The politics of manure: Resource tenure and the agropastoral economy in southwestern Niger

Heasley, Lynne; Delehanty, James

doi:10.1080/08941929609380950

Cited by 27 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Similarly to the situation in northern Nigeria (Hoffmann et al, 2001), transhumant herds supplied the corralling service for more than half of the corralled fields in the territory of Chikal. This highlights the role of these mobile herds for maintaining soil fertility in the mixed crop-livestock systems of West Africa (Heasley and Delehanty, 1996;Schlecht et al, 2001b). Despite this, only six formal corralling contracts were established and, among these, there were only two with transhumant herders.…”

Section: Corralling Livestock On Croplandmentioning

confidence: 94%

Organic inputs and farmers' management strategies in millet fields of western Niger

Schlecht

Buerkert

2004

Geoderma

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Research on soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa was criticized lately for largely ignoring farmers' management strategies and the underlying principles. To fill this gap of knowledge, detailed interviews were conducted with 108 farm households about their rationale in managing the soil fertility of 307 individual fields in the agro-pastoral village territory of Chikal in western Niger. To amplify the farmers' information on manuring and corralling practices, repeated measurements of applied amounts of manure were carried out within six 1-km 2 monitoring areas from February to October 1998.The interviews revealed that only 2% of the fields were completely fallowed for a period of 1 -15 years, but 40% of the fields were at least partially fallowed. Mulching of crop residues was mainly practiced to fight wind erosion but was restricted to 36% of the surveyed fields given the alternative use of straw as livestock feed. Manure application and livestock corralling, as most effective tools to enhance soil fertility, were targeted to less than 30% of the surveyed fields. The application of complete fallow and manuring and corralling practices were strongly related to the households' endowment with resources, especially with land and livestock. Within particular fields, measures were mainly applied to spots of poor soil fertility, while the restoration of the productivity of hard pans was of secondary importance. Given the limited spatial coverage of indigenous soil fertility measures and their strong dependence on farmers' wealth, supplementary strategies to restrict the decline of soil fertility in the drought prone areas of Niger with their heavily weathered soils are needed. D

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Section: Corralling Livestock On Croplandmentioning

confidence: 94%

Organic inputs and farmers' management strategies in millet fields of western Niger

Schlecht

Buerkert

2004

Geoderma

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“…The pacification of the Kel Tamashek by the French reduced the security threat facing FulBe herds in the north, with anecdotal evidence suggesting an extension of the "classic" North-South transhumance pattern into the northern Sahel as a result. Increased rainfall during the 1950s led not only to a movement of cultivating people to the north but an associated movement of agropastoral FulBe (Bonfiglioli, 1988;Heasley and Delehanty, 1996). FulBe migrations generally followed existing North-South transhumance corridors as FulBe migrants utilized social alliances established through years of transhumance to safely settle to the north (Nicolas, 1963;Gallais, 1975;Bonfiglioli, 1988).…”

Section: Historical Geography Of Fulbe Movements In Sudano-sahelian Wmentioning

confidence: 96%

Sudden Shift or Migratory Drift? FulBe Herd Movements to the Sudano-Guinean Region of West Africa

2006

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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.

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“…The Sahelian belt occurs at a continental scale, with far more variation in terms of climate, land use, and rangeland ecology (Table 17.1). Sahelian production systems vary from pure pastoralism to highly integrated agropastoralism where crop residues provide livestock fodder, and livestock manure enhances crop yields (Heasley and Delehanty 1996;Turner et al 2014). In the Sahel the overall challenge for pastoralists is how to exploit the highly variable occurrence of fodder over space and time most efficiently.…”

Section: Trends In Resource Use and Ecological Condition Of Rangelandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is often a strong insider-outsider dynamic to these conflicts with those that are seen as outsiders often in more vulnerable positions due to their more limited connections to local authorities. It is not surprising, therefore, that herders have historically relied on local hosts to mediate with local communities (Heasley and Delehanty 1996). Where formal government authority plays a stronger role relative to customary practices in mediating disputes, these hoststranger relationships are less important, and some herder groups move through areas without developing social ties to local communities.…”

Section: What Has Been Observed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

Coppock

Fernández‐Giménez

Hiernaux

et al. 2017

Springer Series on Environmental Management

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Developing-country rangelands are vast and diverse. They are home to millions who are often poor, politically marginalized, and dependent on livestock for survival. Here we summarize our experiences from six case-study sites in subSaharan Africa, central Asia, and Latin America generally covering the past 25 years. We examine issues pertaining to population, natural resource management, climate, land use, livestock marketing, social conflict, and pastoral livelihoods. The six study sites differ with respect to human and livestock population dynamics and This chapter is dedicated to the memory of an exemplary international rangeland scientist, Thomas L. Thurow (1955Thurow ( -2016. the resulting pressures on natural resources. Environmental degradation, however, has been commonly observed. Climate change is also having diverse systemic effects often related to increasing aridity. As rangelands become more economically developed pastoral livelihoods may diversify, food security can improve, and commercial livestock production expands, but wealth stratification widens. Some significant upgrades in rural infrastructure and public service delivery have occurred; telecommunications are markedly improved overall due to widespread adoption of mobile phones. Pressures from grazing, farming, mining, and other land usescombined with drought-can ignite local conflicts over resources, although the intensity and scope of conflicts markedly varies across our case-study sites. Pastoralists and their herds have become more sedentary overall due to many factors, and this can undermine traditional risk-management tactics based on mobility. Remote rangelands still offer safe havens for insurgents, warlords, and criminals especially in countries where policing remains weak; the resulting civil strife can undermine commerce and public safety. There has been tremendous growth in knowledge concerning developing-country rangelands since 1990, but this has not often translated into improved environmental stewardship or an enhanced wellbeing for rangeland dwellers. Some examples of demonstrable impact are described, and these typically have involved longer-term investments in capacity building for pastoralists, local professionals, and other stakeholders. Research is shifting from ecologically centered to more human-centered issues; traditional academic approaches are often being augmented with participatory, community-based engagement. Building human or social capital in ways that are integrated with improved natural resource stewardship offers the greatest returns on research investment. Our future research and outreach priorities include work that fortifies pastoral governance, enhances livelihoods for a diverse array of rangeland residents, and improves land and livestock management in a comprehensive social-ecological systems approach. Keywords IntroductionIn this chapter we focus on rangelands of the developing world. By rangelands we refer to landscapes-largely unsuitable for sustained cultivation-providing forage, water, ...

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The politics of manure: Resource tenure and the agropastoral economy in southwestern Niger

Cited by 27 publications

References 4 publications

Organic inputs and farmers' management strategies in millet fields of western Niger

Organic inputs and farmers' management strategies in millet fields of western Niger

Sudden Shift or Migratory Drift? FulBe Herd Movements to the Sudano-Guinean Region of West Africa

Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

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