Manoeuvring through difficult terrain: How local traders link pastoralists to markets

- Activities and relations of different local traders define a finely branched supply network.
- Limited 'shelf-life' of sheep and goats create urgency for quick sale at the terminal market.
- Lack of coordination in the supply chain exposes local traders and pastoralists to precarity.

Trade in livestock is the major source of income for pastoralists, traders, brokers, transporters and other actors in pastoral meat supply chains. Projects to 'link pastoralists to markets' in rural northern Kenya, place an emphasis on pastoral producers without adequate understanding of other inter-related actors whose activities and relations make up the connection to primary, secondary, regional and terminal markets. In this article, sheep and goat supply chains originating in Marsabit South are analyzed as a human activity system composed of the actions of supply chain actors and shaped by the relations between them. The geographically confined areas from which local markets receive the supply of sheep and goats are conceptualized as a “producer catchment area” depicted as finely branched tributaries through which livestock are moved towards terminal markets. A stakeholder analysis resulted in the identification of six categories of local traders who connect with other actors in both local and long distance supply chains to sustain the movement of sheep and goats to markets. The categories of traders are distinguished by different demands in travel, labour, working capital, risk exposures, and relations with other actors. In order to deal with variable and uncertain supply, local traders harness their social relations with other actors in the supply chain. However, local traders are at the highest risk for loss due to fluctuations in demand at the terminal market, as they depend on market information through brokers and lack relations to clients at the terminal market. This research demonstrates how systematic analysis of activities performed by actors, the interconnected activities linking them, and their relationships can offer insight for improved supply chain coordination.