I. RESEARCH AND PASTORAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA

Edited by

E. N. Sabiiti and Tegegne Teka

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

The pastoral communities in Africa's drylands in general and in the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states¹ in particular are confronted with problems of deterioration of herd and rangelands conditions, sub-optimal management of water sources and weakened veterinary and extension services. In the arid and semi-arid areas of Africa's Horn, severe drought, famine, deteriorating socio-economic conditions and land degradation combined with over-cultivation, over-grazing, and inappropriate agricultural and livestock development policies have contributed to deteriorating standards of living among subsistence farmers and pastoralists alike (DHP-Regional Project Document, 1994).

With 70 to 80 percent of the area of IGAD member states being arid or semi-arid, 125 million estimated inhabitants of the IGAD member states depend on arable farming, agro-pastoralism or pastoralism for their livelihoods. Being 65 percent of the population sedentary farmers and agro-pastoralists and being 13 percent pastoralists or nomads, the degradation of rangelands ultimately leads to loss of resilience to natural disasters, famine, poverty, destitution and mass displacement of pastoral communities (ibid). Despite these appalling conditions, the inhabitants of drylands who are pre-dominantly pastoralist have often attracted little attention from development agents and central governments.

At the policy level, agricultural issues were based on assumptions that pastoral societies are unchanging and that the pastoral system cannot benefit from the injection of capital and investment with a bias towards grain production and food crops in general. Investments in livestock also require a long gestation period, compared to cash crop production and there is an anticipated high risk in dryland investment due to ecological vulnerability and unpredictability.

At the management level, pastoralists have been isolated from decision making apparatuses and policy setting structures, and have accordingly been ineffective in demanding for services. In addition, declining support for service institutions has had the most effect on those beneficiaries who are most difficult and expensive to reach like pastoralists in sparsely populated regions with poor infrastructure. Politically, there has been the desire to provide the vocal urban consumers with inexpensive imported livestock products, at the expense of the local ones.

The ultimate effect of all these have been marginalisation of pastoralists owing to insufficient understanding of the consequences that force them to behave the way they do. It is therefore in response to this situation that the Dryland Husbandry Project was initiated.

1.2 The Dryland Husbandry Project (DHP)

The Dryland Husbandry Project (DHP) is a sub-regional project involving Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. It was designed to address some of the fundamental problems that confront pastoral communities in African drylands in general and IGAD member states in particular. These problems include the deterioration of herd, and rangeland conditions, sub-optimal management of water sources and inadequate veterinary and extension services. A network approach is used to raise issues of mutual concern to researchers, practitioners and above all pastoralists with particular emphasis on sustainable service provision, water and rangeland management.

The primary concern of DHP is to create an understanding through research, the conditions of dryland areas and the people who inhabit them. The Dryland Husbandry Project is therefore seen as a deliberate effort to bring together a variety of stakeholders in pastoral development, to identify and develop strategies to address the crisis of the nineties.

1.2.1 Project Objectives

Long term Objectives

To improve resource management, especially water and livestock management by the development of new techniques together with related institution building at the community level.

To improve the standards of living of pastoralists by creating an enabling environment in which they and their herds can better survive re-current droughts.

Immediate Objectives

To develop a methodology for participatory research trials emphasising water management and animal disease control involving pastoralists, researchers, extensionists, NGOs and local authorities.

To initiate a dialogue among local actors in the range management concerning gender specific needs, such as different demands on water resources for animal and human consumption and different management methods for small, large and lactating livestock etc. thereby leading to the establishment of strategies which meet diverse needs.

To collect data on local methods of livestock disease control, natural resource tenure, range and water management, and to initiate a process whereby participating institutions plan how to integrate this information into their on-going work.

It is within the framework of the above mentioned objectives that the DHP-Uganda has been designed. This study assesses the implementation process of DHP-Uganda during 1995-1997. This period is the first phase of the Dryland Husbandry Project. The assessment aimed to generate lessons for second phase implementation and similar interventions in the sub-region in general and in Uganda in particular. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section-2 presents the DHP-Uganda project area with an ex-ante assessment of the area; Section-3 summarised the DHP-Uganda implementation process and constraints; and Section-4 discussed issues for the way forward. Finally, summary and conclusions are made in Section-5.

2. DRYLAND HUSBANDRY PROJECT - UGANDA

2.1 Justification

Cattle raising is an important economic activity in Uganda. Livestock constitutes a crucial part of the country's food production, accounting for one third of the total value of food production. According to the Uganda National Census for Agriculture and Livestock (1990-1991), there were about 3.4 million heads of cattle in the 26 districts of Uganda where the census was conducted (MOAAIF, 1992). About 95 percent of the cattle population is owned by pastoralists with grazing management systems, which vary from area to area, influenced by increased cropping and subsequent reduction of grazing area. In most of these areas the main management systems remain communal grazing, tethering and pastoral herding (DHP-Uganda Project Document, 1995). Local breeds (Bos indicus) are well adapted for survival under the prevailing conditions of low inputs, poor nutrition and high disease incidence.

