where livestock outnumbers people #southsudan

Twenty-year-old Wani Lo Keji stares at the sky as his herd of cattle drink water from the eastern bank of the Nile River, just opposite South Sudan's capital, Juba.

"We bring our animals here everyday because the seasonal river near our village has dried. There were many herders fighting for water there," he tells IPS.

Lo Keji's problem is nothing out of the ordinary in a country where livestock outnumber the population. South Sudan has an estimated 11.7 million cattle, 12.4 million goats and 12.1 million sheep in a country of around 13 million people, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Animal Resources, Fisheries.

While South Sudan's livestock population is estimated to have an asset value of 2.2 billion dollars - the highest per capita holding in Africa - Isaac Woja, a natural resources management consultant, tells IPS that these livestock are not being managed sustainably and are causing both water scarcity and environmental degradation.

"Cattle in South Sudan are a curse. It is not a resource that benefits the people because they are not rearing cattle for economic benefits or for food security benefits. They are rearing it for prestige.

"They just want to have many cattle so that they are respected in their communities on account for having the largest number of livestock in their area. That's why in the dry season you find scarcity of water and pasture," Woja adds.

In South Sudan, cattle are revered and there are communities where pastoralists won't even contemplate slaughtering one of their cows for meat. So the country imports cattle, mainly from neighbouring Uganda, which is then slaughtered for meat.

According to the African Development Bank, 80 percent of the people here live in rural areas and rely on agriculture, forestry and fisheries for their livelihoods.

In many South Sudanese communities cows are mostly used to pay a bride wealth or dowry and as compensation in cases of murder or adultery.

"Cattle herders are proud of the quantity rather than the quality of the cattle they keep. This is leading to overgrazing on the land," Justine Miteng of the Dutch development agency, SNV, tells IPS.