Such is the vagary of rainfall throughout Africa's rangelands that almost all pastoral communities face cycles of good and hardship years. During good years herders increase and diversify their herds, whilst consecutive hardship years or `pastoral drought,' human and livestock disease, or livestock theft may result in large livestock losses and the consequent temporary collapse of household food production.

The paper is divided into four chapters. The frist chapter is the introduction. Chapter two discusses the conceptualisation of the farming system with reference to the livestock component and reviews some alternative typologies that have been employed or proposed. A typological framework that is consistent with ILCA's objectives is then outlined. Chapter 3 develops a regionalisation of the semi arid zones of sub-Saharan Africa in four orders of increasing scale. The first order sub-division is between "West and North" and "East and South" geographical regions.

Outlines the types of reforms introduced in animal health services over the past decade, summarises past experiences, provides a preliminary assessment of their impact, and indicates what lessons need to be taken into account in future policy adjustments and project investments. The discussion concentrates on World Bank- supported accessibility of the data to the authors.

This study is part of a larger study on dairy marketing in Ethiopia, and concentrates on the producers'end of the marketing chain. Specifically, the markets of first sale used by dairy producers were identified and the marketing patterns of three categories of dairy producers (intra-urban, peri-urban and peasant) were investigated. The study was carried out on a sample of 173 dairy producers between February and July 1986, using structured questionnaires.

Presents ILCA's achievements in 1990 in a popular, easily read style. The Cattle Milk and Meat Thrust highlight focusses on peri-urban dairying, and particularly the work of collaborative programme with KARI. The highlights of the Small Ruminant Meat and Milk Thrust are linked by their focus on interactions between animals and other components of the agricultural system. The Animal Traction Thrust highlights focus on two themes central to the Thrust's work: feeding and alternative sources of draft power.

The first chapter gives a brief description of a pastoral production system, as envisaged by the study team and outlines the multi-disciplinary approach of the study, its sampling design and the data collected. Chapters 2 & 3 describe Kenya's biophysical and socio-economic environments, within which the Maasai livestock production system operates. The biophysical environment of the study site is described in detail in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 describes the social organization of the Maasai and how it affects their use of livestock and grazing resources.

Assesses the effect (balance or imbalance) of the present relationships between the natural resource base and human activities; examines the role of some potentially destabilising forces, i.e, international markets, government programmes and socio-economic stratification; and reviews government's role in terms of its contributions to prudent natural resource management and options for the promotion of sustainable rural development.

La presente Ley introduce el marco normativo que rige las acciones tendientes a la conservación del suelo agrícola, es decir al mantenimiento y mejoramiento de su capacidad productiva.