Skip to main content
Log in

Labor Process and the Environment: The Effects of Labor Availability and Compensation on the Quality of Herding in the Sahel

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The relationship between investments of labor to agricultural production and environmental degradation in rural areas of the developing world is complex. This paper reports on qualitative and quantitative research focused on the effects of labor availability and its compensation on the way in which cattle are herded in the Maasina region of Central Mali. Within this particular region, two social relationships determine the level and form of herder compensation: that between herd patriarch and cattle owner, and that between herd patriarch and herder. Both the nature of these relationships and variations in herding practice are described prior to a presentation of statistical analyses of the effects of household labor availability and cattle wealth on travel and grazing management decisions. Reductions in both the availability of herding labor and in the economic security of Fulsse households are shown to lead to reduced herd mobility and more constricted grazing patterns with significant environmental implications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Ba, A. H., and Daget, J. (1984). L'Empire Peul du Macina (1818–1853). Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines, Abidjan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, J. P., Boudet, G., Bourgeot, A., Celles, J. C., Coulibaly, A. M., Lebrun, J. C., and Maniere, R. (1983). Étude des potentialite´s pastorales et de leur e´volution en milieu sahe´lien du Mali. GERDAT/ORSTOM, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassett, T. J. (1994). Hired herders and herd management in Fulani pastoralism (Northern Cô te d'Ivoire). Cahiers d'Études Africaines34: 147–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behnke, R. H., Scoones, I., and Kerven, C. (eds.) (1993). Range Ecology at Disequilibrium. Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard, F. E., Campbell, D. J., and Thom., D. J. (1989). Carrying capacity of the eastern ecological gradient of Kenya. National Geographic Research5: 399–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, H. (1978). Notes on capital and peasantry. Review of African Political Economy 10: 60–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaikie, P., and Brookfield, H. (1987). Land Degradation and Society.Methuen, London and New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. (1985). Pastoral Labour and Stock Alienation in the Sub-humid and Arid Zones of West Africa. Pastoral Development Network Paper 19e. Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonfiglioli, A. M. (1985). Évolution de la propriétéanimale chez les Wodaabe au Niger. Journal des Africanistes55: 29–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonfiglioli, A. M. (1990). Pastoralisme, agro-pastoralisme et retour: Itinéraires sahéliens. Cahiers des Sciences Humaines26: 255–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Boserup, E. (1965). The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure.Allen and Unwin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudet, G. (1975). Manuel sur les pèturages tropicaux et les cultures fourrageŕes.Institut d'Élevage et de Me´decine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux (IEMVT), Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourn, D., and Wint, W. (1994). Livestock, Land-use and Agricultural Intensi.cation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pastoral Development Network Paper 37a. Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breman, H. (1975). Maximum carrying capacity of Malian grasslands. In Evaluation and mapping of tropical African rangelands.International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, pp 249–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broad, R. (1994). The poor and the environment: Friends or foes? World Development22: 811–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, W. A. (1969). The Caliphate of Hamdullahi, CA. 1818–1864: A Study in African History and Tradition. Doctoral Dissertation. Department of History. University of Wisconsin, Madison.

