The Ethiopian lowlands occur below 1500-m elevation and comprise 61% of the national land area. Climate in the lowlands includes arid (64%), semi-arid (21 %) and subhumid (15%) zones largely defined by four rainfall and temperature regimes. These zones vary markedly in terms of number of plant growing days per year, forage production, common plant associations, livestock and human carrying capacities and incidence of important livestock diseases.
Ethiopia today has about 42 million people and over 70 million head of livestock. The lowlands are home to 12% of the human population (or five million people) and 26% of the livestock (or 21 million head). Land use by the 29 ethnic groups of the lowlands is dominated by various forms of pastoralism and agropastoralism. Livestock depend upon rangelands consisting of native vegetation, with crop residues increasing in importance as livestock feed as annual rainfall increases. Calculated for the lowlands overall, roughly six people/km² are dependent on 11 Tropical Livestock Units (TLUs), which are composed of cattle (49%), goats (16%), equines (16%), camels (12%) and sheep (7%). In contrast, the highlands support 72 people/km² dependent on 44 TLUs/km² which are dominated by cattle (76%), equines (14%), sheep (8%) and goats (2%). Thus, although the lowlands comprise over 50% more land area than the highlands, the lowlands have only 40% as many TLUs at one-quarter the density.
Although the lowlands have a lower abundance of animals than the highlands, the lowlands still play a crucial role in the national livestock economy. Livestock production is an important component of the national economy; in the mid-1980s livestock production comprised 33% of the gross value of annual agricultural output and 15% of gross domestic product. Besides supporting rural and urban lowlanders with milk, meat, employment and investment opportunities, lowland breeds of cattle and sheep made up over 90% of legal exports of live animals. In the mid-1980s, export revenues for live animals came in a distant second after coffee and comprised 12% of gross annual export revenue overall. However, about 450 000 head of lowland livestock may be traded on the international black market each year and official statistics often do not reflect this volume. This situation resulted from black market prices being 150% higher than regulated, domestic livestock prices during the 1980s. Lowland cattle may also provide around 20% of the draft animals for the highlands, particularly to the east, and smaller numbers are supplied for finishing on crop residues and cross-breeding in smallholder dairy programmes. The lowlands are thus an important source of livestock supply to the nation. This situation results, in part, because there are three times as many TLUs per person in the lowlands than in the highlands. This per capita "surplus" in the lowlands, however, may be declining because of rapid growth in the human population (i.e. 2.1% per annum, with a doubling time of 26 years) and environmental limits on growth in livestock populations.
Although some development projects were targeted for lowland livestock systems in the 1950s, large-scale development efforts did not occur regularly until after 1965. These projects were generally intended to foster greater integration among lowland and highland production systems. The Third Livestock Development Project (TLDP), originally budgeted at US$ 44 million, has been the dominant force in development of the pastoral livestock sector since 1975. The TLDP has provided infrastructural improvements (roads, markets, water) and support services (veterinary and facilitation of inter-regional trade) to around one million pastoralists residing in 27% of the lowlands to the north, south and east of the country. The primary goal was to stimulate livestock commercialisation. These regions were targeted because of proximity to national markets and infrastructure, the quality of indigenous livestock breeds and their higher ecological potential compared to other lowland areas. Despite chronic problems with regional security and the national economy, the TLDP has made a notable contribution, particularly in terms of infrastructure. As one of three subprojects of TLDP, the Southern Rangelands Development Unit (SORDU) has been most successful in implementing programmes in the Borana pastoral system. In large measure this has been due to the enhanced security situation in the south during the 1980s compared with lowland development regions in the north and east.
More recent development initiatives have included the Pilot Project at SORDU in conjunction with the Fourth Livestock Development Project (FLDP) which was initiated in 1988 and the Southeast Rangelands Project (SERP) in the Ogaden, initiated in 1990. These projects were designed to incorporate participatory approaches to pastoral development in addition to provision of infrastructure and support services. Despite advances in pastoral development concepts since 1975, impact of pastoral development activities has been routinely constrained by shortages of operating funds and trained manpower and periods of insecurity.
Research and development organisations collaborated in the lowlands during 1982-90 to better understand the pastoral systems and design appropriate production interventions. These efforts included TLDP, ILCA, CARE-Ethiopia, the Institute of Agricultural Research and the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) working in the SORDU sub-project area since 1985. Ultimately, the most effective approach involved research following the lead of insightful development agents who implemented a more participatory approach for identifying felt needs and production problems as perceived by the pastoralists. This evolved process appears to be a departure from traditional models of farming systems research and extension in which researchers take sole responsibility for problem identification.
