Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program

Marketed livestock offtake rates are commonly low among pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid lands of east Africa. Many donors and policymakers have therefore emphasized the importance of interventions to directly address constraints that limit offtake so as to stimulate greater use of markets as a means both to increase incomes and wealth and to improve pastoralists’ capacity to manage regular climatic shocks. Yet few of the hypothesized causes of limited marketed offtake have been tested explicitly. Using detailed household data collected every three months in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, we are able to identify which hypotheses seem credible for explaining limited marketed offtake. We find that lack of information, cash transaction costs to market participation and limited access to financial savings instruments do not appear to limit livestock marketing. The main constraint on livestock marketing appears to be the limited attractiveness of alternative, non-livestock investments in the study region. In summary, we find scant empirical support for many of the claims commonly made in current discussions of how best to stimulate livestock marketing offtake among pastoralist in this region. The best strategy appears to be generalized support for viable pastoralism.