Pastoral Mobility in a Spatially Constrained Environment: A Case of Butana locality in Northern Gedarif State, Sudan

Abstract

This paper is designed to explain the main constraints that hinder pastoral mobility in arid and semi-arid lands. It aims to investigate the main factors behind the decline of herd mobility. It also determines the implications of mobility constraints on pastoral farming. The data discussed in this paper were based on fieldwork, which involved the use of questionnaires to elicit information from 300 respondents in 19 villages located at Butana, Northern Gedarif State, Sudan. The paper shows that the top down approach in policy formulation has failed to address the needs of pastoral communities. Under the pretext of land reforms, several pieces of legislation have been introduced to privatize the communal land tenure system. These laws, particularly the Unregistered Land Act 1970, have impacted negatively on pastoral mobility. This Act has led to rapid unplanned expansion of farming agriculture at the expense of pastoral land and has become a point of departure in land grabbing. Conversion of the communal land tenure system into private property has prevented pastoralists from accessing their traditional land rights and hence disrupted pastoral livelihoods. It is recommended that the bottom up approach should replace the top down approach, and that Melville Herskovits’ theory of the “East African Cattle Complex” and Hardin's theory of “the tragedy of the commons"; which have shaped planning in pastoral areas for several decades, need to be revised.