ABSTRACT
The distribution of wealth in the form of cattle is not the same thing as the distribution of income. There are several traditional ways in which income of the wealthy livestock owners may be redistributed. This may happen through paid employment of poorer farmers, through extended family ties, or through the ma./isa system. 38 On the other hand, there are circumstances which have an adverse effect on the distribution of cattle ownership. It is believed that the years of drought tend to intensify the maldistribution of cattle ownership as the biggest losses occur in the East where smaller herds prevail. Apart from drought, overstocking is also a problem. The combined effect of these two factors, after each successive drought, produces ever greater fluctuations in the size of the cattle population and a further polarization in the distribution of cattle ownership. 39
The problem is magnified by the fact that under the present system of borehole utilization owners of the larger cattle herds are able to acquire effective rights to use land which becomes inaccessible to the smaller cattle owners.
