Abstract
A significant change in the geography of livestock raising over the past 30 years is the southerly movement of FulBe herds into the humid Sudanian and Guinean savannas of West Africa. The literature suggests that the severe droughts of the early 1970s and mid-1980s were the driving force behind this southern expansion of mobile livestock raising. The conventional view is that drought forced herders to seek greener pastures to the south, an area that zebu cattle have previously avoided because of the presence of tsetse flies, the vector of animal sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). This “sudden push” hypothesis places Sahelian herds in savanna pastures in a matter of a 1–3 years. This stimulus-response model runs counter to our observations and understanding of the social and ecological processes influencing FulBe herd movements. We challenge the “sudden shift” thesis at the regional scale by arguing that the southerly expansion of FulBe herds has proceeded according to a more complex temporal frame that includes generational, biological, and social historical timeframes and periodicities. We distinguish between short-term shifts (“test movements”) and more permanent shifts (“migration movements”). These mobility patterns are linked to contingent factors such as cattle diseases, drought, and political instability, as well as to more structural and adaptive features such as the establishment of social networks, herding contracts, and cattle cross-breeding. Shifts in livestock ownership and the social differentiation among herders are important variables for understanding changes in herd movements. We conclude that the permanent shift of herds to the humid savannas of West Africa has been preceded by a series of social and agroecological adjustments that operate on decadal and generational time scales.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
These changes may explain in part the observation that emigration rates of pastoralists were significantly higher during 1984–1985 drought than the 1972–1973 drought (Frelastre, 1986).
Animal census data in Nigeria also find an increased year-round presence of cattle in the Guinean zone following a period of 10–30 years of reports of seasonal grazing from the north (Bourn and Wint, 1994, pp. 12–13).
The FulBe were wary at first of the government’s intentions. But the provision of free vaccinations (against peri-pneumonia, trypanosomiasis, charbon pasteurellose and brucellose), the construction of dipping tanks and small dams, and the employment of some FulBe extension agents convinced them that SODEPRA’s interventions served at least some of their interests.
It was common knowledge that FulBe herders gave gifts to administrative authorities to win their influence during crop damage hearings and other land use conflicts with local farmers. Some Sub-prefects in the north were known for having constituted a personal herd of cattle based on these “gifts”.
This is a rough periodization of what were often gradual and differentiated (across households) transitions in pastoral mobility. For example, the transition between phase 4 and 5 was often associated with short movements south during the second half of the dry season after floodplain pastures were depleted. Dupire describes the grazing situation in the area during the 1950s as one in which some clans continued to utilize floodplain pastures during the dry season while others relied more heavily on short southerly movements to the south (Dupire, 1972).
Interestingly, Blench (1994:203) identifies the sheep-herding Udaa’en as being early migrants into southwest Nigeria.
The combination of porous pastoral tenure conventions and social/biological requirements for livestock security in new areas together explain in large part the prevalence of cascading migratory drift forms of regional adjustment among the FulBe.
The annual reports of SODEPRA are frank about the strengths and weaknesses of their data on FulBe cattle numbers. Extension agents typically recorded the number of animals they treated during annual vaccination campaigns. Each time they injected an animal, they recorded it on a simple mechanical counter that fit in the palm of the hand. However, there were many FulBe herds that were located outside of SODEPRA’s extension zones that were not vaccinated and thus not counted. SODEPRA’s annual reports also note that FulBe cattle owners were reluctant to divulge information about their herds, and that transhumant cattle may have been counted twice: once in the dry season pasture and once again in their rainy season area.
According to Bernardet (1988, p. 24), 80% of all FulBe herds in Côte d’Ivoire contained worsooji breeds.
