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Nomads, farmers, and merchants: old strategies in a changing Sudan
... 135) that "livestock liquidation was the principal means by which ... farm households financed their cereal needs following the 1984 drought." Watts (1983) (1981); Campbell (1984); Shepherd (1984); Silberfein (1984); Sen (1981); and Dasgupta (1993). ...
... 135) that "livestock liquidation was the principal means by which ... farm households financed their cereal needs following the 1984 drought." Watts (1983) (1981); Campbell (1984); Shepherd (1984); Silberfein (1984); Sen (1981); and Dasgupta (1993). ...
... Because of lagged demand and supply effects, prices are typically correlated over time (Rosen, Murphy and Scheinkman (1994)). The severe deterioration of the terms of trade between livestock and grain during periods of drought has been documented in a number of African countries (Sen (1981), Shapiro (1979). We discuss these issues further below. ...
Households in the West African semi-arid tropics (WASAT) face substantial risk—an inevitable consequence of engaging in rainfed agriculture in a drought-prone environment. It has long been hypothesized that these households keep livestock as a buffer stock to insulate their consumption from income fluctuations. This paper tests this hypothesis. Results indicate that livestock transactions play less of a consumption smoothing role than often assumed. Livestock sales compensate for at most thirty percent, and probably closer to fifteen percent of income shortfalls due to village-level shocks alone. We discuss possible explanations for these results and suggest directions for future work.
... [73] The modern states tend to make pastoralism more controllable and taxable through these sedentarization projects (Pedersen et al. 2010) [85] , contradicting that conflict is one of property rights (van den et al. 1995) [115] , and the fact that, population movements balance social obligations with vocational or entrepreneurial activities (Rain, 2024) [90] , and also that, livestock movements provide employment for many and improve production and productivity of milk production and herds fertility (Timpong-Jones et al. 2023) [112] . The increasing pressure on pastoral livelihoods, due to persistent encroachment on pastoral space, have changed the livestock husbandry and produced reduction in labor investment of herding and livestock productivity (Turner et al. 2008) [113] , in situations where the majority of farm peasants and pastoralists are unable to make the continuing investments required to halt drought-aggravating processes (Andrew, 1984) [113] , where the Janjaweed attacks in Darfur (Olsson et al. 2013) [79] have made of militia salaries a coping mechanism for survival (Flint, 2009) [49] , where the Arab of Darfur have addressed economic fragility for their rebel (Flint, 2009) [49] . Conflicts related to political factors are common in sub-Saharan Africa (Salome, 2011, Benjaminsen, 2016 [99,20] , where the instability of the Sahel is reflected in the global fragile state index (Preventionweb, 2018) [88] , substantially influenced by colonialism, neocolonialism, the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union (Willemse, 2005) [120] , and opportunistic behavior of rural actors (Benjaminsen et al. 2012) [19] , such as the communal violent conflict between non-state groups organized along a shared communal identity relates to state-based violence (Brosché et al. 2012) [26] , and when armed forces remain the pre-eminent political actor in some countries such as Chad and Mauritania, while sections refuse to accept civilian rule such as in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger (Elischer, S. 2019) [46] . ...
This research explores population origins, acculturalization processes, and conflict in the Sahel by scrutinizing relevant scholarly research in the region. This scrutiny revealed that, the populations of the Sahel are genetically composed of heterogeneous origins of Arabs, Eurasian, Africans, and Berber, and who were subjected to diverse acculturalization processes of Arabicization, Islamisation, diversification, "Berberization", and identity formation, and who are experiencing various forms of conflicts sourced from climatic, political, social, and resource-based factors. The research proposes some regional integration prospects for the Sahel to alleviate the impacts of vast heterogeneity of population origins, diverse acculturalization processes, and severe conflicts.
Discusses the Sahel Population development and conflict problems
Rural households in the semi-arid region of northern Nigeria have to contend with the problems of low rainfall and desertification in their agricultural practices. They have also to contend with the loss (or non-availability) of natural resources, with inadequate capital and
Opening Paragraph
This article has been written as a contribution to the future orientation of a research programme on the agrarian crisis in Africa, which has been set up by the Joint Committee on African Studies (JCAS) of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council. The aim of this article is to provide an agenda for research on the environment and access to resources in Africa and is one of four which both provide a review of some of the most important research issues and suggest ways in which they might be tackled.
Previous research into drought-response tactics has tended to be undertaken after the fact, and hence has been forced to be impressionistic. This study quantifies the importance of farmer drought-response strategies in southcentral Niger based on a survey which began during the drought of 1984. Livestock sales, food aid, temporary migration, remunerative non-agricultural activities, and loans were the principal drought-survival tactics employed
The early attempts to develop the livestock sectors in the Sudan were sectoral in nature. Those attempts were based upon provision
of limited veterinary services and extending and improving upon the supplies of rural water. However, no improvements in the
pasture resources were made, and livestock continued to subsist on natural and unimproved vegetation. The veterinary and water
provision resulted in increase in the livestock, leading to serious degradation in the natural plant cover and soil. On the
other hand, the recent attempts in Gereih AI Sarha and the Muglad region were experimental in nature aiming at collecting
information needed for proper and overall planning of the livestock sector. The strategy adopted was based on a development
approach which included planning for development of man (to settle the nomads), provision of services for man and his livestock,
experimenting on sound management of resources, and development of subsidiary economic activities. At the first look, the
approach adopted seemed sound. However, the programme faced problems and did not yield the desired results neither in Gereih
AI Sarha nor in the 4 Muglad stations.
Two sets of problems have been identified in this paper.
(i)
problems of logistics which included lack of funds, difficulties of recruiting research personnel, and tribal disputes over
the communal ownership of the grazing land. These problems limited any substantial development; and as a result no improvements
on the efficiency of the livestock production were made. Furthermore, overgrazing and deterioration in the plant cover continued.
(ii)
problems related to the approach for settling the nomads. The first problem here was confusing the concept of “pilot experiment”
with “development scheme” where research played no significant role. The second problem was that the experiments showed that
the carrying capacity in the dry lands where irrigation is not possible is very limited while the animal and the human population
are increasing.
It is recognized more and more that it is high time that the livestock sector which was somewhat neglected, in the past, in
comparison to the other sectors, should be developed. The suggested approach for development of the livestock in this paper
is an evolutionary one based on:
(i)
Planning and providing more services for human and livestock, on the hope that the nomads make use of these services and be
attached to the service centres, and gradually the nomads change to transhumance (settlement of the households while animals
move under the care of a few shepherds) instead of nomadism (movement of the whole households and animals). Some of the services
such as the veterinary and provision of water will have direct impact on the livestock in that they will reduce animal mortality
and improve the quality.
(ii)
Establishing and strengthening the existing experimental stations such as those of Gereih Al Sarha and the Muglad, but limiting
the duties of these stations to do research in the fields of proper management of resources, animal diseases and animal science,
water harvesting and range and pasture. Extension work, which is usually neglected in the Sudan, should be strengthened and
be the channel through which research results flow from the research stations to the users.
(iii)
To relieve the dry lands from environmental stress as a result of increase in the number of human population and animals,
out-migration should be encouraged.
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