This type of farming utilizes a low level of technology and household labour. It is done in small areas and produces a little outcome. Intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence farming are two types of subsistence farming. There are two types of primitive subsistence farming as shifting cultivation and nomadic herding. In shifting cultivation, small plots are cleared and cultivated.
Then the cultivation is shifted to another new plot, leaving the cultivated area for fallow vegetation to grow. In nomadic herding, nomads travel to different places with their herds searching for new pastures and cultivate to fulfil the needs of the group. Overview and Key Difference 2. What is Shifting Cultivation 3. What is Nomadic Herding 4. Shifting cultivation is a type of farming practise in which a person cultivates a small plot of land and then abandons the plot for fallowing and then moves the cultivation into a new plot.
In this method, the farmer uses plots of lands temporarily for his cultivation. The lands are usually cleared by fire. The length of the cropping period in a plot is relatively short in comparison to the fallowing period. The length of the fallowing is relatively too long. Shifting cultivation is not a popular farming method. One of the pastoralists said that:.
The main reason for selling animals is to buy fodder in the form of crop residue and bring water from remote distances using tankers. Sixteen percent of respondents mentioned that in some seasons, in order to get pasture for their livestock, they need to cross the border into Ethiopia. Before doing so, however, they need to obtain some sort of agreement with local tribal leaders on the Ethiopian side. This is a practice that usually followed when there is scarcity of pasture. Another factor is ethnicity, as this kind of agreement is not open for all ethnic groups from the Sudan side of the border.
For example, in while the Lahaween had the chance to cross the border from Sudan to Ethiopia, it was not possible for other groups like the Bani Amer. Ten percent of respondents need to transport supplementary water using tankers to water their animals. Such adaptations are only possible for wealthy pastoralists.
During the field survey, we noted that many of the hafirs constructed by the Department of Animal Resources and Range to offer water for livestock were abandoned. This was because the hafirs were being damaged due to lack of care or an act purposely made by crop farmers in the neighbourhood to deny the opportunity for pastoralists' livestock to rest in the vicinity.
Although the climate variability and rangeland change have affected all components of the pastoral resources in the region, special attention has been given to the livestock migration routes. Throughout the field surveys and interviews, this was one of the most pressing issues facing pastoralism in the region. According to the pastoralists' judgment, water availability is the most serious problem along the routes.
Many hafirs were blocked or destroyed purposely by crop farmers in the vicinity. Another problem concerning water availability is that local inhabitants of the Butana did not allow transhumant pastoralists to access hafirs around the villages. All these factors have put more pressure on pastoralists and made them shorten their trip along the routes.
Competition over water resources has caused many conflicts between local inhabitants in the Butana and migrating pastoral groups. Under the conditions of climate change, such conflicts could easily develop. Another challenge on using the grazing routes is the encroachment of mechanized rain-fed agriculture onto the route zone. In some cases the cultivated areas totally block the route, which is done deliberately by large-scale farmers in order to hinder livestock moving in the vicinity of their land.
The impact of LULC changes on grazing resources has been illustrated using multi-temporal satellite imagery and shown to provide a practical way for mapping and quantifying LULC changes in the three study areas. As a consequence of increased exposure of land through removal of natural vegetation cover, the proportion of land prone to soil erosion increased.
Therefore, it is critical to obtain current states of vegetation cover as a basis for initiating vegetation protection and restoration programmes Egbert et al. In this respect, remote sensing technology offers a practical and economical means to study vegetation cover changes, especially over large areas Langley et al. LULC change analysis showed in the dry season riverine camping areas that the reduction of natural vegetation and bare land area is due to agricultural expansion.
Farmers mentioned that the expansion of mechanized farming in areas adjacent to Atbara and Rahad Rivers started during the early s when the government began to give licenses to the private sector to take up mechanized farming in the area. Concerning the quality of vegetation cover, herders witnessed that evergreen to semi-evergreen tree species such Acacia nilotica , Acacia polyacantha and Combretum glutinosum which once prevailed in the area have been significantly reduced.
Instead, invader species such as Ipomoea carnea have appeared along river banks. At the same time, the area along both rivers suffers from overgrazing due to the long stay of pastoralists in the area which annually ranges between six to seven months. El-Tayeb mentioned that overstocking around these permanent water supplies is serious, and the grazing value of the areas is mostly lost, i.