However, these traditional pastoral practices take place in a rapid changing socio-economic environment that affect nomadism in Uganda which is declining due to sendentarisation tendencies prompted by land pressure and de-stocking. These have a wide range of implications on the rangeland management, standard of living of the pastoralists and manifest a range of management systems among the pastoral communities in order to cope with.

As observed in the IUCN report, 1992 (cited in DHP-Regional Project Document, 1994),

If the current environmental degradation in the Horn of Africa is permitted to continue much longer, it is likely that in a relatively near future human settlement in many parts of the region will become unsustainable.

The Dryland Husbandry Project -Uganda (DHP-Uganda), therefore, attempted to address the salient issues and problems facing the pastoralists in the changing environment. As the pastoralists in this area started living a settled life due to land pressure in Uganda, they were faced with two main problems: (a) that of an overgrazed land on which they were settling and (b) the deterioration or virtual disappearance of the rangeland pasture needed for animals which was slowly being replaced by the undesirable pasture weeds and bush encroachment (Fig. 1). In addition, the same area is continuously being hit by drought every year which deprives the pastoralists of the water that is much needed for animals and human consumption during the dry seasons.

Such environmental and animal husbandry situation was sufficient to make Mbarara district an appropriate choice for the DHP-Uganda project area. Kijuma and Burunga project sites were selected after a baseline survey which identified a wide range of issues that concerned land tenure system in the area, land use pattern, land size among the pastoralists, land sufficiency, heads of cattle, pastoral resource management, existence of pasture weeds, water availability (sources) during the dry season, extension workers' services, animal diseases and their control, crop production and household incomes of the pastoralists. These small sites were deemed big enough to provide a sufficient start for the preparatory project activities which could be replicated in other areas in future project activities.

The ultimate outputs were intended to increase understanding amongst practitioners and pastoralists of the sustainable range management, improved rangeland pasture, water management, increase and improve participation of women in pastoral development with the ultimate goal of creating sustainable sound rangelands for pastoralists.

2.2 Location of the DHP-Uganda

The DHP-Uganda area, Mbarara district, is part of the cattle corridor stretching from southern Uganda border with Tanzania through southern part of Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Mbarara districts, parts of Rakai, Masaka, Kaborole, Kibale, Luwero, Masindi in west and south-western Apac, Lira in the north, extending to Soroti, Kotido and Moroto districts in north-eastern Uganda. These areas are generally semi-arid and are roamed by nomads particularly the traditional pastoralists, the Bahima in the south-west and the Karamojong in the north-east.

DHP is located in Kazo county, Mbarara District, where shallow wells are empty during the dry season

The DHP-Uganda is based in two separate project sites of Kijuma and Burunga in the sub-counties of Kazo and Burunga respectively in Mbarara district. Mbarara district lies along the cattle corridor that stretches from northern Tanzania, through south-western, Northern Uganda to northern Kenya. The major activity in this area is cattle keeping of mainly the indigenous breed of the Ankole longhorn cattle. The grazing of animals in the area has over a long time been communal meaning that the pastoralists have been sharing both grass and water for their animals. In the event of scarcity of any of the two the pastoralists would move from one place to another thus leading a nomadic life in search for water and grass for the animals.

2.3 Situation Analysis

The baseline survey carried out in October 1996 was meant to identify and establish the status of the resources, utilisation, constraints and prioritisation of areas for possible intervention by DHP-Uganda. Secondly, it was intended to assess community problems at grassroots level and identify indigenous technologies used by the pastoralists with specific emphasis on local methods of livestock disease control, range and water management. On the basis of the survey, DHP-Uganda was able to identify the following as its main research priorities in project implementation: range and water management; pasture weeds; livestock diseases; income generating activities for women; and marketing of milk and cattle. The ex-ante situation of the project area in terms of pastoral resources such as land, cattle, pasture, water, animal health and extension services is presented as follows.

2.3.1 Land Holding

Table 1 gives the number of households by land holding in four sub-counties of Kazo. The table shows that households in Kazo own sufficient land with 62 percent of the households owning between 10 and 100ha which is well above the district average of 2.2 hectares or national average of 5.3 acres (MOAAIF, 1992).

Table 1: Household land-holding by sub-county (in percent)

Source: DHP-Uganda Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County, Mbarara District, FAF, Makerere University, Kampala, 1996.

From the above table we see that the Kazo pastoral communities have access to arable land, which however could not be utilised profitably due to perennial drought and the pervasive pasture weeds prevalent in the area. Much of this land is traditionally owned by men, a common characteristic of the pastoral society in the project area, which is patriarchal in nature. Most women do not own land except in rare cases and as widows². However, women do have access, custodial and usufruct rights over family land.

