Profil Niger – NE 04 – Dakoro Kastinawa – Fevrier 2008

The central subjects of this profile are a Fulani group whose ancestors migrated into Niger around one century ago from an area in what is now Katsina State in Northern Nigeria. Hence they call themselves Katsinawa. Villagers said their forebears left Nigeria because of population pressure on the land, for cultivation as well as grazing. Some said that their ancestors were pure pastoralists; others said that their ancestors had always practiced both herding and cultivation with equal importance.

When they set up their current villages, up to 80 years ago, the area was still uninhabited by any other settlers and was populated by many wild animals. Although the Katsinawa are in the majority, there are some households in the villages from other groups, especially Farfarou Fulani and a few Touareg. In this northern sahelian area there is a gradation amongst agropastoralists from those who practice cultivation regularly alongside herding and depend on their harvest for perhaps 50% of their livelihood, to those who practice cultivation opportunistically depending on the quality of the rains and their exact circumstances. In order to achieve a clear contrast with pure pastoralists, the Katsinawa were chosen for this study as representing the numerous agropastoralists who are strongly and permanently dependent on cultivation.