Using multi-temporal Landsat imagery from , and , Fadul et al. The decrease or disappearance of certain plant species reduces vegetation cover and increases the exposure of soil surfaces to wind and water erosion, leading to more land degradation Wezel and Haigis Along the seasonal migration routes, the acute drop in natural vegetation that has been detected in LULC change analysis agrees with respondents' reports, when they acknowledge the problems facing the routes.
Bare land is a minimal LULC class in this study location. This is due to the fact that farmers try to cultivate all available land and do not leave un-cultivated land along the routes, so as to minimize any roaming of animals around their farms. Therefore, conflicts between farmers and pastoralists mainly occur in the post-rainy season along nomadic corridors during the pastoralists' movement towards their dry season grazing areas WISP Sulieman and Elagib showed that livestock mobility is being increasingly challenged.
They found that land degradation and blocking of animal routes are one of the paramount factors that led to pastoralist sedentarization, urbanization and the breakdown of the traditional pastoralist livelihood system. In addition to loss of grazing land, agricultural expansion has also blocked livestock migratory routes between dry and wet season pastures, and between the herds and their daily watering points Sulieman ; UNEP The situation is more or less similar in other countries in the Horn of Africa where commercial agriculture is reported as threatening the existence of livestock migration routes Flintan Although grassland is the prevailing LULC in the Butana area, field visits and interviews with herders clearly showed their qualitative degradation in terms of species composition.
Domination of unpalatable species such as Cymbopogon proximus and Cassia senna has been observed in many parts of this site. The domination of unpalatable plant species could be attributed to the communal grazing system which has been adopted in the area since Akhtar Herders stated that species of higher nutritive value such as Ipomoea sinensis and Blepharis linariifolia have almost completely disappeared. They considered that open access and uncontrolled grazing are the principal causes of overgrazing and land degradation.
Communal grazing lands required individual users to group together to determine the optimal number of total livestock to be allowed on the range and to distribute grazing rights among all users so that the total number of livestock does not exceed carrying capacity.
However, experience has shown that in the absence of strong institutional controls over individual stocking decisions, it is difficult to achieve this kind of co-operative outcome ILRI Akhtar mentioned that the disorganized use of grazing lands by all ethnic groups in the Butana has led to a rapid spread of desertification since the s, accelerated further by the droughts of the s.
Besides intensive overgrazing on some vegetation zones, the recent introduction of mechanized farming to the area has been quoted by respondents as one of the main factors leading to the significant increase of bare land in the Butana area. Mechanical working of the shallow soils, using tractors and wide-level discs, has led to mechanical soil damage, and in many cultivated areas, gravels appeared on the top soil due to fluctuation of rain; after a few seasons of cultivation, the land is abandoned.
Holter mentioned that deterioration in the woody vegetation area is due to drought, extensive use of trees for fuel and expansion of the rain-fed cultivated area. Butana recently experienced severe drought in , and Elhag and Walker Nevertheless, the increasing scarcity of virgin land in the southern part of the state has resulted in large-scale mechanized farming being illegally pushed northwards until it is now just into the heart of the Butana Babiker It should be emphasized that the expansion of cultivation is one of the major forces driving land cover change in the whole Sudano-Sahelian zone of Africa Hiernaux and Turner , and the Butana is part of that zone.
Local communities harbour important information on valuable plants and vegetation dynamics; their knowledge is fundamental for management strategies aimed at sustainable use and conservation of natural vegetation Lykke This is especially the case when other historical and ecological information is not available Sulieman et al.
Pastoralists in the study area mentioned a comprehensive list of plant species in the region, providing detailed descriptions that include, among others, life form and change trend Table 5.
They are aware of the environmental changes taking place in their surroundings. It is known that local knowledge-based management strategies could ensure a focus on the species and vegetation types that are most valuable to local communities Sulieman et al. In the grazing lands, monitoring of biodiversity would therefore be more effective if responsible range departments assessed biodiversity and established monitoring regimes based on scientific and indigenous knowledge Oba et al.
Considering that pastoralists are frequently observing and exploiting the local environment and have in-depth knowledge of the traditional methods of rangeland assessments, their contribution to range management is expected to be more efficient than policies imposed by governments Mills et al.