This factor has far reaching implications on the integration of gender aspects in pastoral development since almost only men practically exercise management control and culturally make major decisions over land use. The women's lack of ownership of land in pastoral communities in Kazo exhibit asymmetrical gender sex division of labour structured in favour of men. According to the survey findings, males are mainly responsible for looking after cattle, particularly regarding watering, spraying and milking animals, building animal shelter in addition to engaging in income generating, non-farm wage labour activities while the female folk are responsible for domestic chores most especially cleaning milk pots, milk churning, cleaning of calf pens, and caring for children. This domestication of pastoralist women perpetually keeps women in the periphery of development activities in the pastoralist economy and ultimately undermines the role of women as a driving force and stakeholders in sustainable pastoral development.

2.3.2 Herd Size

Much as there has been sufficient land holdings per household in Kazo County, there has also been correspondingly large herds of cattle owned, leading to over-grazing on some land holdings. It was reported that over the years the cattle population steadily reduced although some pastoralists still owned over 100 heads of cattle as indicated in Table 2.

Table 2: Average heads of cattle per household

Source: DHP-Uganda Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County,

Mbarara District, FAF, Makerere University, Kampala, 1996.

A significant number of households³ owned between 50 and over 100 heads of cattle with a steady reduction in the cattle herd with the shifting of some of the herds from Kazo to ranches in parts of Nyabushozi and Kabula counties as part of the restructuring exercise in Mbarara and Rakai districts. The pastoralists also had sold cattle mainly to obtain money to fight the invading weeds that are threatening their pastures. The reduction in the herds was not corresponding with increase in animal pasture because of the magnitude of the invading pasture weed in the area.

2.3.3 Pasture

The dominant valuable forage grasses in the project area were Brachiaris Spp.; Themeda triandra, Panicam maximum, and Cynodon dactylon. On the other hand, Hyperrhenia rufa was found only in areas which were not overgrazed. Valuable browse plants were Grewia Spp, Cadaba Spp. and Acacia Spp. Some farmers took the initiative to improve on the quality of their pastures by over-sowing with seeds of grasses like Chloris gayana, Panicum maximum, and legumes like Siratro.

The only problem was that this initiative was undermined by acute shortage of pasture seeds since most farmers were amenable to planting improved grass species.

It is worth-noting that farmers appreciated the magnitude of the weed problem. Some of them sold part of their herds to raise money to combat it but this could not be sustained since the cleared part could degenerate back into bush in just two years' time. The only option for farmers was to appeal to researchers to explore possible ways of economically fighting the weeds since their incomes could not sustain their efforts to control the notorious weeds. However, some farmers resorted to selling their land so that they could shift to areas deemed not yet invaded by bushes, namely Kabula in Rakai district. Other farmers had transformed into crop production communities. This was evident in some parts of Buremba bordering Kazo, particularly around Kyampangara.

Pasture weeds became a threat to the survival of the pastoralist economy in the project area. The most common pasture weeds identified were Cymbopogon afronardus, Acacia Spp, Milleti dura, Vernonia amygdalina, Diospyros abyssinica, Solanum incunum and Lantana camara.

The pastoralists' perceived causes of the high incidence of pasture weeds to be two-fold. Restriction of burning - pastoralists believed that burning is an old practice that helps to improve on the quality of the pastures especially after the rains which are believed to contribute a lot to the suppression of pasture weeds as it is said to destroy weed seeds. However, the pastoralists reported that due to overgrazing the few pastoralists who have persistently burned the bushes have not succeeded because there is always little fuel in form of dry grass to completely burn the bushes.

Pastoralists noted two major disadvantages of using mechanical means especially the hand hoe to uproot the weeds. Firstly, it involves wide opening up of the land thereby creating favourable conditions for germination of seeds of invading weeds. Secondly, removing of stumps leaving roots underground in some weed species leads to sprouting of new shoots from each of the roots meaning that several of them are likely to come up especially after the rains.

2.3.4 Water Availability and Access

Drylands are prone to insufficient water for both domestic and livestock consumption and Kazo County is no exception to this phenomenon. The water scarcity is most pervasive during dry seasons. The most hard hit sub-counties during the baseline study were Burunga and Buremba where 75 percent and 60 percent of the informants respectively, said that they experienced insufficient water during dry seasons. The least affected sub-county was Kanoni where 65 percent of the respondents said that they had sufficient water during the dry season. In times of severe water scarcity many farmers often resort to communal valley dams or shift to distant areas in search of water. This practice of nomadism in search of water is common in Kazo, Buremba and Burunga areas where the valley dams and tanks eventually dry up during droughts.

Table 3: Respondents' sources of water during the dry season in percentage terms

Source: DHP-Uganda Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County, Mbarara District, FAF, Makerere University, Kampala, 1996.

