MILKING DRYLANDS Gender networks, pastoral markets and food security in stateless Somalia Michele Nori Michele Nori – Milking Drylands Thesis committee Thesis supervisor Prof. Dr.Ir. J.D. van der Ploeg Professor of Transition Processes in Europe Wageningen University Thesis co‐supervisor Dr. P.G.M. Hebinck Associate Professor, Rural Development Sociology Group Wageningen University Other members Prof. J.J. Swift University of Sussex, UK Prof. Dr. M.A.M. Salih Leiden University Prof. P.D. Little Emory University, USA Prof. Dr.Ir. J.W.M. van Dijk Wageningen University This research was conducted under the auspices of the CERES Graduate School of Social Sciences 2 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands MILKING DRYLANDS Gender networks, pastoral markets and food security in stateless Somalia Michele Nori Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof.dr. M.J. Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Doctorate Board to be defended in public on Friday, 12 February 2010 at 4 p.m. in the Aula 3 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands Michele Nori Milking Drylands: Gender networks, pastoral markets and food security in stateless Somalia 230 pages. Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2009) With references, with summary in English ISBN: 978‐90‐8585‐546‐0 4 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands A Ilaria e Miran, Nient’altro che la verità. Pictures in the text: Michele Nori Drawings: Meg Jordan and Alessandra Sensi 5 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands Table of Contents Deleted: Page Break SUMMARY 15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 16 FOREWORD 19 Chapter 1 ‐ RANGELANDS AT STAKE 25 Mobile Livelihoods 25 False Assumptions, Wrong Advice 31 The Missing Balance 34 At terms with trade 38 The costs of transacting 40 Institutions at work 43 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 46 Setting the target 47 Challenges to fieldwork in Somalia 47 Investigating pastoral communities 47 Research in today’s Somalia 48 Adapting the agenda 50 Fields of dust 50 Shelves and desks 53 Chapter 2 ‐ PUNTLAND, SOMALIA 55 Seasonal Livelihoods 55 Coping with Threats 59 Pastoral commoditization 65 Chapter 3 ‐ GOVERNING THE SOMALI RANGES 67 THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The Clan 68 Diya paying group 72 The Xeer: A SET OF PRINCIPLES 73 Resource Management 75 Compensation 76 Decision Making 78 Gender Dimensions 79 Minority Groups 81 Social Support 83 RULES WITHOUT RULERS 84 Chapter 4 – A GLOBAL EXPOSURE 87 PRECOLONIAL ECONOMY 88 Caravan Trading 88 COLONIAL PENETRATION 90 The Thorny Horn 93 INDEPENDENT SOMALIA ? 95 One, Two, Many Somalias 99 Failed State Or Revived Society? 101 FEDERAL PASTORALISTS 105 6 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands Chapter 5 ‐ BOOM AND BANS: THE LIVESTOCK ECONOMY 107 THE SOMALI ECOSYSTEM 108 Rural – Urban Networks 110 THE CORRIDORS 112 Physical security 114 Financial arrangements 116 Infrastructure and facilities 117 BEYOND THE CONFLICT 119 Women at markets 119 A Tale of Two Towns 120 TIES AND ROPES 124 Chapter 6 ‐ ALONG THE MILKY WAY 127 HERD MANAGEMENT 129 Herd movements 132 Herding Households 134 Herd Structure 138 Herd off take 143 Milk production 144 Milk utilisation 147 MILK MARKETING 152 Female Networks 153 Milk Transactions 155 Seasonality 164 Information system 169 Credit systems 170 Two stories 174 Men Systems 176 ASSESSING PASTORAL MARKETS 179 Chapter 7 – MILK AND MONEY 183 Camel as an asset 183 Milk as a Use Value 185 Milk as an Exchange Value 186 Gender and Clan 188 Chapter 8 ‐ MILKING DRYLANDS CONCLUSIONS 195 THE MYTHS OF DEVELOPMENT 195 PUNTLAND LIVELIHOODS 196 CAMEL MILK MARKETING 197 a) What does Camel Milk Marketing represent within the local setting? 198 b) What conditions have triggered Camel Milk Marketing evolution? 198 c) What are the mechanisms governing Camel Milk Marketing? 199 IMPLICATIONS 201 1) Social embeddedness 201 2) Actorsʹ capability 202 3) The multi‐facetedness of sustainability 202 The way forward 204 7 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 8 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands 10 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands List of Acronyms and Abbreviations CMM Camel Milk Marketing EC European Commission ESR Ethiopian Somali Region FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FCM Fresh Camel Milk FEWS NET Famine Early Warning Systems Network FSAU Food Security Assessment Unit, Somalia GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit HDI Human Development Index HH households IDP Internally Displaced Person IFAD UN International Fund for Agriculture Development IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute IIED International Institute for Environment and Development ILC International Land Coalition ILRI International Livestock Research Institute IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature