KAWA MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
The Fulani of West Africa
Like the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, the Fulani do not bother too mu.ch about political boundaries. They wander across borders, from Senegal to Chad and Cameroon, as the need for grazing dictates. As long as they meet the strict animal hygiene and dipping requirements and possess the necessary clearance certificates to this effect, they are not interfered with by the authorities through whose districts they pass. Of course, any one group of Fulani does not wander the length and breadth of West Africa, Each group restricts its wanderings within certain fairly flexible limits-
The Fulani live in the drier savanna lands some of which are almost semi-desert in places. Grass is often in short supply, water holes are very few and sometimes there is no rain for seven months; more if the rains fail badly. The constant search for grazing involves sending men out on horseback to search far and wide and to then return to guide the cattle to the new grass. Storm clouds in the far distance .one day could mean a little grass will grow a few days later. The horsemen have to find it.
As you know, in West Africa the rains advance northwards and retreat southwards with the seasonal, and apparent movements of the sun. So when the dry months come and the rains retreat southwards the Fulani also move gradually south with them. They find what grazing and water they can, but they have to be very careful as the further south they go the further they get into permanent tsetse fly country. Their cattle must be kept clear of any woodland because that is where the tsetse flies lurk; so they graze by the roadsides, often ignoring grassland with trees. Often they graze on the harvested fields of local farmers, who do not mind because in so doing the cattle help to fertilize the land with their droppings. Some Nigerian Fulani herds even reach as far south as the Niger and Benue rivers before retreating north with the advancing rains. This is a sort of transhumance by latitude rather than by altitude.
The rains bring grass back to the northlands where, of course, there are no tsetse fly. The tsetse fly does in fact advance northwards with the rains, but only as far as thick tree or bush cover lasts. Beyond that it cannot go. The rainy season is the worst time of the year for the Fulani as they are almost permanently soaked to the skin, there is mud everywhere and hyenas attack the cattle which then stampede.
Sometimes the whole group stays for a few weeks in the home village; but normally they will not stay long in one place. After four or five days they move on, with their tents and equipment on the backs of their animals. During the course of a year they can cover anything up to 350 kilometres in their wanderings. The men and young boys took after the cattle: a very tiring task in the dry season when wells have to be used for watering the cattle. Each cow is given about 5 bowls of water in the morning and in the evening, so to water the whole herd twice a day is a long and arduous task.
Map showing the Fulani in the Savannah and the Sahel regions of west Africa
During the year the Fulani sell quite a lot of their cattle, together with milk and butter, in the months when grazing is good. With this money they buy maize meal to augment their diet. They also grow limited amounts of millet and beans on land near their home village, tended by the women or fitter ones among the elderly.
Each year in Nigeria alone, about 750000 cattle are sold. This represents about 10% of the Fulani's herds. About 400000 are slaughtered in the north and the rest are sent by train or by foot to the markets of the south. Those which travel on foot often arrive thin and underweight, suffering from trypanosomyasis.
At present the Fulani's land carrying capacity averages out at about one beast for six hectares; but, it is feared, this capacity is exceeded in places by as much as four times and is a major reason why Fulani cattle take up to seven years to reach their rather low killing weight. Not only that, the overgrazing is assisting the Sahara in its south-ward advance, so it is hardly surprising that the U.N.E.P. is supporting a project designed, not only to put a halt to this damage but to claim back these devastated rangelands. In theory the reclamation techniques should be relatively easy and involve reseeding with suitable drought, resistant grasses, plus an education programme which spreads the gospel of proper range management. In practice it is not easy, as money is needed in large quantities and education takes time.
A start has been made at Katsina near the Nigerian border with Niger. Ranches have been set up, permanent watering places built, cross-breeding has started and pasture is being improved. Land carrying capacity allied with paddocking is being practised and cotton seed waste and groundnut leaves are being processed into high protein cattle food. On this scheme, cattle are being fattened and then killed: to be sent south in a refrigerated state, not sent on foot to catch trypanosomyasis on the way. Not surprisingly the Fulani cattle sales have given rise to a tremendously important trade in hides and skins, many of which are being increasingly used in the northern towns* manufacturing industries.
A much simpler form of transhumance is practised on the fadama lands by the people, some of whom are Fulani, who live around Lake Chad, particularly on the west and south-west shores. In the wet season they move away from the, lake and then back again for the dry season, when part of their grazing is supplied by the harvested fields of sorghum-
Here an unavoidable fact presents itself; not only to the Fulani, but to all semi-nomadic pastoralists. The 20th century is passing them by, and soon they could become, because of their lack of education and the basic instability of their permanently mobile life-style, an old fashioned, disenfranchised, embittered, unhealthy and socially divisive series of minority groups. For people with such a proud history of independence and self sufficiency this would be tragic. They would be wise to take advantage of every attempt to stabilize and educate them before the 21st century, allied with scientific farming methods, condemns them to a fragmented life of poverty and cultural starvation in ever diminishing areas or pockets of existence.
The Fulani occupy largely tsetse free areas but are obliged to cross the Guinea savanna areas which are dangerously tsetse infested, to market their cattle in the more densely populated south.
In Nigeria, nomadic Fulani account for 90% the country’s cattle stock. There are great benefits from the cattle to the farmers. They not only meet their subsistence needs but sale cattle to earn more income.
Cattle are owned by individual families and their number is an indication of a person’s prestige. They are transacted in social obligations such as dowry gifts. Most of the nomadic pastrolists do not sale their cattle. However, among the Fulani, selling has become a fundamental part of the economy.
