Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

France <strong>and</strong> India etc. Approximately 5000 poor families of mountain dwellers
are engaged in the gathering of medicinal plants mainly during spring <strong>and</strong>
summer (Hussain <strong>and</strong> Sher 2001).
The aim of the current paper is to reveal the importance of pastoral products
marketing <strong>and</strong> their contribution to the livelihoods of mountain dwellers.
The main objective is to find out the marketing patterns of pastoral products
<strong>and</strong> corresponding loopholes to recommend the appropriate suggestions for
improvement. In addition the development <strong>and</strong> conservation efforts underway
are also highlighted.
2 Livestock-related pastoral Products <strong>and</strong> their Marketing
2.1 Livestock production <strong>and</strong> marketing
Cattle are mainly raised for milk <strong>and</strong> plough, while goats are bred for sale
<strong>and</strong> meat production. Due to irregular availability of vegetables particularly in
rural areas milk products <strong>and</strong> cooked wild food plants (saag) are the main food
items available for daily homestead consumption. Surplus <strong>and</strong> ailing livestock is
however, sold to the market mainly through the intermediaries. Consumption
of meat <strong>and</strong> butter oil is highly seasonal <strong>and</strong> occasional in nature in the rural
mountain settings of Northern Pakistan.
The livestock marketing system in the mountain region is mostly informal.
The small scale retailers (saudagar) play the main role in the marketing system
in the mountain region. The sheep <strong>and</strong> goat saudagar collect the saleable sheep
<strong>and</strong> goat from different mountain villages <strong>and</strong> shift them to the medium <strong>and</strong>
main livestock market for sale to large scale retailers (baipari), who only work
at medium <strong>and</strong> main livestock markets. The cattle saudagar trades livestock at
local level. Such saudagar exist in almost every village small town with more
than 500 households. Their main role is in the cattle <strong>and</strong> milk goat trade at
village or up to valley level. They also simultaneously provide cattle, buffalo
<strong>and</strong> skins to local town butchers (Rahim <strong>and</strong> Viaro 2002).
2.1.1 Municipal livestock markets
Municipal livestock markets serve as the collection points of saleable sheep
<strong>and</strong> goat <strong>and</strong> supply points of cattle <strong>and</strong> buffaloes (Figure 2). The sheep <strong>and</strong>
goat are supplied to the urban markets in the plains down the country, while
the cattle <strong>and</strong> buffaloes are brought from livestock markets of the plain areas
down the country for supply to the mountain towns markets for slaughter.
For example in Gilgit, Chilas, Skardu, Gakuch <strong>and</strong> Chitral towns estimated
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> > > 4. Niche Production as an Additional Asset for <strong>Pastoralism</strong> <strong>and</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong> <strong>Management</strong>