LAND CRISIS ON THE MAMBILA PLATEAU OF NIGERIA, WEST-AFRICA

Authors
Citation
J. Hurault, LAND CRISIS ON THE MAMBILA PLATEAU OF NIGERIA, WEST-AFRICA, Journal of biogeography, 25(2), 1998, pp. 285-299
Citations number
8
Categorie Soggetti
Ecology,Geografhy
Journal title
ISSN journal
03050270
Volume
25
Issue
2
Year of publication
1998
Pages
285 - 299
Database
ISI
SICI code
0305-0270(1998)25:2<285:LCOTMP>2.0.ZU;2-I
Abstract
The Mambila plateau in Nigeria features unique physical and climatic c onditions for human settlement as for cattle breeding: it is within su ch an environment that the Mambila farmers have settled and developed as a dense population. During the 19th century the highlands became th e main sources of slaves for the Muslim Fulani kingdoms of Banyo and G ashaka. Although resisting strongly, the Mambila villages fell one aft er the other. This resulted in a demographic collapse: by 1930 the Mam bila were reduced to a population of 16,000. In the 1920s Mbororo and Fulani graziers began to settle in the region: their livestock became the main cause of environmental degradation. Severs erosion of the gra zed land can now be observed, mainly characterized by the deepening of the river beds and the collapse of river banks. Such a phenomenon is attributed to a change in the rainwater flows due to the exhaustion of the vegetation cover. The uncontrolled growth of livestock has been f ollowed by high competition for land between the graziers and those Ma mbila farmers who survived the Fulani occupation. The graziers holding most of the political power have progressively deprived the farmers o f their lands: the latter are now confined within isolated small encla ves. They have lost their economic independence and are reduced to wor k for the graziers or to emigrate to Cameroon. Furthermore, in a large part of the Mambila plateau, the pastoral range has been divided betw een the graziers, excluding the Mambila farmers, as well as the poores t Fulani, from land ownership and enhancing their dependency on the gr aziers. Such an explosive situation is illustrated by two surveys of t he Kuma and Leme regions. Over the 78 km(2) studied in Kuma, the Mambi la possess only 22% of the area; the survey found 132 herds (at an est imated total of 9475 cattle) with a population density of 1.5 cattle p er ha, almost totally owned by Muslim graziers. The area studied in Le me covers 113.5 km(2) of uneven land. Although confined to nine enclav es, the Mambila owned 32% of the land, while the Muslim graziers posse ss 67%. 145 herds have been counted (at an estimate total of 10,215 ca ttle): 63% are owned by the Mbororo, 20% by Fulani and the Haoussa fro m Gembu, 10% by the Mambila, and 7% by the recent Yamba migrants.