Livestock keeping plays a central role in the Maasai and Barbaig communities, where division of labour and decision-making are organised around a strict institutional set up. Women in both communities play an active role in livestock keeping since they are responsible not only for milking and treating sick animals but also for selecting cows for milk production and breeding. Although this role is highly appreciated in both pastoral communities, the study has shown that women are usually accorded the lowest status in the decision making system due to the patriarchal structure of the communities. They often lack a forum where their views can be heard and their knowledge broadened through the exchange of experience with men.
The Maasai and Barbaig communities have a sound knowledge and understanding of their environment, and are able to put appropriate managerial skills and adaptive strategies in animal husbandry and forage resource management. Despite their migration and adaptation to new environments, traditional management techniques have undergone little changes in comparison with the place of their origin and the Maasai and Barbaig communities have been able to conserve their IK even when moving to different climatic settings.
From the results of the current study, traditional systems such as observation of stars, moon shapes, birds, flowers and month counting can be used in predicting weather. These systems can also be used in range assessment and improvement, such as rotational grazing, burning pastures to regenerate growth, reduction of parasite infestation and killing of undesirable plant species; traditional animal therapy (ethno veterinary) and mobility to disperse grazing pressure. Through these indigenous techniques, pastoralists have been able to survive in unpredictable environments, where conceptualisation of ecological proceedings takes different forms, ranging from observable attributes to superstitious beliefs. It is important to recognise the existence and contribution of local knowledge to the livelihoods of pastoralists and the entire livestock production in the rangelands. Recognition of local practices not only gives confidence to the pastoralists for the fact that their knowledge and skills are valued, but also leads to preservation and continued use of their local knowledge.
Masaai knowledge can help broaden the scope of understanding of conventional range management and animal husbandry science. The integration of local knowledge systems and modern range science would allow for better results. Bush clearing in order to allow regeneration of pastures and tsetse control is a vivid example as it is recognised by both local and scientific knowledge but needs modification to yield better results. During the meetings with the respondents, it became clear that combining local and scientific knowledge would be likely to benefit most Maasai and Barbaig pastoralists. The most important aspects of conventional range management which could be combined with the local practices of the Maasai and Barbaig include:
Breeds: although pastoralists with additional economic resources have introduced exotic breeds in their herds in order to increase diversity in the breeding process, most pastoralists prefer local breeds because they are better suited to their environment and cheaper to maintain. Livestock policies and interventions aimed at Maasai and Barbaig should take this preference into account.
The local knowledge identified in this study forms the basis for local-level decisionmaking pertaining to food security, natural resource management, animal health and a host of other vital activities of these pastoral communities. There is therefore a need to continuously recognise, identify, validate and document the indigenous pastoral techniques and to integrate them into the mainstream of conventional range management. Development interventions should take into account these techniques and promote the sustainable use of resources and the conservation of biological diversity in order to improve not only pastoralists’, but entire rural communities’ food security and livelihoods.
The Maasai and Barbaig respondents asked for the support of extension services in the field of rangeland management. In general they wanted a closer contact with extension services to support them in their own terms and increase the access and availability of the service system. This study has revealed that pastoralists are eager to cooperate, learn and share their knowledge not only with scientists, but also with other non-livestock keeping communities.
