The desert areas of the country had remained backward in many respects due to difficult physiography varying agro-climatic conditions and distinct socio cultural features. Since the people living in these areas were facing hardships owing to geo-climatic conditions, the desert development programme was introduced as a centrally sponsored scheme in 1977-78.

This article looks at the changes which are taking place in the Syrian semi-nomadic bedouin flocks' feeding and migration patterns, and the historical reasons for these changes. Most of the discussion will focus on three steppe-based villages in northern Syria, where the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) undertook a three-year survey between 1978 and 1981, and where a follow-up study was done this year.

Recent arguments have stated that the new livestock development policy will carry a high social cost, that the reality of range degradation in Botswana has been ignored, and that there is no basis for assuming that de-stocking would decrease the productivity of rangeland.

A useful debate is developing over carrying capacity and the degradation of communal rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa. With a few lonely exceptions, scientists and policy-makers have in the past claimed that degradation is universal and livestock productivity lowered because of overstocking on communal range. This position has been mainly dogmatic. More recent research has not supported dogmatists; hence the debate, which impinges on livestock development policy in Botswana.A new livestock development policy is being promoted by the Government of Botswana (Ministry of Agriculture 1991).

The aim of the workshop is to collect information on traditional African processing technologies with emphasis on cassava as a livestock feed, to review the marketing and economics of cassava by-products, to recommend strategies for future research and development on the processing and utilization of cassava as a livestock feed, and to disseminate up-to-date information on cassava.

The main aim of the symposium is to develop a comprehensive overview of what is already known about dairy marketing systems and policies in sub-Saharan Africa and to identify key research problems so as to facilitate a coordinated research effort among interested parties.

This report presents some of the highlights of ILCA's research and training and information programme. The highlight described for the Cattle Milk and Meat Thrust focuses on helping national agricultural research systems (NARS) make better use of their livestock production data. The highlights of both the Small Ruminant Meat and Milk Thrust and the Animal Traction Thrust center on crop-livestock integration, integrating forage legumes into the farming systems of the Sahel and the subhumid zone of West Africa. The traction thrust focuses on ILCA's work in the Ethiopian highlands.

This report presents some of the highlights of ILCA's research and training and information programme. The highlight described for the Cattle Milk and Meat Thrust focuses on helping national agricultural research systems (NARS) make better use of their livestock production data. The highlights of both the Small Ruminant Meat and Milk Thrust and the Animal Traction Thrust center on crop-livestock integration, integrating forage legumes into the farming systems of the Sahel and the subhumid zone of West Africa. The traction thrust focuses on ILCA's work in the Ethiopian highlands.