Despite aggressive marginalization, Somali Region is the wealthiest in rural Ethiopia

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Better Marginalised than Incorporated? Pastoralist Livelihoods in Somali Region, Ethiopia [December 2010]
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/ejdr.2010.29
Somali Region is located at the intersection of Ethiopia and 'Greater Somalia' (Somalia, Somaliland, Puntland, northeast Kenya, Djibouti) in the Horn of Africa, but in many senses it is peripheral to both. The contrasts between Somali Region, also known as 'Region 5' or 'the Ogaden', and the 'big 4' regions of Amhara, Oromiya, Southern Nations and Tigray could not be more pronounced. Most habesha (as Ethiopian Somalis call them) live in sedentary nuclear households in the central and northern highlands, where they pursue smallholder agriculture for a living (though some are pastoralists or agro-pastoralists) and practice either Christianity (63 per cent) or Islam (28 per cent). Most Ethiopian Somalis live in highly mobile clan groups in the arid and semi-arid southeastern lowlands, where they pursue livestock- and trade-based livelihoods, and an estimated 98 per cent practice Islam. As Hagmann and Khalif (2006, p. 25) note, these diametrically opposed social identities have had profound political consequences - until the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power in 1991 and introduced its policy of 'ethnic federalism', the construction of a coherent 'Ethiopian Somali' identity was inconceivable.

The statistical indicators of Somali marginalisation within Ethiopia are unambiguous. Somali Region has the lowest all-weather road density, and the lowest school enrolment ratio, of all Ethiopia's 11 regions. Immunisation coverage and life expectancy are all lower in the lowland regions, whereas infant, child and maternal mortality rates are all higher than in highland regions. Literacy levels in Somali Region are approximately half the national average of 40 per cent, and are considerably lower for Somali women than men. All this is in a context in which Ethiopia as a country falls in the lowest decile in the world in terms of most indicators of economic and social development.

Nonetheless, basic information on public services and statistics on many well-being indicators in Somali Region is almost impossible to obtain. When Lautze et al (2003, p. 72) refers to the 'historical exclusion of Afar and Somali from surveillance systems', this observation does not apply only to the past; this marginalisation from monitoring and information systems persists. In 2006, the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency produced an 'Atlas of the Ethiopian Rural Economy'. Several maps illustrating demographic, economic and infrastructure information in this authoritative atlas display the legend 'No data' alongside Somali Region - these include access to safe drinking water, marital status of household heads and even educational facilities. Several years into the twenty-first century, Somali Region remains, in many senses, uncharted territory.

Thus far, this is a familiar narrative of a remote semi-arid borderland: geographically, culturally and politically marginalised, neglected by a central state more preoccupied with shoring up its power base at the centre than with investing fiscal and political capital in a peripheral region. As Hagmann and Khalif (2006, p. 25) observe, 'From a historic perspective, the Ogaden is one of Ethiopia's frontiers where state penetration has always been much weaker than in the central highlands'. In similarly marginalised regions in other countries, local inhabitants are poorer than the average citizen. Even within Ethiopia, other marginalised groups or regions (such as Afar) display higher than average poverty headcounts. But, in this respect at least, Somali Region is different.

Somalis are politically marginalised within Ethiopia, livelihoods in Somali Region are extremely vulnerable - there have been three drought-triggered emergencies since 2000 - government spending in the region is low and basic social indicators are appalling. Yet data from nationally representative household income and consumption surveys reveal that Somali Region is the wealthiest (or least poor) among all of Ethiopia's rural regions, with the lowest poverty incidence and the highest consumption levels. In 1999/2000, Somali Region recorded a headcount poverty rate of only 38 per cent, less than the national rate of 44 per cent and considerably lower than the 61 per cent recorded in Tigray, the poorest region. In 1995/1996, Somali Region was the only rural region where average calorie intake exceeded the international norm for food security of 2100 kilocalories per person per day.

