Causes of dry season transhumance
Dry season movement is the most important due to lack of forage or water or both (Pamo
and Pieper 2000). According to Stenning (1959), as the dry season begins (October to
end of December), the Fulani move their cattle down the valley of the Sokoto River,
stopping along the way to graze crop residues from newly harvested fields. Those Fulani
who practice cultivation then return to their own plots, while the others keep their cattle
on the fields surrounding local villages in return for token gifts. As the main dry season
continues, they tend to move their herds onto the flood plains, where their shelters are
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simple windscreens. By January, they reach their dry-season grazing areas on the Gulba
plains. Here, the camps are situated near sources of water, rather than near grazing, and
the cattle have to travel long distances from the camps to their pastures, losing condition
in the process. The grazing periods are interrupted, generally twice a day, to take the
cattle back to be watered. As the dry season continues, the animals are dispersed in small
herds to take the fullest advantage of the remaining grazing.
According to Stenning (1959), a pattern of transhumance occurs among other Fulani
groups of the same lineage. These pastoralists move north during the dry season, digging
shallow wells in the bed of the Gana river. When new grass is reported in the wet-season
grazing area, they move back south. Transhumant patterns have been documented in
some detail for the Wandu Fulbe of Nigeria, who move south to the flood plains of
the Sokoto river and beyond during the dry season and return north during the rains.
The distance covered during the average transhumant cycle is about 240 km, with
approximately one-fourth of the groups moving over 320 km. The groups move according
to certain seasons. During the wet ‘dungu’ season (July to end of September), scattered
pastoralist households come together to form larger camps. The rains begin during ‘seeto’
(early May to June). When planting begins, the herds are moved away from the cultivated
areas. Those Fulani who practice agriculture keep their animals nearby until after the
millet harvest, while the more mobile Fulani start moving immediately towards the
northern wet-season grazing area.