Herding territories in Northern Cameroon and Western Burkina Faso: spatial arrangements and herd management

Abstract

In Sudano-Sahelian Africa, Fulani pastoralists who settled down massively in less densely populated zones during the 1970s and 1980s have recently increased the mobility of their herds in response to an extension of cropping areas, a shortage of pasture and problems resulting from crop damage by cattle. Today, they annually exploit a set of areas located both near to and far from their dwellings that constitutes their 'herding territory'. This article aims to clarify how Fulani pastoralists conceive, organize and manage their herding territory and to discuss the future of pastoralism within the local and regional legal framework. The study was carried out in northern Cameroon and western Burkina Faso over three years following a participatory research approach. The results show that the herding territory is mainly composed of three sub-elements endowed with different access rights: the 'attachment territory' and 'peripheral territory', with rangelands that are exploited by 'house herds' on a daily basis, and the 'territories distant from the residential area' that serve for transhumance and the relocation of a second group of herds known as the 'bush herd'. These territories and herds are managed by mobilizing local knowledge and juggling a combination of factors, including the availability of plant biomass on different pastoral units, access rights and agreements with local stakeholders regarding resources, the date the rains arrive and the progress of sowing and harvesting in the fields. If pastoral systems are to be maintained in a sustainable manner in this region, any change to existing spatial arrangements must take into account the knowledge, expectations and needs of pastoralists on one hand and the evolving legal and institutional framework in western Africa on the other.

Shift in herders’ territorialities from regional to local scale: the political ecology of pastoral herding in western Burkina Faso

“…At a regional scale, pastoralists have a profound knowledge of the network of pastures and of the route followed by the livestock. At local scale, they draw a fine distinction between hills (ferlo and fukkawo in Fufulde), plains (seeno, gesa, seyno and guyfan) and bottomland (cofol) pastures (Vall and Diallo 2009;Dongmo et al 2012).…”

Mapping of pastoral corridors: practices and politics in eastern Senegal

“…Ellis and Swift 1988;Niamir-Fuller 1999;Scoones 1994) but is also increasingly recognized by national governments in the region (Bonnet and Hérault 2011;Dongmo et al 2012;Touré 2004;Wabnitz 2006). This recognition, in the form of broad statements in support of mobility and the rights of pastoral peoples, has unfortunately not translated into an increase or even the maintenance of livestock mobility (Fernandez-Gimenez and Le Febre 2006;Galvin 2009;Niamir-Fuller 1999).…”

Drivers of forage availability: An integration of remote sensing and traditional ecological knowledge in Karamoja sub-region, Uganda

“…These actions dictated by increased crop cultivation often restrict movement and force livestock herders into more marginal areas (Glover 2005). Generally, a lengthy settlement can trigger shortage of pasture (Dongmo et al 2012). It is however important to note that in Karamoja, a distinction ought to be made between the pastoral mobility and livestock herd mobility.…”

“…Pastoral rules and regulations are designed to allow for conservation, use and sustainability of available resources such as pastures and water sources (Nelson 2012). Therefore, rules and regulations that curtail the normal operations and affect the pastoral calendar may create artificial junctures that constrain forage availability (Dongmo et al 2012;Degteva and Nellemann 2013).…”

“…Pastoralists often move to areas where pasture is available and negotiate for use rights (Temesgen 2010). In the presence of conflicts, pastoralists become ineffective in making such movements as well as building and managing herding territories that have considerable influence in forage availability (Dongmo et al 2012). …”