The Baoulé breed is also called mereeji by Côte d’Ivoire FulBe originating from Burkina. Indeed there is some confusion with the use of the term mereeji as noted by Rege et al. (1994, p. 8) who write “it is currently used for both purebred Lobi and crosses of zebu with Lobi (Burkina Faso), with Baoulé (Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso) and with N’Dama (Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea) and is thus quite confusing. In Mali, the term Méré (or Bambara) is used for stabilized zebu × N’Dama crosses.” The authors propose that the term Méré (mereeji) be exclusively used to designate zebu-taurin crosses.
References
Adebayo, A. G. (1997). Contemporary Dimensions of Migration among Historically Migrant Nigerians: Fulani Pastoralists in Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Asian and African Studies 32: 93–107.
Aldige, E. (1918). La Peste Bovine en Afrique Occidentale Francaise: Etude de l’Epizootie de 1915–1918. Bulletin de la Comité d’Études Historiques et Scientifiques de l’Afrique Occidentale Française 1: 337–399.
Amanor, K. S. (1995). Dynamics of Herd Structures and Herding Strategies in West Africa: A Study of Market Integration and Ecological Adaptation. Africa 65(3): 351–394.
Ancey,V. (1996). Trajectoires pastorals et politiques économiques de l’élevage: Eleveurs transhumants dans le nord de la Côte d’Ivoire. Thèse de doctorat d’Economie, Ecole des Hauts Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Arditi, C. (1990). Les Peul, les Senufo, et les veterinaries: pathologie d’une operation de développement dans le nord de la Côte d’Ivoire. Cahiers des Sciences Humaines 26(1–2): 137–53.
Atchy, A. A. (1976). Contribution à l’étude de la transhumance en République Populaire du Benin. Diplome État, École Inter-États des Sciences et Médécine Veterinaires. Dakar, Senegal.
Ba, A. H., and Daget, J. (1984). L’Empire Peul du Macina (1818–1853), Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines, Abidjan.
Barry, M. (1975). Economie de l’élevage transhumant dans le nord Côte d’Ivoire. Cahiers du CIRES 7–8: 1–18.
Bassett, T. J. (1986). Fulani Herd Movements. The Geographical Review 76: 233–248.
Bassett, T. J. (1988). The Political Ecology of Peasant–Herder Conflicts in Northern Côte d’Ivoire. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 78(3): 453–72.
Bassett, T. J. (1993). Land use conflicts in pastoral development in northern Côte d’Ivoire. In Bassett, T., and Crummey, D. (eds.), Land in African Agrarian Systems, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp.131–154.
Bassett, T. J. (1994). Hired Herders and Herd Management in Fulani Pastoralism (Northern Côte d’Ivoire). Cahiers d’Études Africaines 34: 147–173.
Bellot, J.-M. (1980). Kel Tamasheq du Gourma Nigerien et peul du Torodi: Sociétés agropastorales en mutation. Thèse de troizième cycle, Géographie, Université de Bordeaux III, Bordeaux, France.
Benoit, M. (1979). Le chemin des Peuls de Boobola: Contribution à l’écologie du pastoralisme en Afrique des savanes, Travaux et Documents de l’ORSTOM, no. 101 ORSTOM, Paris.
Benoit, M. (1999). Peuplement, violence endemique et remanence de l’espace sauvage en Afrique de l’Ouest: Le no man’s land du ‘W’ du Niger. Espace Populations Sociétés 1: 29–52.
Bernardet, P. (1984). Association Agriculture-Elevage en Afrique : Les Peuls Semi-Transhumants de Côte d’Ivoire, L’Harmattan, Paris.
Bernardet, P. (1988). Vache de la houe, vache de la dot: Elevage bovin et rapports de production en Moyenne et Haute Côte d’Ivoire, Editions CNRS, Paris.
Bernardet, P. (1999). Peuls en mouvement, Peuls en conflits en moyenne et haute Côte d’Ivoire, de 1950- à 1990. In Botte, R., Boutrais, J., and Schmitz, J. (eds.), Figures Peuls, Kathala, Paris, pp. 407–444.
