Standardized Precipitation Index Valuation of Seasonal Transitions and Adaptation of Pastoralist to Climate Variability in Rangelands of the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon

Early Wet Season Rainfall Manifestation

Pastoralists complained of climate variability and declared that they are mostly affected during the months of March and April due to prolonged dry seasons. This claim corroborates the rainfall amounts and erratic pattern of rainfall during this period of transition from the dry to the rainy season in the recent past. It is noticed that the dry season either extends, thereby stretching the period of meteorological drought or the rains start earlier like late February or early March than mid-March when it is often expected and is followed by an early abortive start. A concise examination of rainfall for the past forty years spanning from 1981 to 2019 demonstrates this tendency. The decades during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000 to 2019 saw an alternating number of days of rainfall for the month of March between 11 and 12 days. From 2011 to 2019, this number of days has reduced to between 7 and 10. Though the height of rainfall has not varied much, its rhythm is experiencing a high frequency in concentrated heavy episodes over shorter time lapsed. The pattern, again, is more erratic or variable for the months of March and April. For example, in 2006, there were rains from the 1st to the 3rd of March, observed a break and only continued on the 24th of March in Kumbo (Figure 2).

Click to enlarge

Data source: Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis, Shisong Convent Weather Station Figure 2: The early abortive start of rainfall during March, April and May for Kumbo, 2006

The situation for 2014 was more difficult especially in Wum as pastoralists’ and farmers experience indescribable stress because it involved the month of April. It was a two weeks’ dry period from the 7th to the 22nd resulting to untold difficult conditions to crops and livestock especially as graziers were just returning to the hills after transhumance compounded by water scarcity and pasture scarcity (Figure 3). After constant rainfall in early April, there was a dry spell from the 14th of April to the 17th of May 2006 seriously complicating grazing and farming processes.

Click to enlarge

Data source: Regional Service of Meteorology for the NWR, Ministry of Transport Figure 3: Rainfall variation early rainy season for Wum, 2014

Climate Variability Using Standardized Precipitation Index

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is one of the highly rated climatic indices that is used for climate variability and long-term climate change, and it is highly recommended by the World Meteorological Organization. The oldest rainfall data records for this study date back to 1957 for the Ndu Tea Estate. The general trend here shows a slight decrease in rainfall (Figure 4).

Click to enlarge

Data source: Cameroon Tea Estate, Ndu Plantation Figure 4: SPI trend for Ndu, 1957-2018.

The SPI events here are distributed as follows: 3 episodes of extreme wet (1996, 1999, 2009), 1 severely wet condition (1975), 2 moderately wet incidents (1962, 1975), 20 mildly wet conditions (1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1974,1979,

1981, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014), 30 mild dryness (1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002,

2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016) and 6 conditions of severe dryness (1972, 1976, 1983, 2012, 2017, 2018).

The rainfall trend has been decreasing in Jakiri (Figure 5).

Click to enlarge

Data source: National Meteorological Service, Bonanjo Douala Figure 5: SPI trend for Jakiri (1961-2018).

It has been marked by 4 severely wet conditions (1969, 1970, 1980, 1986), 3 moderately wet incidents (1984, 1993,1996), 25 mildly wet episodes (1961, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2016), 17 incidents of mild dryness (1964,

1965, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1995, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018), 7 episodes of severe dryness (1973, 1983, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013) and two conditions of extreme dryness (1963, 1997).

Rainfall has also been decreasing for Kumbo (Figure 6).

Click to enlarge

Figure 6: SPI trend for Kumbo (1975-2016). Data source: Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis, Shisong Convent Weather Station Here, there were 3 severely wet incidents (1980, 1996, 1997), 2 moderately wet conditions (1984, 1993), 16 mildly wet incidents (1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2016), 13 episodes of mild dryness (1981, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015), 6 severely dryness conditions (1977, 1987, 1988, 2011, 2012, 2014) and 1 extreme dryness (1983).

Rainfall trend has been decreasing in Tubah (Figure 7).

Click to enlarge

It has been characteristics by 2 extreme wet episodes (1969, 1970), 1 severely wet condition (1968), 3 moderately wet incidents (1999, 2004, 2017), 19 mildly wet conditions (1963, 1967, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2016), 26 mild dryness (1964, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002,

2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018), 2 severe dryness (1973, 1987) and 2 extreme dryness (1991, 1992).

