Global changes, livestock and vulnerability: the social construction of markets as an adaptive strategy

The Geographical Journal, 2014, doi: 10.1111/geoj.12115:

This paper addresses the question of how livestock producers and traders have transformed their producing and marketing strategies in response to climate variability and land access constraints and it explains how the social construction of markets can be used as an adaptive strategy for reducing peoples vulnerability. In this regard the study highlights the importance of considering the social construction of livestock market systems and marketing behaviours as adaptive strategies of livestock producers to multiple changes.

The study proposes a conceptual framework for markets, vulnerability and adaptation and considers that adaptive strategies include the social construction of markets through which market access is based on social networks and follows the norms and rules embedded in the complexity of these networks. This proactive strategy of stakeholders, through a socially constructed market access, allows traders to harness opportunities and livestock producers to adapt to climatic and land access constraints. The framework will be applied in the case study in the region of Niono and Ségou in the Niger Inner delta in Mali. Results of the study are that livestock producers and traders have changed their livestock-raising and marketing strategies in response to the challenges faced by livestock producers and the emerging market opportunities.

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