Constraints to Livelihood Options Pastoralists in Yusufari Local Government Area of Yobe State, Nigeria
Ibrahim Ahmed Jajere and Mohammed Ahmed Jajere²
Department of Geography, Federal University, Gashua
News Agency of Nigeria, Abuja²
ABSTRACT
Pastoralism can be regarded as a global phenomenon, occupies 25 percent of the world land area and provides 10 percent of the global meat production (FAO, 2001). The livelihoods of most pastoralists depend on availability natural resources and much dictated by the climatic factor. Hence, pastoralists are having few options for diversifying livelihoods perhaps due to the lack of knowledge for other livelihoods and their tradition that detached them to other livelihoods. The populations of the study were composed of the five districts and adopted a multi-stage sampling technique. At the third stage, systematic random sampling was used to interview households. Mobile pastoralists were selected using snow ball sampling. Pastoralism is the major means of survival for the pastoralists in the study area. The other possible options identified are farming, mat making, rope making, weaving, hut making, trading of livestock and potash mining and marketing. However, these alternative options are also constraint by many factors including desertification and fast moving sand dunes; market competition, insurgency and power of aristocrats. Recommendations made by this study include social and economic support to the pastoral communities, increasing access to land and water rights and establishment of skills acquisition centers.
