Summary
This chapter reviews aspects of Borana household composition and economy as they pertain to average rainfall years during the 1980s. Related topics include labour allocation, livestock marketing, milk processing, dairy marketing and cultivation. Production units are defined as typically consisting of a male household head, one wife, two to three children and perhaps several other live-in relatives dependent upon the livestock for which the household head assumes management responsibility. Men are largely the decision makers for livestock production, while women carry on day-to-day management and retain primary responsibility for dairy-related activities. Widowed women may comprise 20 to 25% of household heads, especially within 30 km of urban areas. These women probably have greater managerial and strategic roles in the society than married women in general. Labour allocation is profiled on a daily basis for married women in different seasons, as well as for both males and females at the encampment and regional level of resolution. Herding and watering animals dominate labour requirements overall with related manpower shortages common during dry seasons.
The average production unit may include some 15 cattle (with eight milking cows), seven small ruminants, an occasional equine or camel for transport and a few chickens. Marked wealth stratification is evident. Some families have only one or two milk cows while others may have over 40. Fifty-one per cent of a sampled population (N = 633) were considered poor in terms of per capita livestock holdings, while 31% and 18% were intermediate and wealthy, respectively. Annual cash income may range from US$ 45 (poor) to US$ 217 (intermediate) and US$ 382 (wealthy), but cash income is not entirely indicative of wealth. Annual gross revenue, commercial plus subsistence production, may average US$ 975 and at least 90% of this is derived from cattle, of which 40% accrues from milk production. Gross revenue is divided between production for marketing (31 %) and subsistence (69%).
Probably less than 1% of animal outputs are used as crop inputs, thus the average household retains a pastoral, rather than agropastoral, orientation with little crop-livestock integration. Small agropastoral communities appear to be growing in the wetter parts of the study area and the immigrants include poor people who have dropped out of the pastoral sector. Cultivated plots (<0.5 ha/plot on average) occur throughout the plateau (at an average of 3.2 plots/km2) and these are largely planted with maize in the long rains and cowpea (Vigna spp) in the short rains. Increased cultivation is attributable to a declining ratio of livestock people as exacerbated by human population growth and drought.
Men and women share duties in cultivation and animals are occasionally used for ploughing. About 1.4% of the study area was cultivated in 1986, representing 5% of the arable land.
Going by recent high rates of crop expansion in the post-drought period of 1984-86 (i.e. 90 km2/year), all arable land could be utilised in the next two generations. This estimate may be conservative if animal traction becomes more pervasive and other assumptions hold untrue. Compared to similar African systems, densities of people and livestock suggest that preconditions now exist to force a widespread shift to agropastoralism on the plateau where the environment permits and in the absence of other development opportunities. The population, however, has been partially dependent on grain purchases for at least the past 25 years. A shift to agropastoralism could allow some Boran to procure more food and still restrict sales of animals for grain purchases so that herd capital can be retained for other purposes.
Analysis of 67803 records of livestock sales from the early 1980s confirmed that: (1) cattle were by far the dominant species marketed; (2) cattle sales were dominated by mature males (52% of volume) and (3) supply of animals was highly variable among markets and years. Studies of livestock marketing rationale suggest that the Boran: (1) prefer to avoid cattle sales in light of the need for animal accumulation; (2) are increasingly forced to sell cattle to procure food grain; (3) may diversify more into small ruminants as a replacement commodity to reduce prospects of having to sell cattle; (4) tend to sell in dry seasons when they have an acute need for money; and (5) prefer to sell mature male cattle because the income is sufficient to procure goods as well as replacement calves, thus satisfying several objectives. The poor are often forced to sell immature cattle because of a low number and diversity of animals held. This further diminishes their prospects for animal replacement. Increased numbers of immature cattle in markets may thus be an indicator of increasing poverty, and not a sign that the production system is being transformed in a "progressive" fashion according to Western models of production where cattle are fattened for market. A pastoralist does not plan to sell and when he does it is in response to an acute need for money.
Boran herd owners disclosed that should cattle prices increase, and the prices of consumer goods remain constant, the ultimate result over time would be a lower throughput of cattle through marketing channels. The Boran seek higher prices precisely to reduce the number of cattle households have to sell over the longterm. This is the main incentive for selling cattle on the black market with Kenya. If the same scenario were to occur for small ruminants, the ultimate response would be a higher throughput because these species are perceived to have a lower socio-economic value and greater production risks than cattle. Despite the persistence of such traditional values, younger herd owners in pert-urban locations are becoming more interested in trade. There is also a general and increasing awareness of the necessity for markets to promote the survival of the society at large. Herd owners reported that should Ethiopian prices for livestock become similar to those offered by Kenyan buyers, they would prefer to sell to Ethiopian interests.
Coming to traditional livestock outputs, common products are fresh milk, butter, buttermilk, soured milks and ghee. Butter and fresh milk are commonly sold by households residing within 30 km of market. Butter tends to be sold more by wealthier households further from market while fresh milk is sold relatively more by poorer households living closer to market. Proceeds from dairy sales are controlled by women and are important to all families, averaging around 20% of annual income. Dairy sales decline markedly in dry seasons compared to wet seasons, and families residing within 10 km of market reportedly sold 16 times more products than those residing 21-30 km from market. Dairy sales are often the main source of regular income for the poorest households who have little else to sell. This justifies the settlement of poorer households in pert-urban areas and underscores the importance of local market opportunities generated by small towns. Increased dairy sales by poorer households with easy access to market but with low-producing milk cows may pose health risks for calves because of nutritional stress resulting from reduced milk intake. This could jeopardise calf recruitment, and thus prospects for herd growth for the pert-urban poor.
