Pastoralist Groups

Pastoralist: predominantly extensive production system that depends for more than 50 per cent of income on livestock, includes nomads, tranhumants and semi-transhumants.

Nomad: production system that is highly mobile, but does not necessarily return to a "base" every year, and does not include cultivation (for example, nomads of the Sahara).

Transhumant: production system that is highly mobile, but moves between definite seasonal bases every year (for example Samburu of Kenya); it may include a non-sedentary form of cultivation (for example Zaghawa of Chad).

Semi-transhumant: production system where only part of the family and/or livestock is seasonally mobile and the rest is sedentary in one of the seasonal bases, practicing cultivation (for example, Dinka of Sudan and Karimojong of Uganda).

Agro-pastoralist: production system where all of the family and livestock are sedentary.

Livestock mobility: can be divided into "macro mobility" that refers to large movements (such as transhumance between dry season and wet season pastures) and "micro-mobility" referring to daily or frequent movement between micro-niches within the same pasture.

Source: Extract from Pastoral development in Africa, Proceedings of the first technical consultation of donor and international development agencies, Paris, December 1993, UNSO/UNDP, 1994.

> > > > [Livestock & Environment Toolbox Home]