In the past most development policies were based on equilibrium theories that opposed the communal use of the rangelands and traditional range management practices. All the respondents considered the condition of the rangelands to have declined dramatically over time. Based on the pastoralists' perceptions, the major constraints on livestock production in descending order, were recurrent drought, feed and water scarcity, animal diseases, predators and communal land ownership. The former involves the herding of milking cows, calves and immature animals (2 years) further away from the encampments. With regard to mobility, the livestock herding falls in two categories, namely: home based and satellite herding. The two most important traditional rangeland management strategies adopted by the pastoralists included burning and mobility, but since 1974/75 burning has no longer been practised. Livestock holdings, with the exception of camels, has shown a declining trend over time. The average livestock holding per household was 14 cattle, 10 goats, 6 sheep and 2 camels.
The majority of the pastoralists relied on both livestock and crop farming. The average household size in the study area was 7.23. Data were collected from a total of 20 villages that were identified from 5 peasant associations, namely Did Yabello, Moyatte, Did Harra, Dubuluk and Melbana. This information is considered vital to future pastoral development planning and interventions. A survey was conducted in the Borana pastoral areas of southern Ethiopia to assess current livestock production systems, rangeland management practices and the perceptions of the pastoralists towards rangeland degradation.
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