Sustainable Agriculture: Livestock Management Policies for Minimizing the Negative Impacts of Stray Livestock in Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinque

Stray livestock and the associated problems are not new or limited to underdeveloped countries. The approaches developed vary from place to place and from time to time, dependent on the particular circumstances. In 2001, Grenada experienced one of the severest dry seasons. This resulted in an intensification of problems associated with stray animals. In Carriacou, in particular, the economic impact of stray livestock is significant, limiting crop production through high costs of fencing and crop damage, degrading the environment, reducing stock number and stock breeding quality, polluting public places and putting at risks vehicular traffic Current legislation dating back to 1850's has proven to be inadequate as it has not addressed the root causes of stray animals. Some of the causes relate to (i) issues of land tenure including landlessness of livestock farmers and competition between crop and livestock farmers for space (ii) livestock management including overgrazing and overstocking (iii) socio-economic and legal issues including poverty and unemployment. To adequately respond to the negative and costly impact of stray livestock, proposed solutions need to be informed by root causes of the stray livestock problems and should be focused on sustainability. Such solutions would have implications for the Government and Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture needs to review its livestock programs, making them more appropriate to the capacity of the livestock farmer. Public awareness and education on the issues surrounding livestock production and the stray livestock problem, would be critical to a process expected to reduce the number of stray animals and the improvement of livestock production in particular. Some concrete recommendations which are policy and management oriented are offered, some or all of which may be taken up in addressing the stray animals problem.