Like other stations, rainfall has been decreasing in Mbaw Nso (Figure 8).

Click to enlarge

2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016), 7 mild dryness (1981, 1986, 1991, 1997, 2008, 2011, 2014), 8 severe dryness (1983, 1984, 1988, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2017, 2018) and 1 extreme dryness (2015).

Takui, a highland location has also been experiencing declining rainfall (Figure 9).

Click to enlarge

The rainfall has been characterised by 2 extreme wet conditions (1997, 1999), 5 mildly wet (1998, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2016), 11 mild dryness (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014) and 1 severe dryness (2001).

Santa, another highland location has also experienced a decline in rainfall (Figure 10).

Click to enlarge

Figure 10: SPI trend for Santa (1981-2018). Data source: Regional Delegation of Transport, Northwest Rainfall here has been characterised by 2 severely wet incidents (1990, 1991), 4 moderately wet (1992, 1997, 2001, 2003), 13 mildly wet (1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015), 11 mild dryness (1983, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018) and 8 severe dryness (1987, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012).

In Bamenda, the headquarters of the Northwest Region, rainfall has also been decreasing (Figure 11).

Click to enlarge

Figure 11: SPI trend for Bamenda (1963-2019). Data source: Regional Delegation of Transport, Northwest It has been characterised by 1 extreme wet (1969), 2 severely wet (1979, 2013), 4 moderately wet (1964, 1966, 1968, 1970), 22 mildly wet (1967, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2011), 19 mild dryness (1971, 1972, 1973, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1996,

1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 20120, 6 severe dryness (2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2018, 2019) and 3 extreme dryness (2014, 2016, 2017).

Ndop, located in a plain has experienced almost stable rainfall (Figure 12).

Click to enlarge

Rainfall here has been characterised by 1 extreme wet episode (2013), 3 moderately wet (1999, 2014, 2015), 7 mildly wet (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2007), 12 mild dryness (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2012) and 6 severe dryness (2001, 2008, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018).

Oku, located more than 3000 m above sea level has been experiencing declining rainfall (Figure 13).

Click to enlarge

Precipitation here has been characterised by 5 moderately wet (1989, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003), 16 mildly wet (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2018), 5mild dryness (1992, 1997, 2010, 2014, 2015), 5 severe dryness (2008,

2011, 2012, 2013, 2017) and 2 extreme dryness (2007, 2016).

The rainfall trend for the Menchum Valley has been fairly constant, with a slight increasing trend (Figure 14).

Click to enlarge

Rainfall has also been fairly stable in Fundong (Figure 15).

Click to enlarge

Figure 15: SPI trend for Fundong (1999-2017). Data source: Divisional Delegation of Agriculture and Rural Development, Boyo The SPI episodes have been as follows: 2 moderately wet (2009, 2013), 11 mildly wet (1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017), 2 severe dryness (2000, 2014) and 1 extreme dryness (2007). Ndawara, another highland location is the only station where there is decreasing rainfall above the average (Figure 16).

Click to enlarge

Figure 16: SPI trend for SPI Ndawara (2004-2019). Data source: Cameroon Tea Estate, Ndawara Plantation The SPI incidents have been as follows: 3 severely wet (2004, 2005, 2019), 3 mildly wet (2006, 2007, 2008), 8 mild dryness (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and 3 severe dryness (2009, 2010, 2011). The rainfall and SPI characteristics are summarized (Table 3).

Source: Authors’ computation Table 3: Summary of rainfall and SPI characteristics Majority of the stations have decreasing rainfall, with the exception of the Menchum Valley and Fundong. A summary of all the SPI categories and incidents is also presented (Figure 17).

Click to enlarge

Figure 17: Summary of SPI episodes in the Bamenda Highlands. Source: Authors’ computation The episodes have been distributed as follows: 10 extremely wet, 17 severely wet, 32 moderately wet, 187 mildly wet, 166 mild dryness, 62 severe dryness and 12 extreme dryness. Despite the dominance of more wet periods, rainfall has been declining all over the Bamenda Highlands, with negative consequences on rangeland ecology and agro- pastoralism.

