Le Sahel oublié

Abstract

This work analyzes the problems of the Sahel by means of a description of certain systems of agriculture and livestock production. By the time the Sahel region came to the world's attention in the drought of the 1970s, it was a region undergoing perhaps irreversible change. The ecological and climatic zone of the Sahel is difficult to define precisely. There are Sahelian enclaves in the Sahara to the north and differing opinions as to the southern limits, with proposed boundaries extending well to the south of Bamako and Ouagadougou in some cases. A definition of an autonomous Sahel ecological zone has cited the seasonal concentrations and limited volume of rain delivered in a series of downpours, wide annual fluctuations in rainfall, and important role of annual grasses. The political Sahel is equally debatable, consisting of the 9 countries that formed the Intergovernmental Committee to Combat the Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) in 1971. 2 of the 9 countries, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, are not truly Sahelian but joined the CILSS because their governments decided to after several years of agricultural deficits. Oral traditions compiled by anthropologists and research by geomorphologists, hydrologists, botanists, and others suggests that irregular rainfall has always been a feature of Sahel life. The history of each Sahelian region shows alternation of good harvests, difficult shortages, and subsistence crises that neither the colonial administrations nor the current governments have been able to control. If the effects of the most recent droughts prove to be more enduring, the cause probably will be found in the weight of increased human activity on the fragile ecosystem. The population of the Sahel has more than doubled in the past 50 years, herds have multiplied, and lands under cultivation have been extended at the expense of pasture. The capacity of farmers and herders to adapt to climatic risks has been reduced because of the weakening of family solidarity networks. The movement to extensive agriculture has been observed everywhere. All studies conclude that all types of vegetation have been degraded, that agriculture has been extended to marginal soils, and that the soils and grazing lands are saturated. Overgrazing, cutting of trees, and denuding of soils have led to "desertification". Droughts have aggravated the degradation already underway. It is not known to what extent the environmental deterioration is due to uncontrollable climatic factors and to what extent it is the result of human activity. More detailed descriptions of the changing systems of exploitation of 4 different groups in different Sahel countries illustrate the discussion.