Bierschenk, T. (1998). Les peuls dans le borgou occidental précolonial. In Boesen, E., Hardung, C., and Kuba, R. (eds.), Regards Sur le Bourgou. Pouvoir et Altérité dans une Région Ouest-Africaine, L’Harmattan, Paris, pp. 175–184.
Blench, R. (1985). Pastoral Labour and Stock Alienation in the Sub-humid and Arid Zones of West Africa. Pastoral Development Network Newsletter 19e, Overseas Development Institute, London.
Blench, R. (1994). The Expansion and Adaptation of FulBe Pastoralism to Subhumid and Humid Conditions in Nigera. Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 34 (133–135): 197–212.
Boesen, E., Hardung, C. et al. (eds.) (1998). Regards sur le bourgou. Pouvoir et altérité dans une région ouest-africaine, L’Harmattan, Paris.
Bonfiglioli, A. M. (1988). Dudal: Histoire de famille et histoire de troupeau chez un groupe de Wodaabe du Niger, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Bonnet, J. B. (1982). Situation de l’élevage peulh-1981 (Korhogo: Sodepra).
Bourn, D. (1978). Cattle, Rainfall and Tsetse in Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 1: 49–61.
Bourn, D., and Wint, W. (1994). Livestock, Land-use and Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pastoral Development Network Paper 37a, Overseas Development Institute, London.
Boutrais, J. (1986). L’expansion des éleveurs peul dans les savanes humides du Cameroun. In Adamu, M., and Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (eds.), Pastoralists of the West African Savanna, Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp. 145–160.
Boutrais, J. (1994). Pour une nouvelle cartographie des Peuls. Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 34(133–135): 137–146.
Boutrais, J. (2007). The Fulani and Cattle Breeding: Crossbreeding and Heritage Strategies. Africa 77(1): 18–36.
Cohen, A. (1965). The Social Organization of Credit in a West African Cattle Market. Africa 35: 8–20.
Chevalier, A. (1900). Les Zones et les Provences Botaniques de l’A. O.F. Comptes rendus de l’Academie des Sciences: 1205–1208.
Coulibaly, S. (1980). La difficile mais nécessaire integration de l’élevage zebu dans le monde rural sénoufo. Université Nationale de Côte d’Ivoire, Institut de Geographie Tropicale, Publication Provisoire no. 42.
de Bruijn, M., and van Dijk, H. (1994). Drought and Coping Strategies in FulBe Society in the Hayre Central Mali: A Historical Perspective. Cahiers d’Études Africaines 34: 85–108.
de Bruijn, M., and van Dijk, H. (1995). Arid Ways: Cultural Understandings of Insecurity in FulBe Society, Central Mali, Thela, Amsterdam.
Delgado, C., and Staatz, J. (1980). Livestock and Meat Marketing in West Africa, Volume III, Ivory Coast and Mali, CRED, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Diallo, Y. (1995). Paysans, pasteurs et intervention étatique: Analyse préliminaire des problèmes et d’évolution du pastoralisme dans le département de Boundiali (Côte d’Ivoire). University of Bielefeld, Africa Program, Working Paper no. 225.
Diallo, Y. (1999). Dimensions Sociales et Politiques de l’Epansion Pastorale en Zone Semi-humide Ivoirienne. In Azarya, V., Breedveld, A., de Bruijn, M., and van Dyk, H. (eds.), Pastoralism under Pressure? Fulbe societies confronting change in West Africa, Brill, Leiden, pp. 211–236.
Diallo, Y. (2000). Les Peuls et les Sénoufo de la Savane Ivoirienne: Quelques Modalités de leurs Relations. In Diallo, Y., and Schlee, G. (eds.), L’ethnicité Peul dans des Contextes Nouveaux, Éditions Karthala, Paris, pp 65–92.
Doutressoulle, G. (1924). L’Elevage au Niger, Mortain, Paris.
Doutressoulle, G. (1947). L’Élevage en Afrique Occidentale Français, Éditions Larose, Paris.
Dupire, M. (1970). Organisation Sociale des Peul, Librairie Plon, Paris.
