Causes and Consequences of Poverty

Understanding Poverty in Livestock-Related Livelihoods

http://www.smallstock.info/issues/poverty.htm

Poverty is diverse and comes in many forms.

However, there are many common factors, and
these mostly tend to be related to limited access to
to land, assets, and services. In general the poor
have:

No voice in policies or in the delivery of

livestock services

Limited access to education, resulting in

reduced literacy rates

Limited access to health services

Limited access to land and water, or

insecure rights of access to these resources

Poor access to credit facilities, extension

services and agricultural services

Limited or difficult access to markets

and Low household incomes, related to

generally high levels of unemployment or
under-employment.

Root Causes of Poverty

The Poverty Cycle
Poverty Reduction
The Role of Smallstock in
Development and Poverty
Reduction
References and Further Reading

Root Causes of Poverty

There are many different underlying causes of poverty amongst livestock-related households. These vary accord
to local conditions and production systems. Livelihoods are deteriorating in many production systems as a
consequence of declining or degraded land or water resources. This is often due to shrinking farm sizes,
deforestation and erosion, declining soil fertility and, in heavily populated areas, the degradation of water and la

As populations grow, many livestock-based systems are coming under pressure. For example, the global study
World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030 (FAO 2002) estimates that, in the next 30 years, developing countries w
need an additional 120 million hectares of land for crop production. The scramble for arable land in the East
African highlands is leaving millions of households with too little land to survive, and sedentary farmers on arab
land are rapidly marginalizing pastoral populations throughout Africa and Central Asia. Millions of poor livestoc
keepers are being left landless in South Asia because of the increasing privatization of common lands. Natural
resource conservation programmes have displaced additional communities, or reduced their access to resources.
However, without the protection offered by conservation programmes, some of these resources may well disapp
altogether.

While the globalization and liberalization of markets has tended to promote overall growth (when viewed at glo
or regional scales) the related changes can have negative impacts on the poor if they are not accompanied by
adequate safeguards. Smallholders and other producers in developing countries face serious constraints in gainin
access to world markets as long as developed countries subsidize their own livestock products (e.g. agricultural
subsidies in the EU and USA). Current policies, accompanied import regimes that are favourable to large-scale
industrial production systems, are also biased towards large units and as a result poor livestock keepers who rely
small-scale production units are unable to access these markets.

Beneath these apparent root causes often lies the more deeply rooted political and organizational marginalization
the groups and individuals that are suffering from poverty.

The Poverty Cycle

The poverty cycle is an attempt to describe the condition of poverty and illustrate the various linkages. The pove
cycle is a problem that affects many people in society. It is a continuous cycle in which the poor do not improve
their condition and status. The problem is not new, but has perhaps been in existence for many centuries. Althou
the process is now understood, many of the causes identified, and solutions proposed, the these cycles continue.

The diagram illustrates some of the complex relationships between causes, the condition or "state" of poverty, an
some of the requirements and opportunities necessary to enable the poor to escape poverty. Fundamental causes
situated within a disabling environment that tends to surround poor livestock keepers.

Positive interventions need to target

specific causes of poverty, i.e. the
pressures that maintain the state of
poverty.
Resources available to poor livestock
keepers may be inadequate for sustainable
livestock production. As long as needs are
unfulfilled and capabilities and resources
are not enhanced, the poor will remain
caught up within the cycle of poverty.
Improved livestock services, and most
importantly the delivery of these services,
can supply some of these needs, can
enhance or facilitate access to the
required resources, and as a result
strengthen the capabilities of the poor.
The provision and dissemination of
information is an important component
of the necessary livestock services.
At the same time, more general household
needs must also be secured. This means
that, for poor livestock keepers to emerge
from the poverty cycle and realize the
benefits of livestock production, attention
must not only be paid to better livestock
services, but also to better services that
satisfy the broad spectrum of household
needs, including:

Good health

Housing

Food security

Education, and

Political stability

In many cases there is a strong

relationship between livestock ownership
and food security

Poverty Reduction
UNDP (1997) identified three main ways in which
poverty may be reduced:

By increasing food consumption or reducing

expenditure on food through increased production
of staple foods

By stimulating demand for the labour or services

of the poor through growth in the economy

By promoting sustainable improvements to the

livelihoods of the poor

In an analysis of the role of livestock in poverty-focused

development Livestock In Development (1999) conclude
that a livelihoods-based approach is likely to have the
greatest impact on rural poverty. Many of the poor rear
livestock of one type or another. Many of them face a
range of constraints, and if these can be resolved, the
contributions that livestock make to their livelihoods will
increase. These authors suggested that livestock
development targeted towards supporting the livelihoods
of the poor offers significant potential as a tool for
reducing rural poverty.