    Google Scholar 

  • CIPEA/ODEM. (1983). Recherche d'une solution aux problémes de l'e´levage dans le Delta inte´rieur du Niger au Mali.CIPEA/ODEM, Bamako/Se´varé.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cissé, A.M. (1986). Dynamique de la strate herbace´e des pè turages de la zone sud-sahélienne. Projet Primaire du Sahel, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clough, P. (1986). The social relations of grain marketing in northern Nigeria. Review of African Political Economy34: 16–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J. (1987). Labor scarcity and ecological change. In Little, P. D., Horowitz, M. M., and Nyerges, A. E. (eds.), Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives. Westview Press, Boulder, pp. 19–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Boer, W. F., and Prins, H. H. T. (1989). Decisions of cattle herdsmen in Burkina Faso and optimal foraging models. Human Ecology17: 445–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Leeuw, P. N., Diarra, L., and Hiernaux, P. (1993). An analysis of feed demand and supply for pastoral livestock: The Gourma region of Mali. In Behnke, R. H., Scoones, I., and Kerven, C. (eds.), Range Ecology at Disequilibrium.Overseas Development Institute, London, pp. 136–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Wispelaere, G. (1980). Les photographies ae´riennes te´moins de la de´gradation du couvert ligneux dans un ecosystéme Sahélien Se´ne´galais. Influence de la proximitéd'un forage. Cahiers de l'ORSTOMXVIII: 155–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diallo, O., Diouf, A., Hanan, N. P., Ndiaye, A., and Prévost, Y. (1991). AVHRR monitoring of savanna primary production in Senegal, West Africa: 1987–1988. International Journal of Remote Sensing12: 1259–1279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodd, J. L. (1994). Desertification and degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The role of livestock. Bioscience44: 28–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, J. E., and Swift, D. M. (1988). Stability of African pastoral ecosystems: Alternate paradigms and implications for development. Journal of Range Management41: 450–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallais, J. (1959). La region du Diaka.Mission d'Étude et d'Ame´nagement du Niger. Études de Ge´ographie Humaine, 1957–58, Bamako, Mali.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorse, J. E., and Steeds, D. R. (1987). Deserti.cation in the Sahelian and Sudanian Zones of West Africa.World Bank Technical Paper No. 61. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grayzel, J. A. (1977). The Ecology of Ethnic-Class Identity Among an African Pastoral People: the Doukoloma Fulbe.Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grayzel, J. A. (1990). Markets and Migration: A Fulbe Pastoral System in Mali. In Galaty, J. G., and Johnson, D. L. (eds.), TheWorld of Pastoralism.HerdingSystems in Comparative Perspective.Guilford Press, New York, pp 35–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grouzis, M. (1988). Structure, productivite´, et dynamique des systémes e´cologiques Sahe´liens (Mare d'Oursi, Burkina Faso).Editions de l'ORSTOM, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habou, A., and Danguioua, A. (1991). Transfert du capital-Betail au Niger (des pasteurs aux autres catégories socio-professionelles). Secretariat Permanent du Comite National du Code Rural, Niamey, Niger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haywood, M. (1980). Changes in Land Use and Vegetation in the ILCA/Mali Sudano-Sahelian Project Zone.ILCA WorkingDocument No. 3. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellden, U. (1991). Desertification-Time for an assessment. Ambio20: 372–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiernaux, P., and Turner, M. D. (1996). The effect of the timing and frequency of clipping on nutrient uptake and production of Sahelian annual rangelands. Journal of Applied Ecology33: 387–399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz, M. M. (1979). The sociology of pastoralism and African livestock projects.USAID, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Killanga, S., Traoré, A., and Hardouin, J. (1989). Inter-flock differences in small ruminant productivity in the central Mali agropastoral system. In Wilson, R. T., and Melaku, A. (eds.), African Small Ruminant Research and Development. Proceedings of a Conference held at Bamenda, Cameroon, 18–25 January 1989.African Small Ruminant Research Network, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, pp 86–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koyate, O. (1987). Gestion et productivitédes bovins dans les systéme agro-pastoral associéà la riziculture irrigue´e: Contribution a´ l'e´tude des causes de difference de productivitéentre troupeaux.Memoire de Fin d'Études, L'Institut Polytechnique Rural de Katibougou, Katibougou.

    Google Scholar 

  • Léle´, S. (1991). Sustainable development: A critical review. World Development19: 607–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mace, R. (1993). Transitions between cultivation and pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Current Anthropology34: 363–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackintosh, M. (1989). Gender Class and Rural Transition: Agribusiness and the Food Crisis in Senegal.Zed Books, Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marty, P. (1920). Études sur l'islam et les tribus du Soudan.Tome II. La region de Tombouctou, Dienne´, le Macina et de´pendances.Leroux, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteil, V. (1963). Contribution à la sociologie des Peuls (le ''Fonds Vieillard'' de l'IFAN). Bulletin de l'IFAN, se´rie B25: 351–414.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, J. (1990). Aspects of labour in an agro-pastoral economy: The northern Beja of Sudan. Pastoral Development Network Paper 30b. Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moulin, C.-H. (1993). Performances animales et pratiques d'élevage en Afrique sahélienne: La diversitédu fonctionnement des troupeaux de petits ruminants dans la Communaute´ Rurale de Ndiagne (Se´ne´gal). Thé se de doctorat De´partement Élevage et Me´decine Vétérinaire Tropicale. L'Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Netting, R. M. (1993). Smallholders,Householders.Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture.Stanford University Press, Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niamir, M. (1987). Grazing Intensity and Ecological Change in Eastern Senegal: Implications for the Monitoring of Sahelian Rangelands. Doctoral Dissertation. The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niamir, M. (1990). Herders' Decision-Making in Natural Resources Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Africa.Community Forestry Note No. 4. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penning de Vries, F. W. T., and Djitéye, M. A. (1982). La productivitédes pèturages sahe´liens. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reisman, P. (1977). Freedom in Fulani Social Life.Chicago University Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resource Inventory and Management Limited. (1987). Refuge in the Sahel.Resource Inventory and Management Limited, St. Helier, Great Britain.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandford, S. (1982). Pastoral strategies and deserti.cation: opportunism and conservatism in dry lands. In Spooner, B., and Mann, H. (eds.), Deserti.cation and Development:Dryland Ecology in Social Perspective.Academic Press, London, pp. 61–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scoones, I. (ed.) (1994). Living with Uncertainty. New Directions in Pastoral Development in Africa.Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Service de l'Élevage (1966). Transhumance convention de 1966 à Tenenkou. Premieŕe confe´rence des e´leveurs du cercle du Tenenkou.Service de l'Élevage, Tenenkou, Mali.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikana, P. M., and Kervan, C. K. (1991). The impact of commercialisation on the role of labour in African pastoral societies. Pastoral Development Network Paper 31c. Overseas Development Network, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stenning, D. J. (1959). Savannah Nomads.Oxford University Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutter, J. W. (1982). Commercial strategies, drought and monetary pressure: Wo'daa'be nomads of Tanout Arrondissement, Niger. Nomadic Peoples11: 26–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swift, J. (1996). Desertification: Narratives, winners, and losers. In Leach, M., and Mearns, R. (eds.), The Lie of the Land.International African Institute, London, pp 73–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiffen, M., and Mortimore, M. (1994). Malthus controverted: The role of capital and technology in growth and environmental recovery in Kenya. World Development22: 997–1010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toulmin, C. (1983a). Economic Behavior among Livestock Keeping Peoples: A Review of the Literature on the Economics of Pastoral Production in the Semi-Arid Zones of Africa. School of Development Studies, University of East Anglica.