Dupire, M. (1972). Les Facteurs Humains de l’économie Pastorale. Centre Nigerien de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, Niamey, Niger.
Frelastre, G. (1986). Le Troupeau Nigérien en Peril. Revue Francaise d’Etudes Politiques Africaines 247/248: 97–105.
Frantz, C. (1981). Settlement and Migration Among Pastoral Fulbe in Nigeria and Cameroun. In Salzman, P. C. (ed.), Contemporary Nomadic and Pastoral Peoples: Africa and Latin America, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, pp. 57–94.
Gallais, J. (1975). Paysans et Pasteurs du Gourma. La Condition Sahélienne, CNRS, Paris.
Gallais, J. (1979). La Situation de l’élevage Bovin et le Problème des éleveurs En Afrique Occidentale et Centrale. Les Cahiers d’Outre Mer 126: 113–138.
Grégoire, E. (1992). The Alhazai of Maradi: Traditional Hausa Merchants in a Changing Sahelian City, Lynne Rienner, London.
Grégoire, E. (1997). Les grands courants d’échanges sahéliens: histoire et situations présentes. In. Raynaut, C. (ed.), Sahels: Diversité et Dynamiques des Relations Sociétés-Nature, Éditions Karthala, Paris, pp. 121–142.
Habou, A., and Danguioua, A. (1991). Transfert du capital—betail au Niger (des pasteurs aux autres catégories socio-professionelles). Rapport Préliminaire du mission. Secretariat Permanent du Comite National du Code Rural, Niamey, Niger.
Hama, B. (1968). Contribution à la Connaissance de l’Histoire des Peul, Présence Africaine, Paris.
Heasley, L., and Delehanty, J. (1996). The Politics of Manure: Resource Tenure and the Agropastoral Economy in Southwestern Niger. Society and Natural Resources 9: 31–46.
Hellemans, P., and Compere R. (1990). Aspects Techniques et Socio-economiques de la Transhumance des Troupeaux de Zebus en Zone Soudanienne de la Bougouriba (Burkina–Faso). Tropicultura (Belgium) 8(2): 59–63.
Hendrickx, G., de La Rocque, S., and Mattioli, R. C. (2004). Long-term Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Management Options in West Africa, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.
Hubert, H. (1907). Distribution Géographique des Mouches Tsé-tsé au Dahomey. La Géographie: 171–176.
Institut d’Ethno-Sociologie (IES) (1975). L’Elevage Peul dans le Nord de la Côte d’Ivoire (Min. de la Production Animale, Abidjan).
Institut de Recherche en Sciences Humaines (1977). Étude de Say: Rapport final. Niamey, Niger, Ministère de l’Education Nationale and Ministère du Plan.
Kervan, C. (1992). Customary Commerce: A Historical Reassessment of Pastoral Livestock Marketing in Africa. ODI Agricultural Occasional Paper 15. Overseas Development Institute, London.
Kimba, I. (1981). Guerres et sociétés: Les population du “Niger” occidental au XIXème siècle et leurs réactions face à la colonisation (1896–1906), Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, Niamey, Niger.
Lagrue, D. (1977). La sedentarisation de l’élevage Peul dans le nord de la Côte d’Ivoire: Difficultés sociologiques, zootechniques et pathologiques, Thèse pour le doctorat veterinaire, Ecole Nationale Veterninare, Maison d’Alfort, France.
Laya, D. (1991). Migrations et Integration Politique dans le Gourma Oriental au XIX Siecle: Example des Folmongaani. Journal de la Société des Africanists 61: 65–90.
Le Houérou, H. N. (1989). The Grazing Land Ecosystems of the African Sahel, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York.
Lem, F. H. (1943). Un Centre d’Islamisation au Moyen–Niger: Say. La Terre d’Islam 1943(2): 51–78.