Deteriorating Pastures and Weed Spread

A common effect of climate variability is the fact that pastures wither, thereby weakening plant vigour. The situation is aggravated by unexpected increases in diurnal temperatures and increase in insolation still with hydrophobic nuclei in the atmosphere which causes rainfall decline. Coupled with the poor water retention capacity of most soils in the region, there is rapid exhaustion of soil moisture content especially around the top root horizon by intense evapotranspiration. Thus, pastures are deteriorated with more difficult situations created in the highlands as intermittent rivers take much time (delayed resumption) to start flowing after the dry season, an indication of drought conditions. Rainfall variability in this tropical rain-fed system ushers’ reduction in ground water inputs during this period with liable impacts on pastures and water. Pastoralists and their cattle have to trek longer distances searching for pastures and for water. The wilting that takes place in young crop seedlings after the planting period and germination is enormous in the region and also affects farmers as well as their output. With an early abortive start of rains, pastures start greening up and pastoralist coming from transhumance resume grazing uphill but with drought conditions introduced again, germinating and sprouting pastures suffer wilting compounded by grazing up to tussock removal due to scarcity degrading pastures especially for preferred species.

One important aspect in the grasslands during this period of inconsistence is the noticeable resilience of rangeland weeds to dry spells. Weeds dispose of rhizomes that store more water than grasses. As such, weeds maintain their vigor and growth than the adjacent grasses that instead experience more pressure, overgrazing and stress from grazing or stocking units in this period of adversity. In relation to seasonal development of pastures, some plants have their development slowed down or hastened depending on rainfall consistency because they are so reliant on first rainfall for germination and growth. This is the case of seed reproducing plants. With the early abortive start of rainfall, pasture growth is affected and slowed down due to this inconsistency. On the contrary, those plants that are equipped with well-built underground bulbs, rhizomes and tillers have accumulated resources that enable them start off their cycles earlier and at times even before the start of rains. This is the case of Pteridium aquililium an ‘ecological terrorist’ in rangelands in the region. It develops vegetation in the dry season after bush fires especially during the last half of February and early March just before the start of the rainy season using stored water in their organs or water reserves stored deep down the soil layers. Shoots of this weed readily sprout out from the soil from rhizomes and give them a competitive advantage over the other grasses to spread and grow especially with the coming of rainfall in March. ‘agogo’ (Fulani term for Pteridium aquililium) ensures renewed and faster growth rates compared to adjacent grass with the coming of rainfall and now spreads faster than hitherto invading close to 60% of rangelands in the region (Berlem-Kumbo, Fungom, Ndawara, Ndzong-Santa, Ntunir- Jakiri, Kukube-Nkambe). With inconsistency increasingly noticed in the abortive start of rainfall, Pteridium aquililium shows more resilience given that it is not prone to grazing pressure during this difficult period. The agricultural and grazing calendar prescribes that transhumance ends by the end of March, and that cattle be back to the hills by April which corresponds to this period of uncertainty. Cattle reproduction, milking as well as fattening processes are all enormously affected and reduced during these harsh conditions.

Poor Land Use Practices and Related Impacts

Land use practices like indiscriminate burning to clear off old rank grass is not organized and respected by pastoralist though Delegates of the Ministry of Livestock are increasingly imposing mastery. This is compounded by open free grazing in rangeland with differential effects on the landscape as stocking units have pass from 1-3 tropical livestock units per hectare to over 6-7/hectare in some grazing areas with range degradation in site. With climate variability, degradation is accelerated leading to poor range products and at times cattle deaths in some instances.

Adaptation Strategies

Nature gives protection against the mounting impacts of climate change that is of incalculable value and irreplaceable. This level of ecosystem damage most acutely affects indigenous peoples, rural communities, and others who depend directly on healthy ecosystems for their livelihoods [17]. Capacity to adapt may be especially limited for those with insecure land tenure and for pastoralists who often lack a voice in how natural resources are managed [18]. In the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon, pastoralists adapt to climate variability through seasonal rhythmic exploitation and adjustment of agricultural calendars, fodder and hay preparation, agroforestry, water management and zero grazing.

