Continuity and Change in Pastoral Livelihoods of Senegalese Fulani

Abstract

Based on fieldwork in northern Senegal, this paper shows how some pastoralists in Ferlo have managed to use market opportunities as a means to maintain their ''pastoral way of life'' Increased market involvement has enlarged the field of opportunities for pastoral activities as well as the vulnerability of these activities. This has given rise to a dialectic process of diversification and specialization. The paper is concerned with the portfolio of livelihood activities pastoralists use in order to respond to adverse socio-economic and environmental conditions. Depending on the possibilities and values of a household, a certain combination of activities is chosen and this may change from one year to another. Hence, the activities are used in a dynamic way within households. On the basis of pastoral livelihood activities, four ideal types of pastoral livelihood strategies can be constructed: ''agro-pastoralism,'' ''Tabaski pastoralism,'' ''commercial pastoralism,'' and ''non-herding pastoralism.'' These four types illustrate how pastoralists re-invent their livelihoods in order to continue a pastoral way of life.

Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin

“…Through endogenous innovations (donkey carts, inner tubes), they met the feed and water needs of their animals, while travelling very long distances (Santoir, 1994;Juul, 1996;2005a;2005b;Adriansen and Nielsen, 2002;Adriansen, 2006). Emigration enabled Fulani of the lower Senegal valley to cope with the effects of successive droughts and to improve their livelihoods.…”

“…The economies of risk-prone areas are perceived as highly innovative in terms of exploiting natural resources and livelihood opportunities (Mortimore, 2003: 62). Thus, the successful introduction of inner tubes and donkey carts was celebrated in papers and books by many authors (Santoir, 1994;Juul, 1996;2005a;2005b;Adriansen and Nielsen, 2002;Adriansen, 2006). In a context where high mobility is required to save the stock, these innovations of Fulani pastoralists in the Ferlo of Senegal have been instrumental in maintaining the produce from the herds and their reproduction.…”

“…This is the case of the Senegalese Ferlo herders who have positioned themselves in an important segment of the market: supplying highly demanded rams for the celebration of the biggest Islamic festival of id-alAdha 9 (Adriansen, 2006). Other pastoralists involved in pastoral intensification also provide special care for dairy and breeding cows, and fatten beef cattle to fit into various segments of the local market (Blench, 1994;Amanor, 1995: 380ff.…”

“…Some specialize in the production of specific livestock species to take hold of a given market segment (cf. Adriansen, 2006). Others are even willing to defy the shame or what Boutrais (1994b: 175) calls the "pastoral ideology", and reshape their cultural practices and attitudes (Hodgson, 2011: 208) to engage in other forms of activities and jobs formerly very despised within pastoralist communities.…”

The local impacts of climate change in the Ferlo, Western Sahel

“…Feed resources strongly decline during the dry season, and many of the pastoralists migrate southwards to the more humid Sudan zone, where fallow lands and crop residues provide food for the animals and where more perennial water resources are available (Sutter 1987;Breman and de Ridder 1991;Adriansen and Nielsen 2002). However, since the early 1990s, there has been an expansion of agricultural activities in the Sudan zone, which increasingly limits the possibility for pastoralists to migrate south in the dry season (Guerin et al 1993;Adriansen 2006).…”