0 Enclosures – a productive, carbon sequestering and sustainable alternative to pastoralism?

Drylands cover around 40% of the world and host around 1/3 of its population. In SSA 40% of the land is mainly for livestock (pastoral and agro-pastoral) and around 265 million farmers/livestock keepers depend on livestock as their primary source of income. In SSA growing consumption (due to population growth and changes in consumption patterns) is anticipated to be 30% for meat and 14% for milk between 1999 and 2030.

Population increase and other development in these areas lead to increased pressure on land, often with overgrazing as a consequence. One response to that is a gradual shift from traditional pastoralism systems to more intensive agro-pastoral systems where livestock production is still dominating and grazing systems managed but also with introduction of crop agriculture in high potential drylands. Enclosed and open grazing rangelands are often central in such development. Read more in a poster Tripple L Initiative presented recently in World Congress on Agroforestry in Delhi here.