Classification and characterisation of livestock production systems in northern Tanzania

Livestock keepers in sub-Saharan Africa face a growing range of pressures, including climate change, land loss, restrictive policies, and population increase. Widespread adaptation in response to such pressures can lead to the emergence of new, non-traditional typologies of livestock production. We sought to characterise livestock production systems in northern Tanzania, a region undergoing rapid social, economic, and environmental change. Questionnaire and spatial data were collected from 404 livestock-keeping households in 21 villages in Arusha and Manyara Regions in 2016. Multiple factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to classify households into production systems based on household-level characteristics. Indicators of vulnerability, including household-level reports of hunger, illness, livestock loss, land loss and crop losses were compared between production systems. Three distinct clusters emerged through this process. The ethnic, environmental and livestock management characteristics of households in each cluster broadly mapped onto traditional definitions of ‘pastoral’ ‘agro-pastoral’ and ‘smallholder’ livestock production in the region, suggesting that this quantitative classification system is complementary to more qualitative classification methods. Our findings also suggest that traditional systems of livestock production continue to persist in northern Tanzania. Nonetheless, we found indicators of substantial change within livestock production systems, most notably the adoption of crop agriculture in the majority of pastoral households. Smallholder households were less likely than either pastoral or agro-pastoral households to report hunger, illness, and livestock, land or crop losses. Livelihoods that rely solely on livestock are relatively rare in northern Tanzania, which represents an important shift in production in the region, particularly among pastoralists. Policy initiatives to improve household and community well-being should recognise the continuing distinctiveness of traditional livestock production systems in the region.