4'3 How do people farm

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4.3 How do people farm in the Sahel?
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Where is the Sahel?
Sahara
It lies at the southern edge of the
Desert
It is a strip of dry land of 5,500 kilometres
long and 450 kilometres wide
It separates the Sahara Desert to the north and
savanna to the south
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What is the physical environment of the Sahel?
Figure A
Types of climate
Tropical semi-arid climate
?
Tropical wet climate
?
High/Low throughout the year
Temperature
Annual rainfall
Between and mm
300
600
Reliable/Unreliable rainfall
Tropical rain forest
NaturalVegetation
?
?
Grassland and shrubs
Figure B
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How do people in the Sahel make their living?
According to the diagrams, do you know how people
in the Sahel make their living?
Grazing of livestock around water spots
Nomadic herding
Their herds include camels, goats, sheep, donkeys
and cattle
Rear livestock and move from one place to another
to look for water and pasture
Pasture and water exhausted
Move to another spot
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How do people in the Sahel make their living?
In wet seasons, it is wet in the Sahel. Grass
grow well. Herds are grazed there
In dry seasons, the land dries and grass dies out
in the Sahel. The nomads and their herds move
southward where there is more rainfall and pasture
Nomads move their herds on a seasonal basis. This
is called
Transhumance
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Where is nomadic herding found in the Sahel?
How would you describe the distribution pattern
of nomadic herding in the Sahel?
Nomadic herding can be found in Mauritania, Mali,
, and
.
Niger
Chad
Sudan
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What is the nomadic herding system in the Sahel?
Outputs
Processes
Inputs
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Why do the people of the Sahel practise nomadic
herding?
1 Environmental restriction
The output of nomadic herding is lower than that
of sedentary farming
Why do the people in the Sahel not practise
sedentary farming?
Requirements for sedentary farming
Conditions in the Sahel
-Rainfall is scarce
-Adequate water supply
-Lack of capital and technology for the
construction of irrigation facilities
-Absence of large rivers for developing water
schemes for irrigation
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Why do the people of the Sahel practise nomadic
herding?
2 Nomadic herding can help maintain the
ecological balance in the Sahel
From an ecology point of view, it is a balanced
system
It is not suitable to practise intensive farming
in the Sahel under such climatic conditions
Herds are move to another site when the pasture
is exhausted
The land is left fallow and the grass will
regenerate
Herds are grazed on the site near a water spot
With enough time for fallowing, the grass
regenerates and the herds can move back
How do the peoples lives and their way of
herding adapt to the natural environment?
The herds return to the old site again
The land is left fallow and the grass will
regenerate
Herds are moved to another site when the pasture
is exhausted
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How can the practice of nomadic herding help
maintain the ecological balance in the Sahel?
Ways of herding
Migration of herds
Keeping a variety of animal species
Controlling the number of animals in the herd

• Characteristic
• Nomads move the herds to find new pastures and
  water seasonally
• Advantages
• Herds can be grazed
• The old patch can be left fallow
• The ecological balance can be maintained

• Characteristic
• Nomads keep a variety of animal species
• Advantages
• Different animal species will take up different
  plant species available in the pasture
• Herders can have a rich mix of dairy products at
  different times

• Characteristics
• When there is inadequate water or forage, or
  diseases occur, herders will reduce the size of
  the herd
• When water and vegetation conditions become more
  favourable, they will enlarge their herd again
• Advantages
• Herds can be grazed while vegetation can grow
  reasonably well
• The ecological balance can be maintained

