Patterns of Passage into protected areas: drivers and outcomes of Fulani immigration, settlement and integration into the Kachia Grazing Reserve, Northwest Nigeria

Abstract 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

Socio-economic factors influencing small ruminants management practices in Kaduna State

Socio-economic factors influencing small ruminants management practices in Kaduna State were investigated. One hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered to randomly selected small ruminants farmers in Giwa LGA of Kaduna State. Tools of analysis include descriptive statistics, the Pearson's correlation and stepwise regression procedures. Analysis revealed that certain socio-economic characteristics of respondents such as age, income, flock size, investment, veterinary visits, education, number of small ruminants started with, household size and experience are significantly related to small ruminant management practices. All the predictive variables (age, income, flock size, investment, etc.) contribute about 44% of the variance with household size, stock-owner's experience and number of small ruminants started with, contributing 29.6% of the variance. Constraints with small ruminants production were more of management. Key words: Small ruminants; socio-economics; management practices; constraints Moor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol.4(2) 2003: 274-28

Draught animal power utilization on smallholder farms in Kaduna state, Nigeria

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Smallholder dairy production in the context of crop-livestock systems in the Inland Valleys of Nigeria 2: Characterisation of dairy production systems in the inland valleys around Zaria

A total of 205 households that use inland valleys for agricultural activities and had dairy animals in and around Zaria were interviewed to establish the link between household or community based activities in the inland valleys and milk production. The result of the study shows that Fulani who are traditionally pastoralists and landless, are now settling down and most of them have title deeds on the land where they are settled. These settled herdsmen have taken to farming and they use crop residues from such farming activities to feed their livestock. The overall average herd size in the study area was 54 cows. Apart from selling and consuming fresh milk, most households (88%) also process the milk into sour milk and butter. In half of the households (50%), the family consumes 34% of the fresh milk produced. Twenty-three (23%) and thirty-four (34%) of the butter and sour milk processed is reserved for family consumption,respectively. Overall, milk and milk products constitute a large proportion of the diet in the surveyed households. However, the quantity of dairy products sold exceeds that consumed by the households, which shows that the trend is towards commercialisation of the enterprise

On-farm improvement of milk yield in Bunaji cattle through legume supplementation

Legume supplementation of Bunaji (White Fulani) cattle owned by farmers in the Ungwan Fulani Inland Valley area of Zaria was studied with the objective of improving milk yield. The trial involved twenty-eight lactating cows in five herds whose average parity, age (as determined by dentition), liveweight, lactation length and daily milk yield were 2.3, 6.1 years, 216.9kg, 5 months and 0.4 litres, respectively. After 3-6 weeks of supplementation, an increase in daily milk yield ranging from 0.3-2.1 litres was recorded, the difference between herds being highly significant (P0.01). It was concluded that a seven-fold increase in milk yield could be achieved through legume supplementation for six weeks in Bunaji cows. Higher increases could possibly be recorded if the supplementation period is extended