Leaving out the livestock?

In a busy suburb of Kampala, just down from a thriving market, three cows stand on top of a rubbish heap that is spilling into the street. The cows browse amongst the waste. Similar scenes can be seen in Nairobi, a city struggling with slums knee-deep in rubbish. The cattle roam freely along with pigs, goats, sheep and chickens to scavenge whatever they can find and, at the end of the day, they make their way home. These animals may not always be well tended, but for the poor they are a necessary part of urban life.

Refuse-ing to take notice

Peri-urban and urban livestock keeping is an essential livelihood activity for many, particularly vulnerable groups such as female-headed households, widows or the elderly, but it is not one that is recognised by city planners. Too often, livestock keepers are actually harassed or ignored by city officials. And yet, a recent study* of five cities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania has revealed that with increasing demand for land in cities for housing, urban livestock keeping appears to be favoured over crop production as it requires less or no land and provides better returns. However, despite the environmental and public health concerns related to the problems of livestock waste, water availability and zoonoses that urgently need to be addressed, most city planners continue to disregard the existence of these livestock and the relevance of this livelihood activity to the urban poor.

The exact number of livestock kept in peri-urban/urban areas is unknown, but numbers are high and the waste they produce is generated in substantial quantities. But do urban populations make the most of this waste or is the problem literally heaping up? The study commissioned by the DFID Livestock Production Programme found waste management to be a major problem, and disposal of waste fairly arbitrary. Inevitably, waste mismanagement also means a problem of disease and living in such close proximity to animals always brings a risk of zoonoses, such as bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis and cysticercosis (see Focus On Zoonoses). With a lack of education and limited access to information, symptoms of many zoonotic diseases continue to be confused with malaria and often remain undiagnosed and untreated.

Water availability is yet another critical issue facing urban authorities. Cities often struggle to provide sufficient water to the people and this is without taking into account increasing number of livestock. In many slum areas municipal water has to be bought, so livestock only have access to other water sources, which are usually contaminated. The Nairobi Dam, for instance, is heavily polluted. Community competition over water is common and frequently leads to conflict.

No news is bad news

As development initiatives have tended to focus on improved production in rural areas to supply expanding urban populations, information on peri-urban and urban livestock production has remained quite limited. However, the case studies from Dar-Es-Salaam, Kampala, Nairobi, Kisumu and Addis Ababa have revealed that livestock products produced in peri-urban and urban areas are an important source of food for people living in the vicinity, and that markets should be further developed. But quality control for products is often difficult to achieve, delivery of livestock services (particularly extension advice and disease control measures), is often non-existent and, where inputs are available, costs tend to be high. Poor livestock keepers rarely vaccinate their animals, particularly smaller species, and for larger livestock feed quality and availability can be major constraints. For roaming animals, foraging at waste dumps is common, resulting in low production and high mortality from the consumption of physical and chemical waste products such as plastic bags and pesticides.

The study has also revealed that urban livestock keepers are often marginalized from accessing knowledge and improved technologies. Very few poor livestock keepers belong to networks or organizations, and training, where it is available, tends to focus on dairy production or commercial poultry production and not on subsistence farming. Moreover, policy makers have yet to identify potential methods and mechanisms for enhancing livelihood security. Indeed, many current regulations are obsolete, often dating back to colonial times. Livestock keepers in Dar-es-Salaam, for instance, are limited to keeping only four cows. In Nairobi, five ministries appear to be partly responsible for urban livestock production; hence a general lack in policy coherence and co-ordination. Even where legal frameworks exist, the poor remain unaware of the regulations and are rarely consulted in the modification or formulation of new policies.

From intolerance to inclusion

As cities continue to expand, so the number of poor involved in livestock activities will continue to increase, and clearly the negative impacts and resulting public costs will affect more than just the poor. Yet despite the obstacles to peri-urban and urban livestock keeping, there are significant benefits that other vulnerable groups not yet involved in this activity could gain from livestock production. This vital sector can no longer be ignored, or remain illegal, and policy-makers will have to become more responsive to the needs and interests of the urban and peri-urban poor.

*"Peri-urban and urban livestock keeping in East Africa - A coping strategy for the poor?" was funded by the DFID Livestock Production Programme.