Socio-economic Challenges Deterring Sustainable Pastoralism Among Women Pastoralists in the Sahel Region of Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Female pastoralists exhibit great strength in the drive to make a dependable
livelihood from livestock tending. This is not without challenges that are gender
specific. This paper examines the socio-economic and environmental challenges
faced by women pastoralists in the Sahelian Region of Northern Nigeria. Primary
data were derived from an interview of 2,290 adult female household members
in 6 local government areas in Bauchi and Gombe States in Nigeria. A stepwise
regression analysis determined that amongst 23 socio-economic variables, 14
were significant explanatory or predictive variables (p < 0.05) for the socio
economic status of women, as a measure of their capacity to sustain pastoralism.
The results indicate that the length of time or experience in pastoralism had the
most predictive power (β = 0.31; p < 0.05), and contributed 13% (R2 = 0.13) in
enhancing the socio-economic status of pastoralist women. This was followed by
other socio-economic factors such as the level of formal educational attained,
participation in household livestock raising, ownership of large livestock, climate
change awareness, prevalence of out-of-school children within the household,
availability of household transportation means, category of health care facility
accessed, involvement in non-agricultural economic sectors, involvement in food
crop farming, ownership of small livestock, amount of rest/sleep affordable,
membership of community development groups, and age. The paper recommends
support for female education in pastoral communities, access to health care in
remote areas, and upgrading community development groups to cooperative or
self-help groups that can provide affordable loans to assist pastoralist women in
thriving better in a supposedly male-dominated profession.