Based on their annual movements, we would expect that pastoralists explore all available grazing resources across the region. The reasons given by pastoralists for the decline in vegetation species number ranged from climatic to anthropogenic factors. The herders elucidate the changes of herbaceous species in terms of the disappearance and decrease of desirable species.
On the other hand, important information gleaned from discussions with herders explained some reasons beyond the increase of unpalatable plant species. According to herders, the amount and timing of precipitation were the most important determinants of changes in plant species.
They see factors like changes in rainfall pattern and herbicide applications playing significant roles in this process of change. For example, late and erratic rainfall is not favourable for palatable species, whilst it is suitable for emergence of unpalatable species. It is widely perceived by herders that Hibiscus esculentus , which is one of the most edible plants in the region, is disappearing due to wide application of herbicide.
At the same time, they emphasize that herbicide application is the reason why some unpalatable species such as Xanthium brasilicum and Datura stramonium dominate. According to the herders, as others have also shown Oba et al. Herbicide application for rain-fed agriculture was introduced recently to the area in the s.
Before the introduction of herbicides, weeding was practiced manually and considered to be the most costly operation in the crop production budget. According to crop farmers' perceptions, herbicide application is more economical than the expensive labourious hand weeding, especially for areas heavily infested by weeds Sulieman and Buchroithner Currently, however, farmers are applying selective herbicides which are affecting weed species composition.
For example, it is not possible to control some species such as wild sorghum because of its close genetic constituent with sorghum. The evidence from East Africa provided by Oba and Kaitira suggests that descriptions of landscape degradation in terms of loss of grazing value for the livestock might be more relevant than a general statement about rangeland degradation associated with pastoral land use.
Their findings recommend reconsidering descriptions of land degradation in terms of grazing preference of livestock, as opposed to plant species composition alone. As reported by Fernandez-Gimenez , herders' detailed knowledge of plants, including changes in pasture conditions across space and over time, clearly shows a strong understanding of ecological relationships and processes.
It is important to stress that the pastoral resources in the region are under pressure from human activities as well as possibly suffering from impacts of climate change, noted in meteorological observations recently analyzed by Sulieman and Elagib However, the objective of this study is to discuss the issue of both land degradation and climate variability and their relation to each other. Climate variability is one among a number of important drivers of change in the region.
It has both direct and indirect impacts on the ecological and socioeconomic components of the grazing resources at different spatial and temporal scales.
Herders' perceptions about a changing climate appeared to be in accordance with the recent patterns Sulieman and Elagib The present accelerated rate of climate variability has led to more difficulty in predicting rangeland productivity and changes in the availability of water and grass resources, making pastoral production more uncertain than ever before. This, coupled with conflict and other socioeconomic disadvantages, means that pastoralists are less able to cope with these changes and they suffer more.
Crop residues from mechanized agricultural land represent the supplementary forage sources for the livestock of all respondents.
The present findings are consistent with the results of Glover , who reported that crop residues formed a significant portion of the livestock diets in the study area. Currently, the area under mechanized cultivation is estimated to be 4. The destructive role played by mechanized rain-fed agriculture as a main factor for natural vegetation clearings in the region Sulieman and Buchroithner and the trade-off due to meeting gaps in forage supply for pastoralist livestock that result from mechanized agriculture is an issue that needs to be carefully examined.
According to SKAP , although natural grazing land and forage supplies in Gadarif area have been depleted in both quantity and quality due to recent changes in land use, they are now supplemented by livestock feed sources provided by arable farms. Crop residues, fallow fields and failed crops of the area now provide four fifths of the available grazing and forage sources of the entire area.
It is known that raw crop residue has a low nutritive value for livestock feeding, compared to natural pastures Owen and Jayasuriya However, crop residue could be upgraded to improve its intake and digestibility by using low-technology treatments such as ammonia generated from fertilizer urea Sundstol et al. In recent years, pastoralists need to pay in order to get access to crop residue in the agricultural land. Previously, local orders were annually issued which stipulated the latest date for harvest, after which pastoralists were free to enter the cultivated area and graze.
The British colonial government strictly enforced these regulations, mainly through the native administrators who guarded the domain of pastoral activity Shazali and Ahmed Mobile livestock grazing is a traditional mechanism developed by herders to cope with changes induced by climate variability in the availability of water and fodder at different places and times.
