Although Tanzania relies on pastoralists and agro-pastoralists for most of its meat and milk, recent years have seen pastoralist production systems operating under growing pressure and pastoralist communities becoming increasingly impoverished. A Participatory Poverty Assessment commissioned by Ereto in 2003 identified four key factors that reduce pastoralists’ livelihood opportunities and make them vulnerable to poverty:1. Livestock diseases
2. Drought
3. Fluctuating market prices
4. Unfavourable policies that further marginalise pastoralists by reducing their capacity to cope with stress and increasing their loss of land.This paper is intended to provide pointers that will help address the fourth constraint to pastoralist production noted above.This paper begins with a brief overview of pastoralism in Tanzania, the policy environment in which pastoralist production systems operate, and approaches to improving pastoralist livelihoods. Sections two to six look at pastoralist livelihoods and production in Ngorongoro Conservation Area; provide a thumbnail sketch of the Ereto I project; review the impacts of the project; present the lessons learned from Ereto I and consider how these lessons can be linked to policy dialogue on support for sustainable pastoralist livelihoods. The paper closes with some thoughts on the broader implications of taking this process forward.
