This paper examines household vulnerability to poverty in a traditional pastoralist society inhabiting a peripheral dryland environment. The extent and determinants of vulnerability to poverty among a pastoralist population in southern Ethiopia is examined based on single cross-section consumption data and asset-based approaches. A considerable segment of households that are vulnerable is the nonpoor, which implies that the conventional stance of targeting the currently poor alone is not enough. In aggregate, results for this sampled peripheral population generally indicate trends inconsistent with Ethiopia’s recent macroeconomic developments of remarkable growth performance and falling poverty rates. Overall, the prevailing status and trends signify the need for comprehensive long-term programme design that equally embraces poor and non-poor pastoralists.
