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Why are they settling?
The pure nomadic form of pastoralism is now very rare as there are many pressures towards increasing settlement and increasing market participation. Most, if not all, pastoralists now have a permanent or semi-permanent base, usually at a dry season water point, which is often also a trade center. Even when the animals are moved, it is common in this situation for at least some of the household (usually the women, the children and the elderly) to remain in the home base while the men move with the herds. Among the factors contributing to increased settlement and market participation are the following:
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Greater dependence on the market for cash income. Poorer herders often have to supplement their income from livestock with other informal sources of cash (e.g. casual urban labour or collection and sale of firewood and charcoal). For this they need to have access usually to an urban market, which implies a more settled existence than previously. Paradoxically, one effect can be to reduce their income from livestock even further, because of over-grazing around settlements and the increased spread of disease among livestock concentrated around settlements and water points.
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An increased dependence on the market for staple foods. It is very unusual these days for pastoralists to live entirely from their animal production, in the sense that milk, meat and blood very rarely provide more that 30% of dietary energy (and often much less), with the balance coming mainly in the form of grain obtained through purchase or exchange. There may be many reasons for this, but among the most important are probably human population growth coupled with, in many areas, a progressive loss of livestock (due most often to drought).
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Better-off households may also choose to reduce their dependence on livestock, often diversifying into trading and other commercial activities and therefore settling at least part of the household in a trading center or town.
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Sale of milk may also be an important source of cash income for all wealth groups – again this is something that usually requires good access to an urban market.
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Increasing restraints on free movement, e.g. because of the development of irrigated agricultural schemes or the enclosure of traditional grazing areas (for ranches, for national parks, or to produce fodder for more settled herds). On the other hand, there are also cases of increased mobility. In a recent drought in Somalia, for example, livestock were moved from one area to another by truck – helping to ensure the survival of many animals that might otherwise have died on the journey.
One consequence of mobility is an increased risk of conflict. Tensions are common between neighboring pastoral groups, or between pastoralists and settled agriculturalists because of the competition over scarce natural resources. In some cases, tensions may also exist because of livestock raiding between groups (e.g. in South Sudan). These tensions can be exacerbated in bad years when pastoralists migrate out of their traditional grazing areas and into other groups’ territory. Often these movements are governed by traditional agreements, but sometimes they spill over into overt conflict.
