PASTORALISM

Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry, historically by nomadic people who moved with their herds. The species involved included cattle, camels, goats, yaks, llamas, reindeer, horses and sheep.

"Pastoralism" often has a mobile aspect but this can take many forms and be at different scales.

 Sedentary pastoralism is becoming more common as the hardening of political borders, expansion of crop agriculture, and building of fences reduces ability to move.

 Mobile pastoralism includes moving herds distances in search of fresh pasture and water, something that can occur daily or even within a few hours, to transhumance, where animals are moved seasonally, to nomadism, where pastoralists and families move with the animals year-round.

 In sedentary pastoralism, or pastoral farming, pastoralists grow crops and improve pastures for their livestock. One example is a savanna area where pastoralists and their animals gather when rainwater is abundant and the pasture is rich, then scatter during the drying of the savanna.

 Another is the movement of livestock from summer pastures in lowlands, to montane pastures in the summer where grass is green and plentiful during the dry season.

Grazing in woodlands and forests may be referred to as silvopastoralism.

Pastoralist herds interact with their environment, and mediate human relations with the environment as a way of turning uncultivated plants like wild grass into consumable, high quality, food.

 In many places, grazing herds on savannas and woodlands can help maintain the biodiversity of the savannas and prevent them from evolving into dense shrub lands or forests. Grazing and browsing at the appropriate levels often can increase biodiversity in Mediterranean climate regions.

Pastoralist may also use fire to make ecosystems more suitable for grazing and browsing animals. For instance, the Turkana people of northwest Kenya use fire to prevent the invasion of the savanna by woody plant species. Biomass of the domesticated and wild animals was increased by a higher quality of grass.

Pastoralism is found in many variations throughout the world, generally where environmental characteristics such as aridity, poor soils, cold or hot temperature, and lack of water make crop growing difficult or impossible.

Pastoralism remains a way of life in Africa, the Tibetan plateau, the Eurasian steppes, the Andes, Patagonia, the Pampas, Australia, and  many other places.

Lami Umar

Bhu/16/02/02/0040

Editor

ADU MODUPE

Bhu/16/02/02/0022