Traditionally sung by mothers, this song describes the importacne of cattle to a pastoralist community living in a semi-desert area.

Summarizes a baseline study of the traditional livestock production system of central Mali, classifying production systems in the study in the study zone according to the degree of dependence on livestock products for gross revenue or food supply of the household or production unit, and according to types of agriculture associated w. livestock. Describes primary resources available for livestock production; livestock numbers & movement patterns; the agropastoral system; and the pastoral system associated w. rice cultivation in the Niger innundation zone.

Presents a general description of pastoralist milk production from cattle in Africa, analyzing data on milk yield & offtake, lactation and milk composition under pastoralist conditions; briefly examines the use of milk from camels and smallstock by pastoralsits to complement their milk supply from cattle.

Discusses issues related to the collection of data on labour inputs for pastoral production, considering the utility of data on labour as part of pastoral systems research, and research methods for data collection, particularly for multi-visit recall techniques and the time allocation technique.

Lance Robinson, Governance and Resilience Scientist, ILRI, at the side event, “Measuring and Evaluating Resilience in Drylands of East Africa.”; IFPRI 2020 conference on Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security, May 15-17, 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More information at http://www.2020resilience.ifpri.info

Discusses the aim of studies on vegetation & feed resources in pastoral systems, describing the collection & presentation of data in the descriptive phase; identification of constraints in the diagnostic phase; and analysis of the impact of selected variables or technical innovations on the systems' functioning, and the development of adapted technology in the experimental phase.

Background: Human behavioral factors have been found to be central in the transmission of Rift Valley fever.

Consumption of contaminated meat and milk in particular have been identified as one of the key risk factors for

the transmission of Rift Valley fever in humans. In pastoral communities, livestock is the main source of livelihood

from which many benefits such as food as well as economic and cultural services are derived. Zoonotic diseases

therefore have a great impact on pastoral communities livelihoods. However, lay perceptions regarding the

Describes techniques of long-and short-term measurements of changes in vegetation and feed resources in pastoral systems, with particular reference to sampling techniques and costs of the various methods.