The Systemwide Livestock Programme (SLP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) works to alleviate poverty, protect natural resources and achieve food security in developing countries. The SLP has completed two transregional projects designed to identify the common factors that drive crop-livestock intensification and determine access to markets for smallholders. Working across three continents, the first project looked at farming systems operating at different levels of intensity.

A classification of the major ruminant livestock production systems in West Africa is proposed. The proposed typology has two major classes of systems-sole livestock and crop-livestock. The sole livestock class has two systems (rangeland-based and landless) and the crop-livestock class has three sub-classes (annual crop-livestock, tree-crop-livestock and irrigated/flooded cropland-livestock). Within the 3 crop-livestock subclasses 13 systems defined by the dominant crops are identified.

East African pastoral adaptation and vulnerability to climate variability and climate change is assessed, using data from decision making processes and ecological data of the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area as an example. The paper uses integrated modeling, linking PHEWS, a household model, to SAVANNA, an ecosystem model to look at the effects of drought and a series of wet years on the well-being of Maasai pastoralists. Model results suggest that the ecosystem is quite resilient and suggests that the Maasai of the NCA are not very vulnerable to climate variability.

The Ethiopian Boran cattle evolved from the Borana pastoralists’ successful breeding strategiesunder the harsh conditions of arid rangelands. At present two types of this breed are known toexist in the Borana rangelands: the Qorti, or the typical Boran, and the Ayuna, its local variantwith smaller body weight and lesser demands on pasture. This paper illustrates the impact ofexternal interference on the maintenance of the Boran cattle breed in its original habitat.

Animal genetic resource (AnGR) diversity contributes in many ways to human survival and well-being.

However, 32% of livestock breeds are threatened. Such an irreversible loss of genetic diversity reduces

opportunities to improve food security, reduce poverty and shift towards sustainable agricultural

practices.

The large number of AnGR at risk in developing countries, together with the limited financial resources

available for conservation, means that economic analysis can play an important role in ensuring an