Rangelands, Drylands & Pastoralism

Indicates factors that must be considered when designing pastoral systems research, esp. the need to maintain complementantrity among various types of research; the need for policy orientation when carrying out research; and setting up of priorities & opportunities. Includes case examples from work carried out by the ILCA subhumid programme.

Discusses ways of studying economics of household level activities in pastoral production systems, with particular reference to the collection and analysis of data on household income and expenditure as well as resources inventory.

Reviews differences between crop production and pastoral production, considering their effects on research possibilities; and describes basic methods that may be used to collect household level data, esp. informal & formal surveys, enumeration and the use of questionnaires.

Reviews most recent applications of methodologies for resource surveys appropriate to pastoral & agro-pastoral regions in Africa, with particular reference to remote sensing methodologies, viz. satellite imagery, aerial photography, side-looking radar (SLR), spectral radiance and low-altitutde aerial survey.

Discusses issues related to the collection of data on labour inputs for pastoral production, considering the utility of data on labour as part of pastoral systems research, and research methods for data collection, particularly for multi-visit recall techniques and the time allocation technique.

Discusses the aim of studies on vegetation & feed resources in pastoral systems, describing the collection & presentation of data in the descriptive phase; identification of constraints in the diagnostic phase; and analysis of the impact of selected variables or technical innovations on the systems' functioning, and the development of adapted technology in the experimental phase.

Describes techniques of long-and short-term measurements of changes in vegetation and feed resources in pastoral systems, with particular reference to sampling techniques and costs of the various methods.

Examines the need and methods for studying livestock markets and routinely collect time series data on prices of livestock at local, regional and terminal markets, outlining a method for setting up a systematic collection and analysis of livestock market information.

Discusses ways of collecting livestock data, mentioning the usefulness and techniques of low-level aerial surveys to gather information on animal numbers; and methods of recording weight changes and milk yields.

Discusses the need for data on voluntary offtake & acquisition of livestock in pastoral production systems, and considers methods through which desired data can be collected, particularly multiple-visit, and single-visit progeny history technique.

Discusses livestock water needs and the variation of water dependence in dif. circumstance, mentioning body water functions; physiological aspects of water balance; channels of gain & loss; and factors affecting water balance, particularly energy production, thermoregulation and water availability.

Discusses how low level aerial survey can be used to diagnose constraints within pastoral systems and the relative cost effectiveness of such operations, with particular reference to flight & sample procedures and information collection and analysis; presents some results from low-altitutde aerial survey undertaken by ILCA in Nigeria, Mali, Niger and Ethiopia.