  • Toulmin, C. (1983b). Herders and farmers or farmer-herders and herder-farmers? Pastoral Network Paper 15d. Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, C. J., Dregne, H. E., and Newcomb, W. W. (1991). Expansion and contraction of the Sahara Desert. Science253: 299–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B. L., Hyden, G., and Kates, R. (eds.) (1993). Population Growth and Agricultural Change in Africa.University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (1993). Overstocking the range: A critical analysis of the environmental science of Sahelian pastoralism. Economic Geography69: 402–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. D. (1998). Long-term effects of daily grazing orbits on nutrient availability in Sahelian West Africa: 1. Gradients in the chemical composition of rangeland soils and vegetation. Journal of Biogeography25: 669–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentin, C. (1985). Effects of grazing and trampling on soil deterioration around recently drilled water holes in the Sahelian zone. In El-Swaify, S. A., Moldenhauer, W. C., and Lo, A. (eds.), Soil Erosion and Water Erosion.Soil Conservation Society of America, Ankeny, Iowa, pp. 51–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valenza, J. (1981). Surveillance continue des pè turages naturels sahéliens. Revue de l'Élevage et Me´decine Ve´te´rinaire des Pays Tropicaux34: 83–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vedeld, T. (1992). Local institution-building and resource management in the West African Sahel. Forum for Development Studies1: 23–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagenaar, K. T., Diallo, A., and Sayers, A. R. (1986). Productivity of Transhumant Fulani Cattle in the Inner Niger Delta of Mali.ILCA Research Report No. 13. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, M. (1987). Drought, environment and food security: Some reflections on peasants, pastoralists and commoditization in dryland West Africa. In Glantz, M. H., (ed.), Drought and Hunger in Africa: Denying Famine a Future.CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge, pp 171–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, M. J. (1983). Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria.University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westoby, M., Walker, B., and Noy-Meir, I. (1989). Opportunisticmanagement for rangelands not at equilibrium. Journal of Range Management42: 266–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, C. (1984). The WoDaaBe. Social organization and production. In Swift, J. J., (ed.), Pastoral Development in central Niger: The Report of the Niger Range and Livestock Project.Ministry of Rural Development and USAID, Niamey, Niger, pp 292–592.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, C. (1990). Changing animal ownership and access to land among theWodaabe (Fulani) of Central Niger. In Baxter, P. T. W., and Hogg, R. (eds.), Property, Poverty, and People: Changing Rights in Property and Problems in Pastoral Development.University of Manchester, Manchester, pp 240–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, L., Hill, M., Welna, J. P., and Birkenbeuel, G. K. (1992). SYSTAT for Windows, Version 5 Edition.SYSTAT, Inc., Evanston, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, K. (1991). Labor shortages and crop diversity in the southern Peruvian sierra. Geographical Review81: 414–432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, K. (1993). Soil erosion and labor shortages in the Andes with special reference to Bolivia, 1953–91: Implication for ''conservation-with-development.'' World Development 21: 1659–1675.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Turner, M.D. Labor Process and the Environment: The Effects of Labor Availability and Compensation on the Quality of Herding in the Sahel. Human Ecology 27, 267–296 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018725327873

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018725327873

Navigation