Lericollais, A., and Faye, A. (1994). Des troupeaux sans pâturages en pays Sereer au Sénégal. In Blanc-Pamard, C., and Boutrais, J. (eds.), A la Croisée des Parcours: Pasteurs, éleveurs, Cultivateurs, ORSTOM, Paris, pp. 165–196.
Lombard, J. (1957). Quelques Notes sur les Peuhls du Dahomey. Notes Africaines 73: 4–7.
Lovejoy, P., and Baier, S. (1975). The Desert-side Economy of the Central Sudan. International Journal of African Historical Studies 8: 551–581.
Loyance, A. (1947). Notes sur les Peuls et Gourmantché de la Région de Say, Archives de la Subdivision de Say, Say, Niger.
Malfroy, M. F. (1926). La Peste Bovine en Afrique Occidentale Francaise. Bulletin du comité d’études historiques et scientifiques de l’AOF 1926: 439–496.
N’Dri, N. (1993). Rapport d’Activites du Projet Encadrement Nord, Année 1992, Korhogo: SODEPRA, mimeo.
Ngaido, T. (1994). Le foncier dans le processus de la desertification: cause ou remede. Paper presented at L’impact des système fonciers et des modes de propriété et d’accès aux ressources sur la dégradation des terres et la désertification, CRDI, Dakar, Senegal.
Ngaido, T. (1996). Redefining the Boundaries of Control: Post-Colonial Tenure Policies and Dynamics of Social and Tenure Change in Western Niger. Ph.D. dissertation, Institute for Environmental Studies. Madison, Wisconsin.
Nicholson, S. E., Kim, J., and Hoopingarner, J. (1988). Atlas of African Rainfall and its Interannual Variability, Department of Meteorology, Florida State University, Tallahasse, FL.
Nicolas, G. (1963). Notes ethnographiques sur l’élevage dans la vallée de Maradi. In Notes ethnographiques sur le terroir, l`agriculture et l’élevage dans la vallée de Maradi, IFAN, Niamey.
Okediji, F. (1972). An Economic History of Hausa–Fulani Emirates of Northern Nigeria: 1900–1939. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Indiana, Bloomington.
Penning de Vries, F. W. T., and Djitèye, M. A., eds. (1982). La productivité des pâturages sahéliens. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Petit, F. (1980). Amelioration de l’Elevage dans le Nord de la Côte d’Ivoire, Rapport Final d’Execution (1979–1980), Institut de Savanes, Bouaké.
Quarles van Ufford, P. (1999). Trade and Traders: The Making of the Cattle Market in Benin, Thela Thesis, Amsterdam.
Quéant, T., and de Rouville, C. (1969). Agriculteurs et éleveurs de la region du Gondo–Sourou, Centre Voltaique de la Recherche Scientifique, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Raynaut, C., and Lavigne Delville, P. (1997). Une espace partagé: complémentarité et concurrence des usages. In Raynaut, C. (ed.), Sahels: Diversité et dynamiques des relations sociétés-nature, Éditions Karthala, Paris, pp. 143–174.
Raynaut, C., Lavigne Delville, P., and Koechlin, J. (1997). Les relations sociétés/nature au Sahel: Quelques grans types de situation. In Raynaut, C. (ed.), Sahels: Diversité et dynamiques des relations sociétés-nature, Éditions Karthala, Paris, pp. 227–260.
Rege, J. E. O., Aboagye, G. S., and Tawah, C. L. (1994). Shorthorn Cattle of West and Central Africa. I. Origin, Distribution, Classification, and Population Statistics. World Animal Review 78(1): 2–13.
Rémy, G. (1964). Yobri–Étude Géographique du Terroir d’un Village Gourmantché de Haute–Volta, Mouton, Paris.
Roubaud, E. (1920). Les Mouches Tsétsés en Afrique Occidentale Française. Bulletin du Comité D’Études Historiques et Scientifiques de l’Afrique Occidentale Française: 257–300.
Schlee, G. (2000). Les peul du Nil. In Diallo, Y., and Schlee, G. (eds.), L’Ethnicité Peul dans des Contextes Nouveaux, Karthala, Paris, pp. 207–224.
