Ducrotoy Marie J, Majekodunmi Ayodele O, Shaw Alexandra P M, Bagulo Husein, Bertu Wilson J, Gusi Amahyel M, Ocholi Reuben, Welburn Susan C
1Division of Infection and Pathway Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellor's Building, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB UK.
Present Address: Ceva Santé Animale, 10 Avenue de la Ballastiere, 33500 Libourne, France.
Pastoralism. 2018;8(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s13570-017-0105-1. Epub 2018 Jan 11.
Increasing land use and associated competition for natural resources in the wake of high human and livestock population pressures have been major challenges confronting pastoralists of West Africa. This is especially true in Nigeria where Fulani make up 4% of the national population and prevailing national insecurity issues are impacting on pastoral livelihoods, including violent conflicts over land and ethnic, religious and political disparities. This study examined the dynamics of immigration within the Kachia Grazing Reserve (KGR), an exclusively Fulani pastoralist community in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria, prompted by concerns from both the farming communities and the authorities about mounting pressure on existing limited resources, particularly in regard to availability of cattle grazing resources. Drawing from a household census conducted in 2011 and employing a range of qualitative methods (focus group discussions and key informant interviews), this study explored the drivers and consequences of immigration and subsequent integration within the KGR community. The study revealed two types of immigration: a steady trickle of pastoralists migrating to the reserve to settle and acquire land, secure from the stresses of competition from cultivators, and the sudden influx of internally displaced persons fleeing violent clashes in their areas of origin. Population pressure within the reserve has risen steadily over the past three decades, such that it is severely overgrazed (as evidenced by reports from the KGR community that the animals run short of pasture even during the wet season due to desertification and the spread of non-edible weeds). The newer immigrants, fleeing conflict, tended to arrive in the reserve with significantly larger herds than those kept by established residents. Pastoralists in the reserve have been forced back into the practice of seasonal transhumance in both wet and dry seasons to support their herds, with all the attendant risks of theft, clashes with cultivators and increased disease transmission.
在人类和牲畜数量众多带来的巨大压力下，土地利用的增加以及随之而来的对自然资源的竞争，一直是西非牧民面临的重大挑战。在尼日利亚尤其如此，富拉尼族占全国人口的4%，而当前的国家安全问题正在影响牧民的生计，包括土地、种族、宗教和政治差异引发的暴力冲突。本研究调查了卡恰亚放牧保护区（KGR）内的移民动态，该保护区位于尼日利亚西北部卡杜纳州，是一个完全由富拉尼族牧民组成的社区，引发这项研究的是农业社区和当局对现有有限资源压力不断增加的担忧，特别是在牛放牧资源的可用性方面。本研究借鉴2011年进行的家庭普查，并采用一系列定性方法（焦点小组讨论和关键信息人访谈），探讨了移民的驱动因素和后果以及随后在KGR社区的融合情况。研究揭示了两种类型的移民：一类是牧民持续不断地迁入保护区定居并获取土地，以躲避来自耕种者竞争的压力；另一类是因原籍地暴力冲突而突然涌入的境内流离失所者。在过去三十年里，保护区内的人口压力稳步上升，以至于出现了严重的过度放牧现象（KGR社区的报告显示，由于荒漠化和不可食用杂草的蔓延，即使在雨季动物也缺乏牧草）。那些逃离冲突的新移民到达保护区时，往往拥有比当地居民饲养的畜群大得多的畜群。保护区内的牧民被迫在雨季和旱季都恢复季节性游牧的做法来养活他们的畜群，随之而来的是盗窃、与耕种者冲突以及疾病传播增加等所有风险。