Participatory Inclusive Communal Grazing Adaptations

Through the wealth of pastoral heritage and experience, grazing communities through informal indigenous community-based rangeland management are evolving in grazing strategies and adapting to social and environmental circumstances [7]. Community based management have nursed process-based local adaptations through collective choice arrangements. From open ranging in the past, pastoralist now practice herd split in grazing rotation to optimize pasture use, reduce environmental quality declines and vulnerability. Key areas are reserved for sick and lactating animals during these difficult transitions since such animals don’t go for transhumance. Smaller ruminants like goats and sheep are grazed especially in higher altitudes like in Mt Oku (1800-2800m). In fact, most pastoralist highlight changing local rules with more responsible behavior on timing, place and zoning. During the 20th century, pastoralism was hitherto marked by self-inflicted maladaptations by pastoralists themselves through seasonal bush fires applied haphazardly at different moments by the end of the rainy season. As early as November, they start burning hills as a form of primitive pasture regeneration. Their animals end up suffering due to lack of fodder. With the growing informal institutional norms, there are still factors that demotivates pastoralist to flaw communal principles and such incongruence is reducing with participation. Due to some problems like tenure security, failures bring indiscriminate burning. But pastoralist in collaboration with state (MINEPIA, local councils) and non-state actors (Netherlands Development Association SNV, Association pour la promotion de l’elevage en Savane, APESS), compliance in organize burning has gained ground coordinated by heads of grazing units “Ardors”. Fire is now applied especially in late January and early February to clear old rank grass, eliminate animal pest and regenerate pastures in preparation for the rainy season. There is patchy burning according to sections with instructions from the Ardorate that reduces environmental destruction, protects fences and ensures fire mastery.

Indigenous grazing communities “Ardorates” operating in consensus-based community participation in rangeland settings have evolved in their local management and adaptation strategies. Water is communal owned and, in the past, pastoralist took animals to different locations at different moments with marked destruction of river banks and water catchments. With pasture and water scarcity as growing discernable impacts of climate variability, grazing communities have resorted to more inclined community- based attitudes in managing water. First in some grazing units, there is herd split and distribution of herds and locations where watering is carried out, second, there is respect of turns with given number of herds having access at a time and others later, third, from an environmental perspective, the protection of water catchments and fourth, collaboration with development partners like the local councils, GP- DERURDEP, USAID United State Agency for International Development in modifications of water regimes and realizing water schemes to have perennial water supplies that obviate the need for migration. The perception of pastoralist in locally led adaptions is changing from individualistic tendencies to community target objectives and collaboration with different stakeholders to build resilience.

In as much as local adaptations are driven by endogenous forces, it was noticed that they are hardly achieved without support from development agencies that bring technical and financial support. Field empirical evidence underlines this complementarity of indigenous pastoral communities and development agencies. Though the contributions of these agencies are fragmented, not well coordinated and tend to overlap in function of their interest, their modest support is enormously assisting pastoralists in sensitization and realization of some local adaptations.

Seasonal Rhythmic Exploitation and Adjustment of Agricultural Calendars

Essentially, the idea is that environment factors are all- powerful and determine what happens. The physical milieu has a great role to play in so far as the rhythmic exploitation of resources in the area is concern. This is because the physical elements of relief, soils and geology, climate flora and fauna are not homogenous over the region. They thus exist great spatial variations of physical phemomena throughout the area which has given a flora and fauna zonation. The relief zonation gives rise to high lands and lowlands which together with the annual rhythm of rainfall and temperature determine land use in terms of pastoral activity. Grazing activity is carried out in the uplands during the rainy season and the seasonal rhythmic change in climate to the dry season directs grazing activities towards the wet flood plains and wet inland valleys (Table 4).

Source: Compiled from field inquires and MINEPIA reports, 2015 Table 4: Dry season grazing sites and cattle reception during transhumance.

With scorching pastures in upland areas during the dry season comes the period of transhumance; a seasonal movement of pastoralists with their cattle during the dry season to plains and valleys in search of fresh pastures. It is worth noting that transhumance in Bamenda Highlands is tilted towards low altitude (˂1000m) or lowland areas. These areas include the Bamti lowlands in the Noni area and Misaje lowlands (Dumbo cattle ranch, Kimbi and Katsina valleys), the Mbaw-Tikar plain recieving cattle from Dzeng- Mbiami Plateau, Ndu and Nwa highlands, the Ndop plain with cattle from the Sabga-Santa stretch to the Jakiri plateau and the Menchum valley receiving cattle from neighbouring highlands of Wum, Esu, Bafmeng and Nyos hills (Figure 18, Table 5). Due to difficult conditions uphill owing to rainfall irregularities and pasture scarcity, graziers delay to stay in lowland areas a little more till when uphills are greening up. As such, there are distortions in the agricultural calendar. This delay causes destruction of germinating crops causing conflicts with farmers. The over 200000 herds of cattle that go on transhumance are in a delicate period. The situation is getting worse in Menchum valley with increasing infestation of this area by C. odorata.

Click to enlarge

Figure 18: Cattle movement during transhumance in the Bamenda Highlands. Source: Fieldwork 2015 The periodicity of land use activities looks well map out according to the seasonal rhythm but there is no clear delimitation for transhumance as well as climatic variations that cause distortion in the agricultural calendar either hastening or delaying periodic activities. An important aspect is finding the right balance between pasture regeneration and grazing. Delegates from the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and that of Livestock, Fisheries and animal Husbandry have concerted over the years and the consensus arrived at has been that two weeks after the arrival of rainfall, pastoralist should move cattle back to rainy season grazing grounds. This corresponds to the time most crops are germinating after planting to avoid conflicts with farmers.

Source: Mairomi, 2012 Table 5: Periodicity of grazing/dairying activities in the Bamenda Highlands.

Fernandez Gimenez [19] describes the mobile pastoral system as the “paradox of pastoral land tenure” in that pastoralist need secure access to pasture and water but also flexibility in resource use, that is, the ability to move elsewhere because of spatio-temporal variation in resource availability [20]. Flexibility in adaptation and reducing the vulnerabilities of communities by adjusting the agricultural calendar has not been easy. Nevertheless, farmers and pastoralist are improving their perception and understanding of variations thus adapting better to contentious circumstances for their resource base at the beginning of the wet season.

Fodder and Hay Preparation

With some minimum institutional structures, some pastoralists are building their resilience by cultivating hay and preparing for the dry season. In the SODEPA state ranch in Jakiri, it is native stand of Hyparrhenia rufa (Photo 2) often prepared against the adverse period. Other pastoralist in the area also negotiate to have access to hay. In other private ranches like the Elba ranch in Ndawara, Tadu dairy ranch, Philomon yang ranch, Achidi Achu ranch in Santa, it is the cultivation of improve pastures like Brachiaria ruziziensis (Photo 3). Nevertheless, with tenure problems as most rangelands are communal in nature, pasture improvement is only seen where there are some appreciable institutional frameworks like the Itoh community graziers in Oku. Individuals with small enclosures and ranches do modify the landscape, not only to increase the yield of a particular species, but to breed varieties which will withstand less favourable physical conditions and so make it possible to extend their habitat. Such is the case of cultivated vegetation which forms an important part of a predominant land- use map that distinguishes such categories as improved pastures. Such landscapes are identified in Jakiri, Tadu, Santa and Upkwa-Wum areas notably with Brachiaria ruziziensis, Pennisetum clandestinum, Trypsacum laxum. Improving the forage available for grazing requires a whole lot of effort. Bracharia grass is one the most palatable species today that most ranchers have embarked upon. It does relatively well especially when cultivated as a forage crop in ploughed fields. It is best cultivated in the months of May and June when there is ample rainfall. Seeds are spread after the fields most have been ploughed. Cattle graze on it in the fields and by the month of November when the seeds are ready for harvest. Seeds of most of these grasses or shrubs are obtained by hand harvesting from wild land stands or from cultivated stands for seed multiplication. Seeds can be stripped or flailed directly into canvas hoppers, tubs, boxes, trash cans or other appropriate receptacles [21]. These are the most widely used harvesting procedures especially cutting with knives. Freshy fruits are beaten or handpicked. Bracharia is one of the most important species of grass that is used during the dry season when there is acute forage shortage. It is particularly graze by cattle in the early parts of the dry season especially the months of December and January. It is harvested and stored in shades when it attains maturity. When well stored, it retains all its nutrients content. Cattle feed on it when spread with salt and used in the dry season.