This paradox needs to be explained. In Somali Region, political and economic marginalisation do not go hand in hand. The region lacks basic government services, so Ethiopian Somalis are under-educated and acutely vulnerable to health risks. Economic linkages between Somali Region and highland Ethiopia, including with the capital city of Addis Ababa, are extremely weak. But Somalis do have livestock and access to lucrative markets abroad. Economically, Somali Region is more closely integrated into the economies of Somalia and the Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia, which is the main market for Somali exports of live animals and livestock products. This is a lucrative but risky trade. Within Somali Region, livestock trading was the second most profitable livelihood activity of over 60 recorded in our household survey, generating only slightly less income than salaried employment. Livestock traders earned four times as much income as food crop farmers. By livelihood category, pastoralists in Somali Region have significantly higher average incomes and better indicators of well-being (for example, dietary diversity) than agro-pastoralists and farmers.

With income from sales of livestock, livestock products and trade, many Ethiopian Somalis are relatively wealthy. On the other hand, lacking education they are unable to diversify away from dependence on livestock, which leaves them acutely vulnerable to livestock-related livelihood shocks: animal diseases; drought; livestock raids and conflict over access to water and grazing; or disrupted access to markets. All these shocks have struck livestock owners in Somali Region in recent years, exposing them to the 'boom and bust' cycles of accumulation, collapse and rebuilding of herds and flocks that characterise pastoralist economies. Apart from traditional community coping mechanisms, which provide limited protection mainly for members of wealthier clans, Somalis are effectively uninsured against these shocks: veterinary services are almost non-existent and there are few government safety net programmes in Ethiopia's pastoralist regions.

Although some households continue to manage the 'boom and bust' cycles relatively well, others are facing a steady erosion of their asset base over time, and are sliding into chronic poverty. Still others have suffered a rapid and irreversible destocking of their livestock herds during recent shocks, leading to their destitution (where community coping mechanisms were inadequate to protect them) and dropping out of the pastoralist economy altogether. Most of these former pastoralists now survive in camps for internally displaced persons or in informal settlements around the edge of towns, eking out a precarious living by engaging in petty income-generating activities like collecting firewood or water. This trend is not unique to Ethiopia, but has been observed throughout pastoral areas of East Africa, where per capita livestock holdings have declined steadily since the 1980s.
Mashallah.
 
Great news for that region despite the marginalization. This is what @DR OSMAN was talking about with regards to who earns most income farmer vs nomad vs fisherman. This is why Puntland needs to focus on sustainable draught resistant pastoralism, water management, roads, investments in coastal communities. then health and education. Due to our low population and abundant resources, we will be better off than most communities in the horn I believe.
 
Great news for that region despite the marginalization. This is what @DR OSMAN was talking about with regards to who earns most income farmer vs nomad vs fisherman. This is why Puntland needs to focus on sustainable draught resistant pastoralism, water management, roads, investments in coastal communities. then health and education. Due to our low population and abundant resources, we will be better off than most communities in the horn I believe.
Yes, you're absolutely right and I think we're getting there. drought is not that big of an issue in Puntland like it used to be.
 

Crow

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Great news for that region despite the marginalization. This is what @DR OSMAN was talking about with regards to who earns most income farmer vs nomad vs fisherman. This is why Puntland needs to focus on sustainable draught resistant pastoralism, water management, roads, investments in coastal communities. then health and education. Due to our low population and abundant resources, we will be better off than most communities in the horn I believe.
Yes, it seems that pastoralism is actually the way to go. It's common for people to put it down in favour of farming but you can't argue with these results. We need to work on mitigating the effects of drought to change the boom/bust cycle into boom/boom.
 
Yes, you're absolutely right and I think we're getting there. drought is not that big of an issue in Puntland like it used to be.

cattle ranges like this would work for Jubaland especially Gedo but in Puntland where water is scarce, we can replace with camels. Meat consumption is only going to grow but we need to diversify our customers so we don't have to deal only with middle east. we need geeljire culture to become like cowboy culture. small industries are also required in the cities to get the most out of the animals and that will require cheap electricity which we don't have now. Maybe we get it from the Ethiopian dam but we have the windiest and sunniest areas in the whole of Africa so that is a better longterm option.
 
Yes, it seems that pastoralism is actually the way to go. It's common for people to put it down in favour of farming but you can't argue with these results. We need to work on mitigating the effects of drought to change the boom/bust cycle into boom/boom.
Jubaland is lucky because they have the fishing farming and livestock.:whoo:
 
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