Knowledge Bank

Pastoralism, the practice of raising herd animals, is a wide spread phenomena in sub-Saharan Africa. It is an important economic sector in Cameroon, located in West-Central Africa. There are many forms of herding present in Cameroon, in this study two forms of herd ownership are examined in length. The two types of herd ownership are subsistence herds (independent) and absentee owned herds (under contract). Subsistence herds are owned and maintained by a family or an individual, while absentee owned herds are owned by one party and looked after by another. In the last decades there has been a shift in animal ownership across sub-Saharan Africa from independent ownership to absentee ownership. Prior research on pastoralism suggests that the mobility of absentee owned herds is reduced compared to their independent counterparts and that this lack of mobility has negative consequences for the state of rangelands. This study examines these claims using a combination of spatial and statistical analysis of pastoral mobility data and remote sensing data. Examination of the data indicates that the hired herds are no less mobile than the independent herds, and there are few differences in the distribution of contract and subsistence herds. Thus the preliminary findings suggest that the increase in absentee ownership is not affecting the movement of herds in the Far North Region of Cameroon.