Cross-border livestock trade in dryland eastern Africa significantly contributes to enhancing food security and generating wealth. It supports the livelihoods of a wide range of actors including pastoralists, livestock traders and processors. The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), with financial and technical support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), organised a workshop to identify key spatial characteristics of the livestock trading routes and marketing practices and to bring the different stakeholders (including local authorities) around the same table, share information, discuss challenges and envisage mutually beneficial solutions.
The participatory mapping activity took place in Amudat in August 2016 and focused on the Achorichori Micro-catchment in Karamoja. The area falls within the belt of livestock migratory movement, farmlands, cross-border livestock trade, grazing lands and waterpoints. The mapped area covers about 546 sq. km.
The mapping exercise helped identify and locate wet- and dry-season grazing areas, farmland, forests and patches of pasture. Point items include schools, functional and non-functional boreholes, heath facilities, marketplaces, maize mills, police posts, churches, shrines and gardens. Community representatives located on the 3D map all features they consider as important to their livelihoods. Their feedback about the mapping process is captured in the 15-minute film “Life on the move – Pastoral life and livestock cross-border trade in Northern Uganda through the lens of participatory mapping” available in both English and French.
Posted on 10 January 2017 in Pastoralism & Marketing, Pastoralism & Services, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition