than where they were not" (Franke pp.41-44).
s.s

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toralists
in modern
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