JNA Joint Needs Assessment LPP League of Pastoral People MDGs Millennium Development Goals MIS Marketing Information System MLFR Ministry of Livestock and Forest Resources NGO Non‐Governmental Organization NIE Neo Institutional Economics OCHA UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ODI Overseas Development Institute OIE Office International des Epizooties, currently World Organisation for Animal Health PCI Pastoralists Communication Initiative PDRC Puntand Development Research Centre PMC Primary Milk Collectors 11 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands PR Property Rights PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal RRA Rapid Rural Appraisal RVF Rift Valley Fever SCF Save the Children, UK agency SMC Secondary Milk Collectors SoSh Somali Shillings SR Small Ruminants TLU Tropical Livestock Unit ToT Terms of Trade UNCTAD UN Conference of Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Program UNEP United Nations Environmental Program UNICEF UN Children’s Fund UNIFEM UN Development Fund for Women VSF Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, CH agency WFP World Food Program WISP World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism WSP War‐Thorn Society Project 12 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands List of Somali Word Explanations Aqaal Mobile housing Berkaad Cemented underground water reservoirs collecting water from rains of from trucks Cayd Household in need Daayn The credit system Day Fresh milk Degaan territorial unit under the control of one group Deyr The short rainy season, approximately from September/October through November. Dilaal Local market brokers who assist buyers and sellers over price negotiation. Diya Blood payment Dukaa Shop, kiosk Fonio Radio call system Galaan Milk unit equivalents to 0.75 liters Gehar Boys scouting for new pastures Gu The long rainy season, approximately between April and June Haj al Khedir Most important muslim festivity, when pilgrims convey to the Mecca Haruub Traditional container for milk collection Hawala System to wire money Hoorweyn Satellite herd Kaame Camp Karuur Deeply sour milk Jebleeh Middlemen mobilising producers, collecting and concentrating animals Jilaal The long dry season approximately from January to March/April Midgaan Occupational casta group Mowsin The period from before Ramadan to the end of the Haj al Khedir Nugul Household‐related herd Qat Widely used local stimulant/narcotic (Cathula Edulis) whose leaves are chewed Ramadan Fasting month for the Muslims Reer People belonging to a same unit Sawaaqi Drovers for market animals Shiir council of groups representatives Suuk Market Suusaac Slightly sour milk Tumaal Occupational casta group Xagaa The short dry season, approximately from July through August/September Xeer Customary rule Yarad Dowry Yibir Occupational casta group 13 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands 14 Michele Nori – Milking Drylands SUMMARY The Somali economy historically hinges around mobile livestock rearing. Pastoral resource management at local level has become increasingly intertwined within regional and international market systems. Such patterns have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades; the collapse of the central state, with the fall of Siad Barreʹs regime, has reflected and induced major societal reshaping. The clan‐based structure of the Somali society has regained its prominence, leading to violent conflict in some areas and innovative patterns of governance in others. Population movements and economic dynamics emanating from these conditions have further contributed to the remoulding of access to, and utilisation of, resources amongst Somali pastoralists. Milk is important in Somali culture. Most milk is from dromedary camels, of which Somalia has more than 6 million, which is almost half the world’s total. They are raised almost exclusively for their milk, the local staple food. The role of camel milk as an income generator in NE Somalia is quite recent as the sale of camel milk was considered a taboo until recently – as it still is in other parts of the Horn of Africa. Previous reported experiences of its commercialization in Somalia relate to the late 1980s, when camel milk marketing networks were established in southern Somalia to serve demand from the capital city, Mogadishu. As a result of the civil strife that has remoulded the Somali socio‐ economic fabric, camel milk has increasingly become a marketable commodity in other parts of the Somali ecosystem and its trade has developed accordingly. By investigating the nature and the dynamics of camel milk production and commercialisation this research explores the ways such recent changes have impacted on society as well as on local livelihoods in a specific portion of Somalia, the north‐eastern territories of Puntland ‐ where commercialisation of camel milk is increasingly a key dimension of the strategy