The Poor Without Livestock

Livestock are perceived by small-holder farmers as making a contribution to an improved quality of life. Some o
the poorest members of many rural communities are those without any livestock, or with very few livestock. For
instance, a study in Tanzania (R7050) found that illegal hunting of wildlife in the Serengeti National Park was
closely linked to income related poverty in adjacent communities. Wildlife were primarily hunted for economic
reasons to generate cash through the sale of dried meat rather than in response to a direct need for meat.

Livestock owning households were less likely to be involved in illegal hunting, and those with more than a few
livestock (about 5) were very unlikely to hunt.

Other studies have also shown a strong relationship between perceptions of poverty and the ownership of livesto
Loss of livestock, for example as a result of disease or stock theft, is quoted as a contributory factor to poverty.
Similarly, livestock may be sold to cover medical and funeral expenses (for example see in Mango et al.). Studie
refer, in particular, to the importance of losses of livestock in explaining a household's decline into poverty (see
Barrett et al., and in Kristjanson et al.).

Two otherwise identical neighbours may have radically different experiences as one starts off with sufficient lan
livestock and human capital to generate regular surpluses, save and invest, while the other lacks the minimum
initial stocks necessary to accumulate wealth over time, or as one falls ill, loses livestock to disease or theft, or
suffers some other shock that their otherwise-identical neighbour avoids.

The challenge is to develop novel mechanisms to provide smallholders with livestock, especially those smallhol
that either have very few livestock, or do not have any livestock, and to develop support mechanisms that enable
smallholders to overcome problems that result in loss of livestock.

References and Further Reading

Barrett, C.B., Marenya, P.P., McPeak, J., Minten, B., Murithi, F., Oluoch-Kosura, W., Place, F.,
Randrianarisoa, J.C., Rasambainarivo, J. and Wangila, J. ( 2004). Welfare Dynamics in Rural
Kenya and Madagascar. SAGA Working Paper. September 2004. Cornell and Clark Atlanta
Universities.
Dolberg, F. and Petersen, P.H. (1999). Poultry as a Tool in Poverty Eradication and Promotion of
Gender Equality. Proceedings of a Workshop, March 22-26, 1999 Tune Landboskole, Denmark,
Organized by Danish Agricultural and Rural Development Advisers Forum.
FAO (2002). World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030. An FAO Perspective.
FAO (2002). Improved Animal Health for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Livelihoods, FAO
Animal Production and Health paper, 153
Holmann, F., Rivas, L., Urbina, N., Rivera, B., Giraldo, L.A., Guzman, S., Martinez, M., Medina,
A. and Ramirez, G. (2005). The role of livestock in poverty alleviation: An analysis of Colombia.
Livestock Research for Rural Development. Vol. 17 (1).
Heffernan, C., Misturelli, F., Nielsen, L. and Pilling, D. (2003). The Livestock and Poverty
Assessment Methodology: A toolkit for practitioners. The Livestock Development Group, School
of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK.

IFAD (2001). Assets and the Rural Poor. Chapter 3 in: Rural Poverty Report 2001 - The
Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty. International Fund for Agricultural Development.
IFAD (2004). Livestock Services and the Poor. International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Kristjanson, P., A. Krishna, Radeny, M. and Nindo, W. (2004). Pathways Out of Poverty in
Western Kenya and the Role of Livestock, Working paper for the FAO/Pro-Poor Livestock Policy
Initiative.
Livestock In Development (1999). Livestock In Poverty-Focused Development. Crewkerne:
Livestock In Development.
Mango, N., Cheng'ole, J., Kariuki, G. and Ongadi, W. (2004). Social Aspects of Dynamic Poverty
Traps: Cases from Vihiga, Baringo and Marsabit Districts, Kenya. BASIS CRSP research report.
UNDP (1997). Human Development Report 1997.

Upton, M. (2004). The Role of Livestock in Economic Development and Poverty Reduction. Food
and Agriculture Organization: Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative. PPLPI Working Paper No. 10.

copyright 2006, NR International

managers of the Livestock Production Programme
(LPP)
funded by DFID