Drought: the major factor threatening Borana pastoralists

Drought: the major factor threatening Borana pastoralists

By Merga Yonas

For Sura Arero, 98, a long-living pastoralist in the Dubuluqi village of the Dire district of the Borana Zone, relying on livestock, as his ancestors did decades and centuries ago, is now getting uncertain from day to day due to severe drought.

The ever-changing global warming became a major factor for swiftly changing the area from semi-arid to completely arid, with the double implication of  hardly accessing grazing land and water.

For the past four or five years, the concern of grazing land and access to water has become an acute pain for the cattle herders, not only in Borana Zone of the Oromia region but in the Afar and Somali regions as well.

In late 2011, the greatest drought of the period decimated over 250,000 cattle in the Borana zone, though no exact figures were disclosed for the areas of Afar and Somali.
Sura, who was a victim of this drought, said that he sold out 135 cows of his own and dug a water-well to give water for the cattle in the area in order to cope with the drought. This water-well, which is about 10 meters deep, requires 10 to 15 people to create a chain and fetch the water to the surface, where cattle can drink. This being in the summer, however, in winter, as the level of the water becomes even lower and lower, the number of people needed for the chain reaches 20 to 25 people.

Two times a week or in the worst case in a couple of weeks’ time the cattle move to this place as the potential of the water could diminish if they used it more than the stated period, Borbor Bule Dire, another elder of the area told The Reporter. On a daily basis, 500 to 600 cows can drink from the well. “Later, as the situation worsens, we are forced to move within Borana with our cattle,” Borbor added.

Elders in the area said that they use traditional practices to predict the drought cycles based on the calendar in the Gada system. Traditional practices were used to predict the likelihood and the severity of droughts, allowing the Boran to plan ahead. Likewise, in the traditional way, the search for ground water in the arid lowlands of Borana is done by gada elders. Usually, the water is under Odaa (sycamore) trees, Borbor said.

Like Sura and Borbor, there are others who worry about the acute lack of water and grazing land as it is threatening their lives and that of their families’ alike. During 2011, due to the drought, many pastoralists in the area were forced to sell their cattle, where some changed it to cash and others into drought persisting cattle like camel and goat. As there is no optional mechanism in place to cope with future droughts to rescue their cows, the Borana pastoralists prefer to change them for cash or other cattle as stated above.

Galgalo Dida, 40, a pastoralist of the Dubuluqi village, told The Reporter that he had lost 10 cows due to the last drought. Of his 600 cows and 40 camels, he took 152 cows and 15 camels to the market, selling each at the price of 5000 birr and 15,000 birr respectively. Galgalo, who built houses in Dubuluqi, Yabelo, Borbasi and Dilo had planned to move his family to the town in order to run a business rather than rely on cattle for the future. As fear of future drought looms ahead, Galagalo told The Reporter that he has decided to sell even more of his cattle.

Sharing the issues, Abera Ayele, mayor of the Yabelo, a town located 577km to the south of Addis Ababa said as the water and grazing land problems have been caused by  natural disasters what the pastoralists could do is change their livestock into cash or drought-resisting persisting cattle. However, to mitigate the drought, the government of the region is helping them with digging water-wells and providing them with market access as well, Abera told The Reporter.

As the traditional way of searching for water to quench thirst-stricken livestock could not guarantee the future, the pastoralists have been raising the concern of water issues on what the government Ethiopia could do. During the field trip made to the Dubulqi village, part-takers hardly mention water-well projects undertaken by government, except the one made by Sura Arero. Some observers say the least the government could have done is provide them with a pulley to avoid the chain of people drawing the water.
According to a study undertaken by CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), although new coping strategies may enable the Borana to better adapt to new or more severe climate-related events, stress and hardship for Borana pastoralists are likely to continue, or even increase, as climate scientists project increasingly frequent and severe drought events in the Borana region of southern Ethiopia.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, attending the 14th Pastoralist Day, celebrated on January 24 in the Yabello town, asserted that the issue of water shortage for the cattle and pastoralists are a major concern of the Ethiopian government. Allocating over a two million birr budget, his administration has plans for this year to work on water issues and other infrastructures as well.

During a discussion held between the PM and representatives of pastoralists from Borana (Oromia,) Mieso (Somalia), South Omo (SNNP) and Afar, shortage of water was the issue raised by all of them and debated, besides having access to markets, education, health and border conflict. On the raised concerns, Hailemariam responded that the government is in the process of working it out in a time of two and half years.