The results in Table 3 show considerable water shortage in Kazo county and illustrates the pastoralists coping mechanism to this phenomenon. They resort to either communal valley dams/tanks of rivers making valley dams the predominant source of water not only in Kazo County but also in Mbarara district while others traverse the drylands to distant areas in search of water. This observation is supported by the Uganda National Census of Agriculture and Livestock (1990-1991) which revealed 10,304 holdings having valley dams as source of water for cattle in Mbarara district. Even then valley dams or tanks dry up during severe droughts especially in Kazo, Buremba and Burunga sub-countries.

This persistent water problem has several strategic implications and raises concern among the majority members of the community. A significant proportion of the informants, support (in principle) the idea of cost-sharing in as far as water resource management is concerned. Table 4 below gives the percentage of the informants who supported cost-sharing to make available water sources.

Table 4: Respondents' acceptance of cost sharing of water management (in percent)

Response	Sub-county
	Kazo	Buremba	Kanoni	Burunga
Acceptable	75	65	75	55
Not Acceptable	25	35	25	45

Source: DHP-Uganda Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County, Mbarara District, FAF, Makerere University, Kampala, 1996.

However, in some sections of the community water resource is viewed as a public good whose improvement should be a government responsibility. As such although there was a registered willingness to contribute towards construction and maintenance of water reservoirs and support to the introduction of user charges, there was a shortfall in the lack of support for the idea of cost sharing from Buremba sub-county where 35 percent did not accept cost-sharing. Yet the same sub-county faced the worst water shortage problem. This contradiction within a community facing such an acute problem raises some pertinent issues worth noting in the DHP-Uganda implementation strategy. In the first place there is a question of the effectiveness of collective action in water resource management among pastoralists in Kazo project area. It further raises concerns of handling trade-offs and free-rider issues especially in view of the proportion of the people who did not support cost-sharing and a problem of projecting the administrative costs if the policy is introduced.

2.3.5. Livestock Diseases, Knowledge and Control

Animal diseases pose a significant problem to the pastoralists in the project area. The most prevalent diseases were east cost fever, trypanosomiasis, contagious abortion, three-day sickness, and worm/fluke infections. Two major factors are said to be responsible for these animal diseases in the area. One is that the grazing system is such that cattle still graze and mix freely in most parts, especially on watering points, creating easy spread of diseases. This was taking place amidst a good number of people who had personal land holdings a factor that would have naturally thwarted this from happening. The other is related to capacity to treat the disease. In this regard, the absence of the necessary field staff to treat the animals with only one veterinary doctor in the whole of Kazo County who also faced a host of logistical constraints including transport, made disease control and animal treatment very ineffective. This is aggravated by the limited supply of drugs coupled with fake and expired drugs on the market rendered poor animal treatment.

However, efforts were being made with the most pervasively used drugs to control ticks in the area using acaricides such as taktic and decatix. In addition, some traditional methods of disease control coupled with other forms of indigenous technology were used by the pastoralists.

2.3.6 Extension Services Provision

There was a mismatch between the need for extension services and their availability. This persistent inadequate extension staff over the years was also reinforced by public service reform leading to retrenchment of public servants that has been going on in Uganda. In addition, there has been a ban on recruitment of public servants for the last four or five years now. The reported absence of extension services in the project area is presented in Table 5 below.

Table 5: Percentage of respondents visited by extension worker

Response	Sub-county
	Kazo	Buremba	Kanoni	Burunga
Never Visited	95	45	75	85
0 - 2 months	0	50	0	5
2 - 6 months	0	0	5	5
More than 6 months	5	5	20	5

Source: Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County, Mbarara

District, Makerere University, FAF, 1996

Table 5 clearly shows the non-availability of extension services in the area. The relative availability of services in Buremba Sub-county was largely attributed to the existence of only one Agricultural Staff (Assistant Agricultural Officer) in charge of Kazo County who incidentally resided in Buremba sub-county at the time of the survey. This meant that the officer was "easily" accessible to the farmers in Buremba but less so in other sub-counties mainly due to logistical impediments making the services less and less available to the pastoralists.

The findings of situational analysis among the pastoral communities of Mbarara district helped to identify the fundamental aspects related to pastoralists' practices, views and problems facing them. It was later taken as a necessary precursor to the implementation phase of the dryland husbandry project and form the basis in the planning and decision making regarding the project implementation strategies.

3. DRYLAND HUSBANDRY IN UGANDA: IMPLEMENTATION AND CONSTRAINTS

3.1. Project Management

The Dryland Husbandry Project in Uganda (DHP-Uganda) has so far gone through different phases. These phases include the preparatory or exploratory phase, the project implementation phase, and has now entered a full-fledged action research phase. The exploratory phase was mainly devoted to preparatory activities, specifically, the establishment of the administrative structure to co-ordinate the project; a diagnostic survey to identify community constitution and problems at the grassroots; mobilisation of pastoralists and formation of pastoral committees to work as community contact points.