Grazing is carried out communally with whole clans moving together and sharing tasks. There is no input apart from what the land offers. The Fulanis’ wealth is stock not land. The animals must posses their ability to survive rather than the ability to yield heavily.
The Fulani live in the drier savanna lands some of which are almost semi-desert in places. Grass is often in short supply, water holes are very few and sometimes there is no rain for seven months; more if the rains fail badly. The constant search for grazing involves sending men out on horseback to search far and wide and to then return to guide the cattle to the new grass. Storm clouds in the far distance .one day could mean a little grass will grow a few days later. The horsemen have to find it.
As you know, in West Africa the rains advance northwards and retreat southwards with the seasonal, and apparent movements of the sun. So when the dry months come and the rains retreat southwards the Fulani also move gradually south with them. They find what grazing and water they can, but they have to be very careful as the further south they go the further they get into permanent tsetse fly country. Their cattle must be kept clear of any woodland because that is where the tsetse flies lurk; so they graze by the roadsides, often ignoring grassland with trees. Often they graze on the harvested fields of local farmers, who do not mind because in so doing the cattle help to fertilize the land with their droppings. Some Nigerian Fulani herds even reach as far south as the Niger and Benue rivers before retreating north with the advancing rains. This is a sort of transhumance by latitude rather than by altitude.
The rains bring grass back to the northlands where, of course, there are no tsetse fly. The tsetse fly does in fact advance northwards with the rains, but only as far as thick tree or bush cover lasts. Beyond that it cannot go. The rainy season is the worst time of the year for the Fulani as they are almost permanently soaked to the skin, there is mud everywhere and hyenas attack the cattle which then stampede.
Sometimes the whole group stays for a few weeks in the home village; but normally they will not stay long in one place. After four or five days they move on, with their tents and equipment on the backs of their animals. During the course of a year they can cover anything up to 350 kilometres in their wanderings. The men and young boys took after the cattle: a very tiring task in the dry season when wells have to be used for watering the cattle. Each cow is given about 5 bowls of water in the morning and in the evening, so to water the whole herd twice a day is a long and arduous task.
Map showing the Fulani in the Savannah and the Sahel regions of west Africa
During the year the Fulani sell quite a lot of their cattle, together with milk and butter, in the months when grazing is good. With this money they buy maize meal to augment their diet. They also grow limited amounts of millet and beans on land near their home village, tended by the women or fitter ones among the elderly.
Each year in Nigeria alone, about 750000 cattle are sold. This represents about 10% of the Fulani's herds. About 400000 are slaughtered in the north and the rest are sent by train or by foot to the markets of the south. Those which travel on foot often arrive thin and underweight, suffering from trypanosomyasis.
At present the Fulani's land carrying capacity averages out at about one beast for six hectares; but, it is feared, this capacity is exceeded in places by as much as four times and is a major reason why Fulani cattle take up to seven years to reach their rather low killing weight. Not only that, the overgrazing is assisting the Sahara in its south-ward advance, so it is hardly surprising that the U.N.E.P. is supporting a project designed, not only to put a halt to this damage but to claim back these devastated rangelands. In theory the reclamation techniques should be relatively easy and involve reseeding with suitable drought, resistant grasses, plus an education programme which spreads the gospel of proper range management. In practice it is not easy, as money is needed in large quantities and education takes time.
A start has been made at Katsina near the Nigerian border with Niger. Ranches have been set up, permanent watering places built, cross-breeding has started and pasture is being improved. Land carrying capacity allied with paddocking is being practised and cotton seed waste and groundnut leaves are being processed into high protein cattle food. On this scheme, cattle are being fattened and then killed: to be sent south in a refrigerated state, not sent on foot to catch trypanosomyasis on the way. Not surprisingly the Fulani cattle sales have given rise to a tremendously important trade in hides and skins, many of which are being increasingly used in the northern towns* manufacturing industries.
A much simpler form of transhumance is practised on the fadama lands by the people, some of whom are Fulani, who live around Lake Chad, particularly on the west and south-west shores. In the wet season they move away from the, lake and then back again for the dry season, when part of their grazing is supplied by the harvested fields of sorghum-
Here an unavoidable fact presents itself; not only to the Fulani, but to all semi-nomadic pastoralists. The 20th century is passing them by, and soon they could become, because of their lack of education and the basic instability of their permanently mobile life-style, an old fashioned, disenfranchised, embittered, unhealthy and socially divisive series of minority groups. For people with such a proud history of independence and self sufficiency this would be tragic. They would be wise to take advantage of every attempt to stabilize and educate them before the 21st century, allied with scientific farming methods, condemns them to a fragmented life of poverty and cultural starvation in ever diminishing areas or pockets of existence.
The Fulani occupy largely tsetse free areas but are obliged to cross the Guinea savanna areas which are dangerously tsetse infested, to market their cattle in the more densely populated south.
In Nigeria, nomadic Fulani account for 90% the country’s cattle stock. There are great benefits from the cattle to the farmers. They not only meet their subsistence needs but sale cattle to earn more income.
Cattle are owned by individual families and their number is an indication of a person’s prestige. They are transacted in social obligations such as dowry gifts. Most of the nomadic pastrolists do not sale their cattle. However, among the Fulani, selling has become a fundamental part of the economy.
Grazing is carried out communally with whole clans moving together and sharing tasks. There is no input apart from what the land offers. The Fulanis’ wealth is stock not land. The animals must posses their ability to survive rather than the ability to yield heavily.