Sedes (1965). Région de Korhogo Etude de Développement Economique, Tome 3, Rapport Agricole, SEDES, New York.
SODEPRA (1974). Encadrement Nord, Rapport Annuel 1974, Korhogo, mimeo.
SODEPRA (1981). Opération Zebu, Rapport Annuel 1981, Korhogo, mimeo.
Stenning, D. J. (1959). Savannah Nomads, Oxford University Press, London.
Stenning, D. J. (1960). Transhumance, migratory drift, migration: Patterns of pastoral Fulani nomadism. In Ottenburg, S., and Ottenburg, P., (eds), Cultures and Societies of Africa, Random House, New York, pp. 139–159.
Terraciano, A. M. (1994). Contested Terrain: The Changing Politics of Land Use in Tera, Western Niger. M.S. Thesis, Department of Geography, Madison.
Tonah, S. (2000). State Policies, Local Prejudices and Cattle Rustling Along The Ghana–Burkina Faso Border. Africa 70(4): 551–567.
Tonah, S. (2003). Integration or Exclusion of Fulbe Pastoralists in West Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Interethnic Relations, State and Local Polices in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. The Journal of Modern African Studies 41: 91–114.
Toutain, B., Compaoré, A., Ouadba, J.-M, Kagoné, H., and Diallo, S. (2001). Mission d’appui scientifique “transhumance” (11 mai au 31 mai 2001). Rapport provisoire de mission. CIRAD-EMVT, Montpellier, France.
Tricart, J. (1956). Les échanges entre la zone forestière de Côte d’Ivoire et les savanes soudaniennes. Les Cahiers d’Outre Mer 35: 211–238.
Turner, M. D. (1993). Overstocking the Range: A Critical Analysis of the Environmental Science of Sahelian Pastoralism. Economic Geography 69: 402–421.
Turner, M. D. (1999a). Labor Process and the Environment: The Effects of Labor Availability and Compensation on the Quality of Herding in the Sahel. Human Ecology 27: 267–296.
Turner, M. D. (1999b). No Space for Participation: Pastoralist Narratives and the Etiology of Park-Herder Conflict in Southwestern Niger. Land Degradation and Development 10(4): 343–361.
Turner, M. D. (1999c). The role of social networks, indefinite boundaries and political bargaining in maintaining the ecological and economic resiliency of the transhumance systems of Sudano–Sahelian West Africa. In Niamir-Fuller, M. (ed.), Managing Mobility in African Rangelands: The Legitimization of Transhumance, Intermediate Technology, London, pp. 97–123.
Urvoy, Y. (1929). “La Mekrou et le double-v.” Afrique Francaise 39(2): 135–140.
van Driel, A. (1997). Relations entre agriculteurs et éleveurs: Cohabitation et problèmes majeurs. In de Haan, L. J. (ed.). Agriculteurs et éleveurs au Nord-Bénin. Karthala, Paris, pp. 127–148.
van Santen, J. (2000). “Garder du bétail, c’est aussi un travail” Les rélations entre pasteurs peuls et agriculteurs du centre du Bénin et du Nord-Cameroun. In Diallo, Y., and Schlee, G. (eds.), L’ethnicité Peul dans des contextes nouveaux, Éditions Karthala, Paris, pp. 129–159.
White, F. (1983). The Vegetation of Africa, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris.
Wilson, W. (1995). The Fulani Model of Sustainable Agriculture: Situating Fulbe Nomadism in a Systemic View of Pastoralism and Farming. Nomadic Peoples 36/37: 35–52.
Acknowledgment
This research benefited from a research grant (#BCS00-99252) made by the Geography and Regional Science Program of the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bassett, T.J., Turner, M.D. Sudden Shift or Migratory Drift? FulBe Herd Movements to the Sudano-Guinean Region of West Africa. Hum Ecol 35, 33–49 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9067-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9067-4