Formed in 1995 a National Steering Committee (NSC), fairly represents organisations and institutions that collaborate with DHP-Uganda giving the committee a team of varied professional experiences. The NSC plays both the administrative and co-ordination roles and provides technical and policy guidance to the project. The administrative activities include financial management, project staffing, procurement of project equipment and supplies, overseeing project implementation including organising seminars and workshops at local, national and regional levels. The co-ordination involves implementers and the community in particular, the pastoralists. The NSC extends its co-ordination role to other IGAD member states involved in the sub-regional project, namely Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan as well as other institutions in Uganda.

DHP-Uganda Collaboration with Government Institutions

Government has had good response to DHP-Uganda and it positively sanctioned its funding. The project has got collaboration with government institutions mainly the university and some of the line ministries. These include:

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Makerere University which is also the co-ordinating institution;

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; Makerere University;

Department of Environment Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources;

National Agricultural Research Organisation; and

Department of Animal Production Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

The Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MOAAIF) which is fully informed about DHP-Uganda has expressed its total support and affirmative action for DHP-Uganda activities and extended some logistics respectively. DHP-Uganda through its workshops, has promoted the interaction of farmers/pastoralists with the Ministry where they expressed their concerns like the closure of the markets in their area and their effect on income and rangeland management among others (Report of the Regional Workshop Proceedings, 1997).

Besides, DHP-Uganda proposed the need to establish a Rangeland Research Centre and of which the Ministry promised a home for the centre. The Kazo county veterinary officer has moreover been allocated a new motorcycle and this is thought to be part of government support to DHP-Uganda. The research centre and the logistical support will indeed go a long way to enhance sustainability of managing rangeland and water sources.

The National Co-ordinator and the Desk Officer, IGAD is also members of the National Steering Committee for combating desertification which has a similar mission with DHP-Uganda. Other collaboration efforts include other IGAD member states while the district extension co-ordinator, Mbarara district is fully aware of DHP-Uganda activities.

3.3 Fora for Project Staff and Pastoralist Relations

Cultivating good relations between the project staff and pastoralists was taken to be a very essential ingredient for successful implementation of DHP-Uganda. There was need to establish dialogue between project staff and pastoralists in the project sites to create the latter's understanding of the purpose of DHP-Uganda objectives, the role and contribution of the communities in the implementation of its activities. Using consultative meetings as a tool for discussions between the project steering committee, project manager, research assistant and the communities a basic understanding of the issues to be addressed by DHP-Uganda was established among the communities. The consultations basically aimed at sensitising the farmers/pastoralists about the project and its approach. The outcome of this dialogue was pastoralists and other stakeholders in the area being sensitised about the objectives and usefulness of the project. The evidence available at the time of the project evaluation (1997) indicated that almost all the informants knew at least one objective of DHP-Uganda.

Overtime, community participation and mobilisation of actors within the project area gradually gained root. Some dialogue and contact points between pastoralists and practitioners were created through the establishment of pastoral committees in the project area. The pastoral committees were formed in meetings held between the Project Steering committee, the research assistant and the pastoralists at the project sites in Kijuma and Burunga in April 1997. The pastoral committees had some specific roles. These included, supervision of paravets, supervision of project activities in the field, holding regular meetings to discuss the progress of the project, to act as contact points while providing a link between the pastoralists and project management, and identify and recommend areas to be addressed by the project.

3.4 Integration of Gender issues

Women have been found to play a vital role in all aspects of pastoral production including herd management, milk processing, marketing and porterage of feed and water but with little opportunity given to them to participate at a significant level in most pastoral development activities. Neither did they own land which is the capital resource of the area nor cattle with which they spend much of their livelihoods. In general DHP-Uganda underscores the application of its research findings in gender responsive pastoral development and other strategies for the empowerment of women. This was to take the form of women's autonomous and genuine interest group development, self-consciousness and systematic awareness of pastoralist women's experiences. There has been hitherto a mismatch between existing research and development agendas and actual patterns of gendered resource use (DHP Regional Project Document, 1994).

This then became a paramount concern of DHP-Uganda aimed at seeking the integration of gender issues in pastoral development in general and the empowerment of pastoralist women in particular. Such empowerment can only proceed from knowledge about impediments to women's equal opportunity to human development benefits in pastoral economies, a factor that prompted the NSC to design a specific study on gender issues in order to understand the phenomenon further before rigorous action could be taken. Part of DHP-Uganda research effort therefore aims at strengthening women's capacity with a need to address gendered resource use needs especially as related to diverse management needs for water and livestock.