In recent years, however, pastoralists have shortened their pattern of mobility, to be more frequent movements, especially during the dry season. The reason cited by pastoralists is to seek enough fodder and water for their herds. Therefore, some pastoralists have adopted partial sedentarization, by leaving children and elderly people in settled locations, in order to make movement practical and easier.
These pastoralist groups are expected to benefit from having permanent settlements, where they can more easily access services such as health and education. However, they do not intend to abandon their traditional way of keeping animals. Many have developed an advanced form of transhumance, as can be seen among the Rashaida group in eastern Sudan and the Rufa'a al Hoi group in Blue Nile State Ahmed The movements of both the Rashaida and the Rufa'a al Hoi are no longer curtailed by the lack of water in places where grazing is available for their animals.
They have developed a system of using tankers to take water to the animals where they can have enough grass for grazing. During this period, parts of the families are settled in places where they can have access to necessary services. This is a form of intensifying production. Destocking is a strategy followed by many pastoralists in order to cope with climate shock and to provide money for purchasing crop residues.
However, the ongoing destocking process has threatened and impoverished large numbers of small-owner pastoralists. This agrees with findings of other previous researchers. Thus, Morton and Shazali , studying the Lahaween in eastern Sudan, have argued that they have been considerably impoverished as their pastoral pursuits have declined. This prospect causes considerable concern, since the impoverished do not have alternatives to maintain their livelihoods within the present structures of the economy UNDP Livestock rustling during cross-border livestock movements to Ethiopia is also causing destocking for some pastoralists.
Before deciding to cross the border, they need to attain agreement with local tribal leaders on the Ethiopian side. However, transboundary conflicts between Sudan and Ethiopia are chronic, with a long and complex history Sulieman et al. Pastoralist adaptations have been weakened by both internal and external pressures. This study has revealed that pastoralists have considerable knowledge and experience in dealing with climatic variability. However, various other factors, such as their marginalization in decision-making concerning resource use and their lack of education and other basic services, restrict their possibilities to adapt.
The pastoralists are being marginalized not only by being pushed out of their traditional lands but also through neglect in developing their human and animal capital.
Our survey showed that the state failed to provide needed services such as education. When interviewed, leaders of the Herders' Union said that mobile education is thought to be costly, according to the office of mobile education within the Gadarif State Ministry of Education. In an exploratory study in Ethiopia and Niger of pastoralists' responses to perceived climate change GebreMichael et al.
In attempting to address adaptation to climate change, these authors recommend that primary attention should be given to these root causes of vulnerability, not only focusing on technical adaptation to climate change.
Otherwise, more immediate challenges to the livelihoods of pastoralist communities could exacerbate the vicious cycle of impoverishment and contribute to undermining their survival capacity. Ahmed has stated that numerous attempts to address the issue of nomadic pastoral groups in Sudan's planned development have had no conclusive or positive results and in many cases has led to the further marginalization of these groups.
Based on LULC change analysis using multi-temporal satellite imagery, combined with local knowledge from pastoralists, this study has quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the spatial-temporal changes from to on grazing resources in Gadarif, Sudan. The information generated from the LULC pattern of the study area is expected to be of immense help in formulating policies and programmes required for development and planning in the pastoral sector.
The recorded changes have disrupted the traditional transhumance systems, resulting in greater grazing pressure. Despite the changes in traditional patterns of land use and the acknowledgment by policymakers of land grabbing as a major impediment to improving livestock productivity and natural resources management, state policymakers in Gadarif did not consider the issue of land degradation to be a top priority.
Instead of attempting to rehabilitate, upgrade or modernize the pastoral system, policymakers and planners think of settling pastoralists. One of the adverse consequences of the rapid expansion of mechanized agriculture in the region is loss of biodiversity due to natural vegetation clearance. This leads to high rates of species disappearance as well as extinction of many important fodder plants in the region. Similarly, some agricultural practices such as herbicide application by crop farmers are leading to changes in natural species composition.
In fact, it is known that the long-term effect of applying herbicide to control weeds can reduce species diversity and lead to the emergence of new invader plants Ortega and Pearson ; Duary et al. Assessment of changes in grazing resources in Gadarif has shown that the current patterns are going to threaten the existence of pastoralists in the region. Confirmed by Andrew. There are no comments.
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