Drynet commissioned this discussion paper, prepared and researched by SOS Sahel International UK, to clarify the problem and identify the key issues and options for pastoralists and governments.
To some, Africa’s drylands represent the last agricultural frontier where abundant land and labour provide the conditions for a new green revolution, based on the intensification of arable and livestock production. This view is held by a growing number of investors and governments for whom Jatropha represents the answer to the biofuels/food security crisis: a multiple purpose crop able to promote food and energy security, rural development and agricultural exports, based on the use of unproductive arid wastelands.
It is clear that the demand for biofuels and dryland feedstocks such as Jatropha may offer opportunities for pastoralists. Biofuel production could provide pastoralists with new income generating opportunities and new, productive seasonal employment. Yet there are major uncertainties regarding this hypothetical development path. The major question is whether there are indeed vast unproductive wastelands, unused by people or their livestock, and what impact converting these lands to biofuel production would have on livestock keepers and their livelihoods.
So far there has been little research on the potential threat to pastoralism. But such research is essential if informed discussion and advocacy are to take place. This discussion paper explores what the current international bioenergy trade boom could mean for pastoralists and arid rangelands. It explores likely development scenarios emerging from the present interest in crops like Jatropha curcas. Are there vast wastelands devoid of sustained economic use waiting to be exploited? Are these regions the answer to the current global food and energy crisis? Does dryland Africa represent the “green OPEC”? This discussion paper begins by exploring why so much emphasis is being placed on so-called wastelands, and inedible dryland feedstocks such as Jatropha curcas. It then seeks to demonstrate the true value and diversity of resource use in such areas. The paper shows how extensive, mobile resource use by pastoralists is difficult to map on the ground and how flexible systems of land tenure leave the resources of such people vulnerable to appropriation. The real threats this development approach presents to pastoral livelihood systems are then exposed before some potential opportunities are evaluated. Finally, a series of research imperatives are listed which are in need of urgent clarity before policy makers and pastoralists can make informed choices about bioenergy production in the pastoral drylands.

By: D. J. McGahey (SOS Sahel International UK)

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