The DHP-Uganda has already initiated the process of integrating gender issues in pastoral development and these issues have clearly been brought to the fore. As a practical measure, there is at least a woman on each of the pastoral committees and women in the project sites have also been encouraged to participate in meetings and seminars. For example a one day workshop held in April 1997 alone registered 24 (35 percent) women out of the 68 participants in Burunga. In Kijuma 5 (21 percent) out of 23 participants were women. While these are modest figures, they have strategic implications on DHP-Uganda planned activities on gender issues. DHP-Uganda emphasises particular interest in the participation of women and youths in all its grassroots activities since they constitute a significant stakeholder group.

3.5 Establishment of Demonstration Plots

The rangelands rehabilitation and maintenance of grazing areas formed part of the long term and short term objectives of DHP-Uganda respectively. One of the planned project activities to address this was the establishment of demonstration plots in the project sites. The plots are intended to contribute to the intensification of drought resistant legumes and browse species for rangeland improvement with ability to provide dry season forage for livestock.

Two demonstration plots were established at two strategic places, namely, Kazo Secondary school and another at the premises of Kazo county veterinary office. A variety of seed species to plant and multiply were supplied to responsive pastoralists by DHP-Uganda for planting. The seeds that were supplied include Sitaro, Desmodium, Centro and Lablab. The County Veterinary doctor is fully involved and is in charge of the re-seeding exercise.

The plots are on trial level but results indicate the legume species mentioned above can grow in the area and can hence be used to improve the nutritional level of the rangeland pastures.

There have been relatively far reaching achievements in a sense that some of the seeds have germinated although others failed due to prolonged drought.

3.6 Animal Disease Control and Treatment

Similar to other public services in the country, veterinary services could not be delivered adequately in the pastoral areas. In 1970s drug shops and veterinary medicine vendors began to appear in increasing numbers and the sale of drugs by unqualified people became widespread. As such cattle owners had to rely either on their traditional methods, or their little knowledge on modern veterinary drug application or on private drug vendors for the treatment of their animals. The result has been irrational use of animal drugs ranging from acaricides to antibiotics and antihelminths. This has been taking place amidst frequent outbreaks of epidemics of CBPP, foot and mouth disease and other diseases such as contagious abortion, trypanosomasis and tick-borne diseases in pastoral areas causing significant losses to individual stock owners.

Such practices and misuse of drugs result in ineffective treatment, drug wastage, drug resistance and possible habituation that can arise when drugs are used to alleviate symptoms for which drugs are not needed. As a result, there is resistance of some diseases to particular drugs like acaricides causing poor animal health.

In line with the Regional DHP objective that required the establishment of locally managed, viable support structures for pastoral development agents/paravets to participate in pastoral development activities including treatment of animal diseases, DHP-Uganda had the desire to work with stock owners as the major stakeholders. There was need to incorporate the existing ethno-veterinary practices into the modern veterinary animal health system. In so doing, DHP-Uganda took a broader view of the informal sector, the pastoral community, the users of veterinary drugs, the formal sector and range management. For example, the poor functioning of the government veterinary services was indeed a major factor for the pastoralists to use their own system of veterinary service delivery. Thus the DHP-Uganda found it necessary to put in place an improved community veterinary system to be managed and sustained by the stockowners.

As part of increasing community participation in DHP-Uganda activities, the paravets were selected by the pastoralists themselves with DHP-Uganda management only providing guidance and the selection criteria. This must be seen as a fundamental issue necessary to ensure acceptability of trained paravets by the local community or ultimate beneficiaries. Twenty paravets were selected from all over the project area using the following selection criteria:

Should have worked in veterinary field or should have some veterinary knowledge;

Should be educated up to secondary school level;

Willingness to go for training and to work under supervision;

Should be vigorous, energetic and youthful;

A full time resident of the project area;

Should own livestock or parents should own livestock;

Should have leadership skills; and

Bear honesty and accountability virtues.

The twenty (20) selected paravets underwent a training course conducted at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University. It lasted for two weeks and was facilitated by lecturers from the faculties of Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and practitioners from MAAIF. The course content was designed based on the information on the common diseases and related constraints prevalent in the project area. It covered elementary signs of disease; restraint methods; viral, bacterial and protozoan diseases; helminthiasis; infertility; types of drugs; minor operations- dehorning, castration, and wound treatment; zoonoses; calf management; selection/breeding; water and rangeland management; book keeping; rural sociology; and leadership skills.

The course was designed in such a way that the theory part was complemented by practical sessions. There was an evaluation at the end of the two weeks aimed at gauging the progress of the course. At the end of the course, the trainees were given certificates of attendance by the Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University.

