Life in the Sahel Region
The Sahel region begins at the Sahara’s edge and includes Gambia and parts of
Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan. The land here
is marginal for farming - in good years, just enough rain falls in the Sahel to grow
crops. During years of drought, life in the Sahel region becomes very difficult.
The natural vegetation of the Sahel is a mixture of grasslands, acacia trees,
baobab trees, and small bushes. Farther south, where rain is more plentiful, there
is a greater variety of vegetation.
The Sahel region was once the home of vast trading empires, and boasted some of
Africa's most influential civilizations. A narrow band of semi-arid land south of the
Sahara, the Sahel attracted both Arabs looking for gold from Sudan and Europeans
looking for slaves from West Africa. The two influences merged with native ones,
creating a culturally complex area. The Sahel is widely French-speaking, Islamic and
takes its name ("shore") from Arabic.
Traditionally, two distinct populations have inhabited the region: pastoral nomads (or
herders) and sedentary farmers, each with their own cultures but bound together by
trade. In the past, these people have adapted to the challenge of farming and herding
on marginal land in many ways.
Nomads in Chad migrate with the rains that
grow grass for cattle.
One adaptation was to plant crops such as millet and sorghum, which are grains that will flourish in dry places. Another
adaptation was to use a farming system known as shifting agriculture. In this method, a farmer first cleared a field and
planted it with crops for a year or two. Then the farmer moved on to a new field. Herders used a similar system to feed
their animals, moving their herds from one grazing area to another throughout the year. Both of these systems provided
worn-out fields with an opportunity to rest.
During the twentieth century, however, the fragile ecological zone was been unable to sustain its growing population.
Increased pressure on the land made the inevitable droughts even worse. One severe drought began in 1968, with very
little rainfall for the next six years. This drought caused a dramatic famine during the 1970s – in which nearly 200,000
people died. During the drought, desertification began. In areas with little rain, few plants grew. Without vegetation to
anchor the dry soil in place, desert winds picked up the soil and carried it away. When this happened, marginal lands
were transformed into desert.
Cattle in the Sahel Overgrazing by cattle is a major cause of desertification in the Sahel.
When too many cattle graze in an area, they destroy its cover of plants. As a result, soil
is eroded by wind or water.
In addition to drought, the changing ways of life in the Sahel
may be contributing to desertification. Some farmers, for
example, have begun to raise cash crops, like peanuts, which
often wear out the soil faster than traditional crops. After the
soil has been depleted, or worn out, it may blow away before
it can recover its fertility. Similarly, some nomads have
increased the size of their herds so that they have surplus
animals to sell for cash. The result is too many animals on
limited grazing land. Loss of vegetation from overgrazing may
also contribute to desertification. Experts aren’t sure
whether desertification in the Sahel is a short-term problem
or whether these marginal lands will be lost forever to an
expanding Sahara.
Yet another problem is deforestation. Most people in the Sahel rely on wood as
their fuel for cooking. In their search for firewood, the people cut down trees.
When the trees are gone, soil erosion increases. To manage the loss of trees,
some governments, like that of Niger, are promoting coal as a cooking fuel.
Cooking with coal is only one of the changes that people are making to
counteract desertification. In addition, farmers are testing new agricultural
methods that can conserve water and reduce soil erosion. Many farmers are
working to keep desert sand from burying their fields by building windbreaks of
trees and brush.
Senegalese workers gather grass to feed their horses in
the shade of baobab trees near Djilakh.
As the environment has suffered, the scramble for income has intensified. Ethnic lines that divided herders and farmers
have blurred, often sparking bloodshed. As the land dries up, rural workers are now heading for the cities. Dakar
(Senegal), Ougadougou (Burkina Faso), Niamey (Niger) and Bamako (Mali) now hold about 25 percent of the Sahel's
population and each year grow by another five percent. Urban problems are now rampant, with open sewers, access to
electricity and running water, and insufficient waste management all creating problems in the cities of the Sahel.
The Sahel has yet to shake a vicious cycle of soil erosion,
insufficient irrigation, deforestation, overpopulation,
desertification and drought. All of these factors contribute to a
cycle in which the climate worsens human conditions, and
resulting human behaviors worsen the climate. Parts of the
region -- like Mali's legendary Timbuktu -- are now more Sahara
than Sahel. To ease the strain, the Sahel's land must be
restored, international development agencies believe. Ambitious
tree-planting and irrigation projects dot the Sahel, fueling hopes.
Some government officials and private citizens are leading the fight against desertification. Eleven African nations have
joined forces to promote the creation of a Great Green Wall that would stretch the width of the continent, from Senegal
to Djibouti; this "wall" would be a 9.3 mile (15 kilometer) strip of forest that could help stop the southward spread of the
Sahara. A method called farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) promotes planting trees alongside crops to
retain and improve sandy soil. As of 2005, the border between Niger (where farmers controlled their own land and
planted trees) and Nigeria (where FMNR was not widely practiced) was clearly visible in satellite photos. Chris Reij of VU
University Amsterdam estimates that farmers in Niger have reclaimed 12.5 million acres (5 million hectares) of land and
planted 200 million trees.
In October 2012, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors
approved US$203 million for the "Niger Basin Water Resources
Development and Sustainable Ecosystems Management
Program," which will contribute to funding targeting increased
food production, generation of more electricity, and the creation
of economic opportunities for families and communities in the
countries of the Niger Basin.
Will these efforts succeed? For now, the answer remains in
doubt. No one can say how successful this war against the desert
will be. However, for the people of the Sahel, this struggle
against desertification is a fight they cannot afford to lose.
Sahel farmers are finding ways to reclaim the desert.