According to a study undertaken by Care International in Ethiopia-Borana Field Offices in 2009, despite the huge socio-economic importance of livestock, the Borana livestock sector suffers from a number of constraints, which include a high prevalence of diseases and inadequate health care facilities, feed shortage, overstocking and rangeland degradation. It was suggested by the study that the combined effect of this constraint and other complex man-made problems and natural disasters limited the livestock production and productivity of Borana pastoralists.

Though the portfolios of livestock herding are various from pastoralist to pastoralist, in Borana, cattle herders are the dominant ones. The Ethiopian pastoralist groups managed some 40 percent of the national cattle herd, one quarter of the sheep, three quarters of the goats and nearly all the camels. In line with this, the Borana area covered 26 percent of the livestock population of the country and plays a more crucial role in the development of the national economy.

In Ethiopia, pastoralist areas cover sixty percent of the total landmass, accounting far more than 10 million people in seven regional states. The pastoralist areas are divided into around 42 and 122 political administrative zones and districts respectively. Currently, the pastoral areas are to be considered as potential areas, which contribute to the earnings of the national economy. The majority of these areas are engaged in extensive livestock herding, which forms the backbone of the national economy.

Source: The Reporter

Keeping pastoralist children in school

Thousands of children in the pastoral regions of Ethiopia are dropping out of school despite government and donor efforts to bring schools closer to them.

Recurrent natural disasters such as drought and flooding, as well as inter-ethnic clashes, are major factors in school dropouts.

In February, at least 17,000 primary school children in Ethiopia were reported to have dropped out since the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, mainly due to drought-related migration.

In the northeastern Afar Region, some 15 schools have closed down due to a lack of water during the current dry season, affecting some 1,899 children, 29 percent of whom are girls, according to a March 11 update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Ongoing conflict between the Oromo and Somali communities is also affecting education. “In conflict-affected areas of Oromia Regional State’s East Hararghe zone, some 10,600 children (40 percent girls) from 35 primary schools in Kumbi, Gursum, Meyumuluke and Chenasken [districts have remained] without schooling for over three months,” the update said.

In the southeastern Somali Region, seasonal flooding, ethnic conflict between residents in border areas, and even internal conflicts within the Somali ethnic group often adversely affect schooling, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
In 2012, for example, a flood emergency in the region severely affected schools in several districts. “During the flooding emergency that occurred in June 2012, around 3,196 girls dropped out of school. Most of the schools located in the seven woredas were flooded, with eventual destruction of all educational materials and school infrastructure,” UNICEF said.

During the emergency, UNICEF supported the creation of temporary learning spaces for the affected children.
Children in pastoral regions often seasonally migrate with their families due to adverse weather or insecurity.

The Ethiopian government, through its Alternative Basic Education Center (ABEC) program, has been taking schools closer to such children.

“It is to include the under-developed pastoralist regions that we needed to devise an inclusive and comprehensive strategy specifically for the areas. The regions and way of life there needed a different approach. We had to take the schools to the children, not the other way around,” Mohammed Abubeker, head of the special support and inclusive education department at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education, said.

“And now, after years of efforts, we have in the regions… formal and non-formal schools. A student would find at least one informal school in every kebele [an administrative unit under the district].”

The ABEC program has helped at least a quarter of a million rural Ethiopians living beyond the reach of the formal education system to access basic schooling, according to a statement by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
But the alternative education ends at the fourth grade, and in some areas, children must walk two hours to the formal school to continue learning, notes USAID. “Not surprisingly, some still drop out, mainly for poverty-related reasons, including the families’ need for their children’s labor or their inability to pay for room and board near the schools.”

Pastoralists’ seasonal migration also means that, “learning spaces are closed, which results in [the] closure of more Alternative Basic Education Centers,” UNICEF notes.

‘Migrating’ education

In response to the pastoralists’ movements, education officials are seeking ways to ensure learning continues.

“In the pastoralist regions, people there often move either by choice or [are] forced due to conflicts or drought,” Mohammed of the education ministry said. “In such situations, we use mobile schools, which are really doing well. The teachers and education materials are made to move with the pastoralist[s], so the kids will continue to learn.”
“Also, we have recently started networking the schools so when kids leave one area, we alert schools in the areas they [are migrating to] so that they can take them in,” he added.
Jointly with the UN World Food Program (WFP), the education ministry is also running a school feeding system program that is helping to attract pupils to schools.
UNICEF is also trucking water to drought-affected areas. “If kebeles are benefiting from water trucking, schools will not be closed since the communities are getting water,” UNICEF notes.

Despite the challenges, some success has been seen in educating children in pastoral regions, Mohammed said, adding that the Afar and Somali regions had gross enrollment rates of 75 and 83 percent, respectively.

“We have been doing well…but there are still many problems we need to solve. Our wish is that not a single child drops out permanently. Unfortunately, we are not there yet.”