The trained paravets are potentially very useful to themselves and to the communities they serve in many ways. They are indeed a local human resource, with some technical knowledge and capabilities that cover some gaps that exist in service delivery which government has hitherto failed to adequately provide the pastoral communities. The paravets are community-based human workers that benefit pastoralists given that the professionals to do the work are lacking in the project area. The trained paravets selected by the pastoralists themselves, were given the initial stocks of drugs and veterinary kits. The sales from drugs would help restock the used drugs making the system self-sustaining. The paravets worked under the professional guidance of the county veterinary officer. This was seen as part of the process to withdraw drugs from unprofessional practitioners and pastoralists themselves and entrusting the responsibility of treating cattle strictly to trained veterinary personnel.

At interventionist and provisionist levels, the paravets' functions potentially curtail some of the problems created by the informal sector practices. The pastoralist practices of treating their animals themselves undermined the professional veterinary service. But through paravets, a process of gradual re-professionalisation at grassroots level for sustainable development has been initiated by DHP-Uganda. However, paravets will still require refresher courses to continue improving their skills. It is also reported that a few progressive farmers in the project area have permanently employed three of the trained paravets to manage their farms, an issue that underlines some of the importance of community system of disease control. However, the supply of drugs is still a constraint as the paravets have to travel over 100 kms to Mbarara town to purchase more drugs. DHP-Uganda should consider devising a strategy that will ensure that the animal drug supply is based at the local level as requested by the pastoralists.

3.7 DHP-Uganda Constraints

Despite its registered successes so far and prospects, the project is faced with structural and institutional constraints that would undermine the set objectives. There is considerable distance between the project sites and the coordination office in Kampala. This means there is limited interaction between the management and the people on the ground with a lot of time lost before activities are carried out as decisions made in Kampala definitely take time to reach the people on the ground. And once in the field any foreseen event is referred back to Kampala. Much as the project management would have liked to get in regular contact with the people on the ground in the project, they are constrained by the need to travel a long distance and the cost of these visits.

The limited funding of project activities continued to hamper the operations of research team and possessed a major constraint to project implementation.

The community oriented problems induced high expectations from the project. Pastoralists in the project area tended to expect the project to provide them with physical material benefits more than anything else. They expected that DHP-Uganda intended to rehabilitate all their water sources including constructing new ones, clear the encroaching weeds and shrubs using tractors, construct milk collecting centres and provide free or cheap animal drugs. They also expected loans for income generating activities. Yet all these expectations were beyond the means and goals of DHP-Uganda and put it at risk of undermining its sustained acceptability.

Low education levels especially amongst women is another major constraint. It will continue to be difficult for gender issues to be well addressed. For example, it was difficult to get trainable females as paravets in the area since a big number were illiterate, which partly explains why there was only one female paravet who willingly accepted to be trained as paravet although later on she was not trained.

There is also a problem of a very strong patriarchal culture among the beneficiaries in the project area. This area has a very conservative male dominated society which is not easy to break-through in order to advance the objective of integrating gender issues in pastoral development. Traditionally women do not own cattle and land which are the major capital assets of these areas and the things DHP-Uganda wants to make an impact on. It seems it is likely to be very difficult over a long period of time for men to let women make decisions on property they do not own.

4. THE WAY FORWARD

4.1. General Lessons Learnt

The pastoralists have over a long time developed coping mechanisms to address some of the pressing problems of water management, rangeland weeds, animal disease control and absence of income generating activities especially for women and youth. These coping mechanisms did often create more problems like in cases of fighting the weeds by burning the bushes, the animals would be deprived of pasture and self-treatment of animals would create some disease resistance to drugs. In attempts to solve these problems, the pastoralists' herd was not spared. The reduced animal herd meant a continued reduction in incomes of the pastoralists in general and women in particular since their activities are mostly limited to animal products like milk and semi-processed ghee. The deteriorating socio-economic conditions of the rangelands ultimately led to loss of resilience to natural disasters, famine, poverty, destitution and mass displacement of pastoral communities.

DHP-Uganda which is viewed as a deliberate effort to supplement the efforts of the pastoralists in overcoming their problems, has therefore decided to take on an interventionist approach through action research on rangeland improvement techniques that are economically viable and environmentally sound particularly in the area of water management, bush and disease control on a sustainable basis. The end result will be to design a National Dryland Management programme drawn from research findings of DHP-Uganda to address the dryland animal husbandry crisis in Uganda.

4.2 Action Research and Innovations

The DHP-Uganda will in the next phase⁴ address itself to on-farm pasture improvement trials. On farm trials will be a complementary mode of research to bridge the gap between controlled laboratory work and successful adoption of true improvements in pasture. On farm trials have in-built advantage of community participation and is cost effective in management and reproduction of seeds that have been costly in the last phase. In addition, further research on the adaptability of particular legumes can be easily carried out while assisting farmers to manage and develop desired pastures directly on their farms.

Range deterioration of unpalatable shrubs is a major constraint limiting utilisation of grasslands in the project area. Bush control experimental trials involving fire and grazing will be established on selected farms. The community methods of bush control will be easily assessed and problems of bush control established. The effectiveness of scientifically developed methods of bush control can be reviewed and herd and grassland management developed together with the pastoralists. Both the on- farm pasture and bush control trials will take the form of participatory action research by both the pastoralists and researchers.

