Loss of Grazing Lands and Its Effects
Large tracts of grazing land have also been converted into game reserves, such as Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park, and Tanzania’s Serengeti Park. Pastoralists were not permitted to enter these reserves and were not permitted to hunt or graze their herds. These reserves were located in locations that had served as regular grazing grounds for Maasai herds. The loss of the best grazing areas and water resources put a strain on the Maasai’s short tract of land. Continuous grazing in a small space inevitably resulted in a decline in pasture quality. There was constantly a scarcity of fodder. Feeding the livestock became a recurring issue.
Pastoralism in Africa
Pastoralism and pastoral livestock production are very important to the livelihood and economy of Africa’s semi-arid areas. Due to long-term climate change, around 7,000 years ago; it spread throughout Northern Africa as an adaptation to the constantly changing and unpredictable arid climate. Pastoralism in Africa is practiced in 43 percent of the landmass.
More than 22 million Africans rely on some type of pastoral activity for a living. Among them are Bedouins, Berbers, Maasai, Somali, Boran, and Turkana. Today, the bulk of them live in semi-arid grasslands or dry deserts, where rainfed agriculture is difficult. They raise cattle, camels, goats, sheep, and donkeys, and sell milk, meat, skins, and wool. Some augment their meager and uncertain earnings from pastoralism through commerce and transportation, while others combine mobile lifestyle activity with agriculture.
The lives of African pastoralists changed tremendously over colonial and post-colonial times. From the late 19th century, the British colonial government in east Africa started expanding land under cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasturelands turned to cultivated fields and this brought a number of problems for the pastoralists and their lives became tough.
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