Article by Jarso Mokku, PhD, CEO of Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative (DLCI)

The image of the African pastoralist is often one of quiet resilience—a figure whose wealth, measured in the thousands of animals dotting the arid landscape, is a testament to survival in a harsh environment. But scratch the surface of this seeming abundance, and a tragic paradox emerges: the very wealth that sustains the pastoralist family is often the barrier to their well-being.

Consider a pastoralist family owning 300 goats. This is a substantial asset. Yet, all too often, members of this family will go to sleep hungry, wear threadbare clothes, and, heartbreakingly, would rather risk death than sell one or two animals to buy life-saving medicine.

This is not irrational behaviour; it is a manifestation of a deep-seated economic and cultural system in which livestock is not currency but a sacrosanct store of wealth, security, and social standing. The ongoing policy consultation between the Pastoralists Parliamentary Group (PPG) and the National Livestock Development and Promotion Service (NLDPS) must confront this cultural barrier head-on, or all our investment in veterinary care and market access will be in vain.

The solution is not just to tell pastoralists to sell their animals. The answer is to establish a comprehensive framework that turns pastoralist assets from a passive store of value into an active, managed economic resource. My proposals are:

1.⁠ ⁠The Mindset Shift: From Asset to Income
The most critical intervention is the psychological and financial one. We must provide focused training to pastoralists on Optimal Offtake.
Pastoralists understand sustainability, but they need to learn the economic equivalent. Training must show them how to calculate the herd’s natural surplus—the number of animals that can be sold annually without jeopardising the herd’s core reproductive capacity. This surplus, we argue, is the foundation of a Contingency Fund.

We must teach them: selling a few healthy, surplus animals before a predicted drought is not a failure; it is a smart, proactive move that generates cash for food, healthcare, and education—the very investments that protect the remaining herd and secure the future generation.

2.⁠ ⁠Market Linkages: Maximising Every Sale
When a pastoralist decides to sell, they are often victimised by poor market timing, a lack of information, and exploitative middlemen. NLDPS must step in to facilitate:

• ⁠ ⁠Strategic Selling: Training pastoralists on price fluctuations based on season (selling before the lean season) and optimising for market demand (selling at prime weight).
• Value Addition: Promoting the processing of by-products. Hides, skins, and even manure should be seen as separate, valuable income streams. Simple training in proper hide curing, for instance, can drastically increase its value.
• Collective Action: Promoting the formation of Pastoralist Marketing Cooperatives (PMCs). A group selling a single, large batch of quality-graded animals has exponentially more negotiating power than a lone herder at the market gate.N

National Livestock Development and Promotion Service CEO – Richard Kyuma

3.⁠ ⁠Policy Support: Securing the Asset
The NLDPS and PPG must work together to ensure that government policy supports, rather than undermines, this transformation. This requires securing the basic infrastructure of pastoralist life:

• Secured Land Rights: Without formal, collective land tenure, pastoralists cannot plan for the long term, and their land is constantly at risk of encroachment, forcing them into distress sales.
• Decentralised Services: Establishing community-based Paravet Networks and mobile health clinics. By providing essential services to pastoralists, we reduce the need for emergency cash and build trust in the government’s support system.

Pastoralist Parliamentary Group Patron – Hon Col (Rtd) Dido Rasso

The life of a pastoralist is a constant negotiation with uncertainty. Their reluctance to sell is a rational response to a world with no safety net. Our policy must provide that net. By transforming the perception of their animals from a mere symbol of wealth into a managed financial asset, we can ensure that 300 goats do more than just survive the next drought—they secure the health, education, and livelihood of the family that dedicates its life to protecting them.

The time for policy consultation is over. The time to implement focused, culturally sensitive economic empowerment training is now. Let us empower the pastoralist to use their own wealth to save their lives.
What action should the PPG and NLDPS prioritise first to address the “mindset barrier”?

Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative (DLCI) is the secretariat to the Pastoralist Parliamentary Group (PPG).