4.3 The Role of Gender in Livestock Development

The DHP-Uganda activities in the field will continue to take special consideration of the role of women in pastoral production both as a human resource and as a special group whose skills in herd management, milk processing, marketing, porterage of feed and water is of significant level in most pastoral development activities. The aim of DHP-Uganda will then be to provide support for such groups to improve their skills and diversify their sources of income. Emphasis will be put on re-dressing cultural barriers that hinder women from owning and managing livestock without distorting the society order.

4.4 Livestock Management Skill Development

The development of pastoralists' skills in the management of their livestock is the ultimate goal of DHP-Uganda. This strategy involves the sensitisation of the community on the issues that affect them and training of para-vets selected by and among the pastoralists themselves. The community training will continue to take form of grass-root seminars, group discussions and workshops. In addition to group discussions, consensus panels will be conducted involving different stakeholders in order to give their views on the way forward regarding DHP-Uganda. The para-vets will continue to receive formal training and workshops to review their progress. To enhance capacity building refresher courses for para-vets previously trained will be conducted to ensure internalisation of the skills and improved disease control. With some of the para-vets employed on farms of a few progressive farmers, arrangements should be made to ask these farmers to send them for refresher courses and pay a nominal fee as a contribution to the sustainability of livestock development in the area. The mobilisation of the community in water development and management of its sources using local knowledge and tools will take precedence for the benefit of both human beings and animals. This will be done, bearing in mind, the cost of maintaining big dams and pasture destruction caused by larger herd movement to collective sources of water throughout the year.

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

A good number of project activities have been carried out in the field ranging from seminars, workshops, training of paravets to the establishment of range improvement trials and studies. Needless to say, these activities formed the preparatory/learning phase of the project whose main aim has been to initiate dialogue among stakeholders in rangeland utilisation geared towards improving the livelihood of people in the dry areas of the country. The achievements were immense and included the situational analysis of the project area. The analysis identified the problems and needs of the pastoralists, community mobilisation on the project activities and participation including women in the project programmes, training of para-vets in basic animal disease control and introduction of legumes on some pastoralists' farms.

In conclusion, the first phase of DHP-Uganda could be said to have served as a learning phase for both the researchers and the pastoralists. The researchers came to terms with the problems facing the pastoralists in the dryland areas. But more importantly they discovered the local knowledge of dealing with the deteriorating rangeland that had been developed by the pastoralists themselves overtime. The pastoralists on the other hand acquired basic scientific knowledge and skills to deal with some of the problems of range and herd management.

However, some of the problems of dryland husbandry still persist. These include water sources development and management which the community view as public good to be solely provided and maintained by the Government. Others include pasture weeds whose traditional methods of control like fire has been discouraged and women's role in livestock management which still faces some resistance mainly due to cultural barriers.

The next phase of DHP-Uganda phase therefore, will direct much of its efforts to the persistent problems through action research. For example, the trials are moving away from demonstration plots to on farm trials in order to involve the pastoralists in the planting and management of the new pastures. In addition, there will be continued community mobilisation and skill development to enable the community manage animal disease, range and water in a sustainable manner.

Last but not least, efforts will be directed at the enhancement of women's role in livestock management with a purpose of making them one of the major stakeholders in livestock development and diversifying their sources of income.

REFERENCES

DHP-Uganda. 1996. Final Report on the Baseline Survey in Kazo County, Mbarara District, FAF, Makerere University, Kampala.

DHP-Uganda. 1997. An Evaluation Report of the Dryland Husbandry Project- Uganda.

Government of Uganda. 1998. The Land Bill

Government of Uganda. 1995. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.

Kisamba-Mugerwa. 1991. Rangeland Tenure and Resource Management: An Overview of Pastoralism in Uganda.

MOAAIF. 1992. Report on Uganda National Census of Agriculture and Livestock (1990-1991), Volume II Holding Characteristics, Entebbe.

OSSREA (Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa). 1994. DHP Regional Project Document, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

____________ 1995. DHP-Uganda Project Document, Kampala, Uganda.

* National Co-ordinator of the Dryland Husbandry Project in Uganda and Dean Faculty of Agriculture, Makerere University, Uganda.

** Regional Co-ordinator, Dryland Husbandry Project, OSSREA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.

The Constitution of Uganda (1995) and the Uganda Land Bill, 1998 address to the question of lack of ownership of land by women and its implications to development.

The definition of household in this edition means two or more persons who eat from a common pot or may share resources within a home.

4 ^.Revised DHP-Uganda Proposal for the years 1998-2001 has its long term objective as improving the standard of living of pastoralists by creating an enabling environment in which they and their herds can better survive the deteriorating range conditions.