Agroforestry

Pastoralists are being sensitized on the use of forage legumes to reduce feed deficiencies and improve the quality of available feed during the dry season. The use of high yielding legumes as a sole crop or in mixture with grasses is a way of achieving year-round quality forage. Stylosanthes guianensis, Leucaena leucocephala or Calliandra calothyrsus have emerged among the best forage legumes and are the most widely diffused though still very limited. However, seed production remains a major constraint due to lack of appropriate structures. Stylosanthes guianensis has been recommended for sown pastures while Leucaena leucocephala or Calliandra calothyrsus are recommended for fence lines to be used as forage during the dry season. The latter is highly recommended protein forage that is encouraged for paddocking. An evaluation of variation in nutritive levels reveals that crude proteins levels are higher for leaves of leguminous plants than grass species throughout the year. This has been revealed for Leucaena leucocephala, Calliandra calothyrsus, Bracharia ruziziensis and Pennisetum purpureum. As such this is the more reason why TDCS is encouraging its member to embark on these trees to be used as supplements in the diets of ruminants to reduce aggregate live weight losses in animals. Guatemala-Trypsacum laxum (Photo 1) and other harvested hay are therefore used as a standing fodder crop to buffer seasonal fluctuations (dry seasons). Fodder crops are useful as they reduce grazing pressure on degraded areas, serve as a protein supplement for livestock in poor native or low quality roughage, a means of soil erosion control and as an emergency feed during the dry seasons. Thus, livestock is grazed on native pastures such as Sporobolus africanus, Pennisetum purporeum and Melinis multiflora and improve planted grasses, legumes and multipurpose trees (MPT) (Table 6).

Click to enlarge

Photo 1: Typsacum laxum cultivated as a buffer Photo 2: Hay preparation in Jakiri Photo 3: Brachiaria ruziziensis cultivated for seed propagation and hay Photo 4: Water ponds Source: Mairomi, 2016 [7]

Water Management

Spatio-temporal variability of water resources due to seasonality expresses the need for mobility. Intermittent streams get dry during the dry season and with climatic anomalies at the start of the rainy season resumption in flow retards causing difficulties for cattle and pastoralist. In some grazing communities, a number of water projects have been conceived and some realized with the aid of the local councils and development partners. This does not only improve the living conditions of the grazing communities but goes a long way to improve grazing because it reduces the health complications of animals and inland valley search of water. The added advantage is that stream bank trampling is avoided and better community strategies for grazing can be earmarked upon. Equally cattle no longer trek for long distances in search of water in some areas. In areas where water projects have been realized, graziers confirmed that animal fattening can now be ensured with renewed hope since energy wasted in search of water can now be reserved. Moreover, since animals will reduce inland valley movements in search of water, farmer grazier conflicts are greatly reduced. Most of the inland valleys in the study area have been cultivated. When animals go to drink there is always a likelihood of crop destruction. With water supplied in the grazing fields, encroaching farmers would cultivate their crops in neighbouring slopes and inland valleys without much threat from grazing. The two land use practices would then be developed with better harmony.

With the aid of community participation, a number of grazing areas among the dairy districts of the Tadu Dairy Cooperative Society have benefitted from water development schemes. Among these can be sited Tan, Tadu, Tashem, Farkuuy with huge assistance from the Jakiri council. Similar initiatives were noted in Kukube in Nkambe, Waidodown in Wum and in state and private ranches in the region. The only caution required here is to provide disperse water supplies to livestock. But it’s important to bear in mind that any measures to disperse and to protect water sources must be complemented by efforts to control access to them. Left to themselves, cows will tend to congregate around water, and therefore trample the vicinity, so water tanks and fencing tend to go together.

Water management is thus considered as a tool for rangeland rehabilitation. Planning of water management should revolve around optimum location and spacing of water points and their capacity, in terms of the number of stocking units they can water as well as avoiding environmental degradation. However, it requires precaution to prevent cases of poorly constructed water points and their ineffective management. This is to avoid situations where a few years after construction, some of these water points are no longer in use. Experienced can be drawn from the Mindif- Moulvoudaye agropastoral project of North Cameroon where non out of four stock ponds dug in 1984 were in operation by 1993 Pamo [22]. Capacity and spatial distribution influence productivity per animal and the nature and intensity exerted on soil and the vegetation. Customary watering schedules, human organization and management of livestock and grazing resources can only be realized through community- based rangeland management (CBRM) in the grazing zones.

Zero Grazing

Zero grazing is only adopted for sick and lactating animals that are stall-fed on spot. It also involves improve breeds of cattle like Holstein Friesian mostly found in ranches and some individuals mostly working with NGOs

like HEIFER Project and dairy societies for milk collection. Other beef species are brahma and sementa. This system obviates the need for field grazing but intensifies the need for pasture and fodder cultivation and preparation that sustain the system during the dry season especially during periods of climatic anomalies. A good number of pastoralists practice this system in Santa, Wum, Jakiri and Tadu. Nevertheless, the scale of this system remains very small and insignificant.