Enhancing the economic viability of pastoralism: The need to balance interventions

Extensive mobile pastoral systems do not follow conventional marketing optimisation models, since they must deal with the factors of mobility, erratic environments, dependency on natural resources, seasonality, and distance to markets. While pastoralist systems contribute substantiallyto national economies, government investment to support pastoralism remains limited or non-existent. Pastoralists are becoming increasingly integrated into larger market systems and therefore need investment and specially adapted policies to supply a growing demand for livestock products and to supporttheir livelihoods. In this paper, the authors show that investment and technology can support and empower pastoralist marketing strategies in supplying higher-value and more stable livestock products. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that pastoralists also supply services, broadening the marketing landscape within which they operate to include more players and trading options. Pastoralists are undeniably the custodians of rangelands and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. These new market prospects nevertheless require structuring (e.g. regulation, infrastructure) and adjustments in the trading environment of stakeholders all along the value chain. There is, however, an inherent risk in intervening in pastoral marketing and production processes. Too many or ill-adapted interventions can have severe effects on these systems, resulting in over-intensification and reduced mobility. Finding the right level of intervention to support extensive pastoral systems is important when developing policy, since it is about the only form of land use that can keep a third of the world's land surface in food production without additional inputs.