COMMERCIAL DESTOCKING IN PASTORAL COMMUNITY

OF BORENA

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Daniel .Temesgen & Wendesen. Gulelat

BACKGROUND

Livestock destocking have been started in 1980s by NGOs and state agencies (Slaughter destocking related to meat supply during drought

Commercial destocking is recent, started to be practiced

in Southern Ethiopia in Borena with NGOs and

government,

The main strategy used was facilitating link between traders and the drought affected community or providing fund to the cooperatives

The two approaches in destocking are: commercial and slaughter destocking (Both types of destocking are familiar in Borena & practiced since 2005/6 by NGO & Government

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BACKGROUND

Currently CARE and SAVE US have been practicing it

since 2011

In Borena areas of Ethiopia, commercial destocking is

seen as one of the best solutions to many problems of

the Borena pastoralist

A team of six from CARE Ethiopia, CARE Nederlands,

PFE and Group URD have conducted assessment in

commercial destocking from Nov 4-8, 2011

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BACKGROUND

The objective of the assessment is to address the

following questions

”?” How can government, NGOs, Private sector and

community work together to arrive at a stage where

commercially destocking is a viable alternative?

”?” What practices & systems are in place?

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METHODOLOGY

The assessment started with interview of stakeholders in Addis Ababa

The assessment was conducted in four selected Weredas and kebeles

All stakeholders at Zonal and Wereda level were included in the assessment

The field assessment was followed by Zonal stakeholders workshop

Both secondary and primary sources of information were collected at all the stages of the assessment

For primary source used individual in-depth interview and focus group discussion techniques were used

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THE STATUS OF DROUGHT AND RESPONSE 2011

Both the Ganna and Hagaya rain failed, the drought was

so long

The intervention focused on includes Vet. service,

fodder supply, water rationing and food support

Commercial Destocking has been planned by the Zonal

Taskforce however could not be implemented and there

was a little response from other stakeholders

Number of cattle died estimated about 300,000 (zonal

DPPA) even if there are some contradictions in number

The number of destocked livestock is less than 1,000

(less than 1%) 6

BENEFITS OF COMMERCIAL DESTOCKING BASED ON

THE GROUP DISCUSSION OF BENEFICIARIES

Enhanced the drought risk reduction through :

1. Cash transfer to the drought affected community:

Was used to purchase food to sustain the food shortage of the family during drought

The cash was used to protect the remaining stock specially the breeding stock enhanced quick recovery from the drought

2. Efficient utilization of critical resources during drought

Rescued animals by selling them before the drought affected them more

It strengthen the effectiveness of other livestock interventions (Vet. Service, water and feed supplementation) 7

ACTORS IN COMMERCIAL DESTOCKING

(1) Government at different level involved in destocking

through linking drought affected community with traders

and facilitating loan for private trades to participate in

CD. (Creating link between producers and suppliers)

Activities

Awareness creation, mobilizing, providing loan

(incentive) or play facilitation and advocacy role

Trades selection and sending (the zone facilitate the

implementations)

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ACTORS IN COMMERCIAL DESTOCKING

(2) NGOs act in Commercial Destocking through different programs or projects to stimulate commercial destocking by mainly availing loans to the private traders or funds to marketing or multipurpose cooperatives, (in 2011 in Borena CARE & Save the children US)

(3) The Private sector: Involved in buying the livestock in commercial destocking

(4) The Pastoralist community and their institutions has to work with government, NGOs, cooperative and private sector supplying livestock for destocking

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CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

The demand for export at the time of the destocking

determines the interest of traders to buy animals from

pastoral areas.

The price control of government which was implemented

last year has contributed to reduction in commercial

destocking in 2011

Commercial destocking requires a strong livestock

marketing system

Lack of livestock holding grounds for cooperatives as

well as prior to the onset of drought affects the

effectiveness of commercial destocking

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CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

Poor infrastructure in pastoral areas limits the

commercial destocking to nearby communities

Delay in the destocking initiatives which happened late in

the drought (delay in the funds)

Long process in securing contingency(risk funds)

Less amount of fund allocated for commercial destocking

The mismatch of the traders and the pastoralists interest

(looking for better animal vs. selling of weaker animal )

The price is not attractive for the community

Lack of knowledge about the guidelines on commercial

destocking 11

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

The commercial destocking is not well recorded, it is

performed here and there

The traders who are selected for commercial

destocking usually never show up- lack of follow up of

traders from the government side

Commercial destocking at this stage involves multi-

actors with weak linkage causing implementation

difficult (complicate)

The increasing price of feed supplement

Weak linkage among the actors (Gov’t, NGO,

customary institutions, traders…etc)12

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

The awareness is weak among the community

Less in scale of operation as compared to the level of the

problem

Corruption in cooperatives and other actors

Limited government budget for coordinating the activity

The focus of most actors this year was on livestock feed

supplementation and food support to the people it is few

NGOs which participate in commercial destocking

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RECOMMENDATIONS

It requires careful planning and quick action, strong

linkage, trust and commitment among the actors

There are opportunities to improve linkages between

pastoralists and livestock traders during normal periods

and during drought.

A strong, pre-existing livestock export trade drive

commercial destocking

Commercial destocking should be integrated with the

normal live stock marketing not with drought time only

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Adequate contingency fund should be allocated

Early warning information has to be effectively utilized

and reach the community in organized manner

Linkage between cooperatives ( high land and lowland)

The commercial destocking planning should be based on

the early warning information and assessments

Enhancing the bargaining power of the pastoralists

Feed processing plants in Borena zone (feed price

reduces) this facilitate commercial destocking

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Training ,capacity building, enhancing linkages among

the actors, strong marketing information system,

Establishing institutional mechanism and create capacity

to lead and coordinate commercial destocking such as

strengthening linkage (the network), capacity building

coordinating and reporting

Responses should match the scale of the problem

There is a need to look for livestock skin and meat

processing in Borena

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