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What has happened to the Sahel in recent years?
There has been evidence of environmental
degradation in this area over the past few decades
Desertification
The Sahel had suffered from serious drought and
famine at different times from the 1940s to the
1990s
What has gone wrong in the Sahel?
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Is the nature causing problems?
Drought
Herders have no where to find pastures and water.
Famine may occur
Pastures available to herds decreases
Prolonged drought
Herders move in search of water and pasture
Vegetation cannot regenerate. Pastures and water
are used up
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Are human causing problems?
How does rapid population increase lead to
environmental degradation in the Sahel? ( Hints
The carrying capacity of the Sahel. )
1 Increased population
Death rates have dropped with the introduction of
modern medicine
Between 1980 and 2000, the population in the
Sahel had gone up per year
2.8
increased
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Are human causing problems?
2 Increased demand for meat
Cattle can be sold to the nearby cities and
distant markets with improvements in transport
Herders rear more animals to earn profits
Adds pressure on the land
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Are human causing problems?
3 Overgrazing
Herders rear more animals to earn profits
More grass will be consumed. The grasses do not
have enough time to recover
The large number of herds will trample the thin
soil, thereby destroying it
More and more land becomes barren
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Are human causing problems?
4 Misuse of water resources
Local governments in the Sahel want the herders
to stay in the same place in order to get taxes
from them
With more water supply , people rear more animals
Water and pastures are not enough for the large
herd
Water in this area is used up
People dig wells and boreholes
Pastures decrease
What problems will occur if herders rear their
animals in the same place?
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Are human causing problems?
5 Converting grazing land to farmland
Population increases in the region. More land is
used for farming
Land available for grazing becomes smaller
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What has gone wrong?
Conclusion
The pressure on the land of the Sahel is high
If no effective measures are taken,
desertification will result
The ecological balance will be damaged forever
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How can we sustain a balanced environment in the
Sahel?
Targets
Methods
Problems
Reduce pressure on land
Provide enough food for the people in the Sahel
Increase in population adds pressure to the land
resources
Misuse of land resources
Improve grazing practices
Protect the environment in the Sahel
1 What problems are the people in the Sahel
facing?
2 What measures can be carried out to ease the
problems?
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Improved grazing practices
1 Improved grazing technologies
Advantages
Measures
Control diseases on the herds
Medicines and vaccines
Introduction of better forage plant species and
new breeds of high-yielding livestock
Improve livestock productivity
Improved grazing schemes
Increase herders ability to cope with seasonal
changes
Transformation of perishable products into
storabe products
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Improved grazing practices
2 Proper grazing management
Reduce the number of stocks during drought period
Livestock is only grazed in places where the
supply of grazing plants is adequate
Good grazing management around water points
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Improved grazing practices
3 Early warning systems of drought and famine
Use of remote sensing to give early warnings of
drought to herders
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Reduce pressure on land
1 Birth control
Carry out birth control programmes to control
population growth
The programmes are not very successful
Are the birth control programmes successful?
Why do the programmes not successful?
Large family
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Reduce pressure on land
2 Create jobs for herders by investing in
infrastructure
Infrastructure investment
Industry
Transport network
Power supplies
Mining
Organizations which engage in investments
Governments in the Sahel
Foreign organizations
International voluntary organizations
These schemes provide alternate employment for
nomads
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The end
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What is the nomadic herding system in the Sahel?
Physical inputs
1 Climate

• Strong/Weak solar radiation

• Annual rainfall of to mm

300
600

• Reliable/Unreliable rainfall

2 Soil

• Sub-arid brown soil which is fertile/infertile

3 Vegetation cover

• and

Grass
shrubs
4 Herd/species

• Cattle, camels, goats, sheep and donkeys

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What is the nomadic herding system in the Sahel?
Cultural inputs
1 Labour

• Driving and rearing the livestock

2 Technology

• Simple and traditional/Modern and advanced

• Large/Little inputs in terms of machines,
  irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides

3 Decision making of nomads

• The size of the herds

• The species of the herds

• When to move to a new place to get new pastures
  and water

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What is the nomadic herding system in the Sahel?
Processes
Nomads move their herds to graze on pastures and
water
Practise transhumance
Daily work includes
-Provide water for their livestock
-Process dairy product
-Collect firewood for fuel
-Mate their livestock
-Milk the young herds
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What is the nomadic herding system in the Sahel?
Outputs
Meat
Milk
Leather
Subsistence farming
Consumed by the nomads themselves
Exchange for money, cereal and other daily
necessities
A small part of outputs is sold
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What is desertification?
Less vegetation cover to protect the soil from
erosion
Vegetation
Being cut or eaten
Soil erosion
Vegetation cannot grow again
Land degradation
Desertification