Mobility, Market Exchange and Livelihood Transition: Fulbe Flexibility in Tanout, Niger

Abstract

The Woδaaбe and Katsinen-ko'en Fulбe of Tanout, Niger, in the northern Sahel practise slightly different strategies of (agro)pastoral production, with consequently differing patterns of mobility. They engage in similar market exchanges (livestock, grain, fodder) and forms of livelihood transitions in both directions along a pastoralism-agropastoralism axis. Case studies of seven households (three Woδaaбe and four Katsinenko'en) illustrate the complexity of these practices over a year and a half. If researchers and policy makers are to gain an operational understanding of the risks, opportunities and strategies that characterize the actual agropastoral continuum and the different cultures that engage it, they should extend their analyses beyond the rigidity of agro/pastoral models to the complex relationships these groups of producers have within their ecological and socio-economic environments.