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Research, Policy and Practice

Table 3 Historical data on Soqotra's pastoral herds

From: Pastoralism in Soqotra: external entanglements and communal mutations

Census dates

Animals

Notes and sources

Goats

Sheep

Cattle

Camels

Donkeys

1966

19,000

26,000

1,800

350

500

It may have been the first, albeit informal, census, which was carried out by the British colonial officer Brown ([1966]), who candidly confessed that `field counts are at best only better than guess work'.

Mid-1980s

71,000

17,500

1,900

500

NA

Cited in (Commission of the European Communities EU [2000b]) Sectoral Report: Agriculture and Livestock (pp. 2–5) without identifying source.

Mid-1990s

90,000

60,000

12,000

5,000

2,000

These figures are supposed to be from the 1994 agricultural census by the government of Yemen. Given to the author by a staff from Soqotra's branch of the Ministry of Agriculture.

2000

29,300

7,300

2,500

400

NA

Conducted by the European Union Agriculture & Livestock team in 2000 as part of the preparation of the Soqotra Archipelago Master Plan. It took place soon after a major drought, which killed an estimated 60% of the livestock.