Money to burn? Comparing the costs and benefits of drought responses in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia

For many years the deliberate removal of livestock from pastoralist areas of Africa during drought has been suggested as an appropriate drought response (e.g. Toulmin, 1995). Drought-related purchase of livestock and distribution of dried meat was used in pastoral areas of Mali in the 1980s (Oxby, 1989) and more recently, destocking was used in northern Kenya (Aklilu and Wekesa, 2002). Destocking and other types of livestock-related drought assistance fit well with the concept of saving lives and livelihoods. When viewed from a livelihoods perspective, destocking is a way to exchange some animals for cash, thereby giving pastoralists the cash they need to buy food, maintain a core herd and access the services they want (rather than the services aid agencies provide). This herd maintenance might involve purchase of fodder or veterinary care, thereby supporting local markets and service providers. Over time, two specific types of destocking have been recognized (LEGS, 2009). “Commercial destocking” refers to the purchase of animals by traders, and assumes that animals are still in a reasonable condition for sale and transport at relatively early stages of a drought. In contrast, “slaughter destocking” occurs later in drought, when animals are no longer in reasonable condition and therefore, not purchased by traders. As such animals are still fit for human consumption, slaughter destocking leads to the distribution of fresh or dried meat to selected households, and sale of hides and skins. Both approaches to destocking lead to cash transfers to pastoralist households during drought.

The emergence of yet another humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa in 2011 has led to a new round of reviews and evaluations of drought response programs. Within these programs, livelihoods support to pastoralist communities is now common, but accounts for only a small proportion of overall expenditure relative to food aid. For example, in Ethiopia in the drought in 2011 total aid including food aid was valued at US$800 million, while livelihood support totaled US$17.8 million (Anon, 2012) or 2.2 per cent. In addition, the distinction between food aid and livelihoods inputs is not always clear because food aid can be used by pastoralist households directly or indirectly to support livelihoods (Bush, 1995). In southern Ethiopia for example, some households reported using food aid as a supplementary feed for livestock during drought (Abebe et al., 2008).

In terms of livelihoods-based post drought recovery, the theory of drought cycle management indicates approaches such as restocking should only be needed if earlier livelihoods inputs were not implemented or where unsuccessful, as these earlier responses often aim to protect core livestock assets. Similarly, restocking can follow food aid provision as a stand-alone response that does not explicitly aim to protect assets. Various evaluations and studies on restocking in pastoralist areas are available, and provide lessons on issues such as the type and number of animals needed per household, and the extent to which restocked households reduce their reliance on food aid over time (Lotira, 2004; Wekesa, 2005). A longstanding issue with restocking is the relatively high aid cost per household, which relates to both the cost of the initial transfer of livestock and the cost of additional support such as food aid and other inputs until a viable, productive herd develops (LEGS, 2009).

Although the theory and practice of both food aid and livelihoods-based programming are now well known, relatively limited information is available on the relative costs and benefits of these two broad approaches. This paper provides a cost comparison of the different approaches by drawing on the impact assessment of the commercial destocking program in southern Ethiopia (Abebe et al., 2008) and using additional expenditure figures from the implementing agency, Save the Children US (SCUS). The destocking costs are compared to the cost of local and imported food aid, also by SCUS, followed by restocking of pastoralist households. Restocking costs plus additional food aid costs during herd growth were estimated from an evaluation of a restocking project in Ethiopia by Save the Children UK (Wekesa, 2005).