Pastoral livestock husbandry and rural livelihoods in the forest-steppe of east Kazakhstan

Journal of Arid Environments

Volume 133, 1 October 2016, Pages 102-111

Hauck, M.^a , 

Artykbaeva, G.T.^b, 

Zozulya, T.N.^b, 

Dulamsuren, C.^c

 

^a  Functional Ecology of Plants, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
^b  Sociology and Political Sciences, Pavlodar State University named after S. Toraigyrov, Lomova Street 64, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan
^c  Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg August University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, Göttingen, Germany 

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Abstract

The socio-economics and organization of pastoral livestock keeping in the forest-steppe region of East Kazakhstan is analyzed based on interviews with 50 rural households in the Saur Mountains and 65 households in the Kazakh Altai. Though almost all families keep livestock, its economic significance is more important in terms of household consumption than with respect to the sale of livestock or livestock products on the market. Livestock husbandry is usually combined with small-scale arable farming and both branches of agriculture are mostly run in addition to other sources of income, since salaries in rural East Kazakhstan are low (60% of national average) and many people have no regular jobs. Agricultural products are only sold on local markets with limited success, as almost all villagers produce their own agricultural products. Prospects for rural development are limited, because of limited space for pasture and arable land in the mountainous study regions, and thus the village population is aging. Only a few families (mostly those with larger herds) practice transhumance to bring their livestock to mountain pastures during the summer. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Author keywords

Central Asia; Crop farming; Pastoralism; Subsistence agriculture; Transhumance

ISSN: 01401963 CODEN: JAENDSource Type: Journal Original language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2016.05.009Document Type: Article

Publisher: Academic Press

Funding Details

Sponsor: Volkswagen Foundation

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  Hauck, M.; Functional Ecology of Plants, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany; email:markus.hauck@uni-oldenburg.de
© Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.