Livestock development and range use in Nigeria

Abstract

Factors affecting the pastoral sector in Nigeria are: the increased demand for livestock produce as a result of increased population, drought in the Sahel, the need for government guidelines on management, and the increasing constraints on pastoralists. The challenge is to satisfy the demand without suffering from problems of overgrazing, over intensive cultivation, and ecological disruptions; the official line is that settlement is the only solution. Inadequate information on livestock numbers means that it is impossible to assess the efficiency of range use. The Fulani are the major livestock producers, practicing a transhumance pattern of husbandry, but their obstacles which include fodder and water shortage, lack of means for improved production, and disease risks have led many of them to adopt a sedentary life. This has been accompanied by a breakdown in the symbiotic relationship between the nomadic and sedentary communities; Fulani now often have to pay for grazing their animals on crop residues as the introduction of fertilizers has led cultivators to believe that manure is no longer needed. The establishment of grazing reserves is possible only if production capabilities of renewable resources and the optimal economic use of the potentials in these reserves are linked into one system of interdependent actions; a complete overhaul of the role of goals and strategies for self-sufficiency is needed. -from Blench and Marriage Annotated Bibliography