In the Guéra region of Chad, important arable land and other natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to climate change. This sometimes leads to serious conflicts between nomadic herders and local peasants. This situation is to be improved through the multi-layered Triple Nexus approach.
Country, Region:
Tschad, Gera
Length:
September 2023 to August 2026
Beneficiaries:
800 businesses, around 4,800 people
Total project budget:
CHF 626,250
The rural communities and authorities in the departments of Abtouyour and Bahr Signaka/Garada are able to deal with climate shocks, prevent violent conflicts and ensure sustainable food security in a peaceful environment.
The project is financially supported by the SDC.
Terab Djiraki has spent many hours of his life waiting. After long, tiring days in his fields, the vegetable farmer sits under a tree in the middle of the steppes with a stick in his hand. He looks up at the mountains that tower against the sky near his village of Bitkine in the center of Chad . Listens to hear the clattering of hooves.
“In the past, cattle have often devastated my fields.”
Terab Djiraki, farmer in Bitkine, Chad
This is the real reason for his perseverance: he keeps watch to protect his land from cattle and goats. They have trampled down the young plants. Eaten the maize. And thus destroyed the urgently needed harvest. Terab Djiraki lives from his field – and only survives if it yields enough. The small farmer grows millet, vegetables and chili on several fields, together the size of a football pitch. Even without the threat of livestock, the small farmer’s life has become nastier. Climate change is destroying his livelihood: the soil is silting up. Water is lacking. Yields are falling. “That worries me a lot!”
Levi Brahim spends his life searching. Searching for pastureland and water points. He is out with his cattle at five in the morning. Before sunrise, he drives his 70 or so animals – including oxen, goats and sheep – up the mountain to a patch of green where his animals can graze. These have become increasingly scarce in recent years. The paths further. The search longer. “The pastures are getting scarce!” he says, his brow furrowing. The father of eight children not only has to provide his family with enough food, his animals also need grass. Malnourished animals are more susceptible to disease and produce less meat – which in turn affects the family’s food security.
The farmer Terab Djiraki and the cattle herder Levi Brahim shake hands – a sign of peace.
Terab Djiraki and Levi Brahim: two men from the same area. Both have families. And both are struggling with the same problems – hunger, water shortages and the consequences of climate change . And yet they exemplify two opposing camps. Terab Djiraki is a farmer and Levi Brahim is a cattle herder. One stays and watches. The other searches and wanders.
The conflicts between the two groups have come to a head in Chad in recent years. In the last three years alone, around 1230 people have died in clashes in the south and center of Chad. 2,200 were injured, as the independent organization “Crisis Group” writes on its website.
Desperate farmers attacking cattle herders. Angry cattle herders who arm themselves and shoot at the farmers – sad everyday life in one of the poorest countries in the world. It is often a matter of pure survival. “The need and hunger of the people is great. This fuels the clashes,” explains Emmanuel Yaldé, project manager in SWISSAID’s Chad office.
“The need and hunger of the people is great. This is fuelling the conflicts.”
Emmanuel Yaldé, project manager in Chad
One of the main reasons for the conflicts: climate change. Temperatures are rising steadily. Days with temperatures of over 40 degrees are not uncommon. In addition, heavy rainfall is destroying farmland and pastures. The region was hit hard again this October. Severe flooding deprived people of their livelihoods. More than 500 people have died. Around 1.7 million people were affected by the storms, as reported by the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Over 300,000 hectares of farmland were flooded. Almost 70,000 farm animals drowned.
The extreme weather conditions are also causing hunger to increase again. Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. In the Global Hunger Index 2024, the country ranks 125th out of 127 countries. In addition, the Sahel region is confronted with strong migration flows, which further fuels the shortage. The political situation is also unstable. To respond sustainably to these multiple crises in the Sahel, SWISSAID and its partner “ Vétérinaires Sans Frontières ” have launched a new project based on the triple-nexus approach. This combines short-term emergency aid , long-term food security and peacebuilding.
Supporting local authorities in analyzing agricultural, livestock and food security.
Smallholders learn important basics of agroecology.
Settlement of the dispute between farmers and herdsmen.
Pour y parvenir, SWISSAID et ses organisations partenaires s’efforcent d’instaurer une prise de conscience en faveur d’une cohabitation solidaire et pacifique. De nombreuses discussions sont menées avec la population. De plus, les autorités sont sensibilisées aux différents besoins. Dans le cadre d’ateliers, les personnes concernées apprennent à régler les conflits de manière pacifique et à mener des négociations objectives.
Enfin, toutes les parties prenantes élaborent un plan d’affectation visant à clarifier l’utilisation des terres. La construction de couloirs officiels de transhumance en est un pilier important. Dans le Guéra, le couloir s’étend sur 15 kilomètres de long et 40 mètres de large. Délimités par des piquets en béton, ces couloirs indiquent le chemin que les éleveurs et éleveuses pourrons emprunter à l’avenir avec leurs bêtes. Et ainsi les conduire vers des pâturages à une distance suffisante des champs fertiles des familles paysannes. «De grands troupeaux peuvent ainsi circuler sans endommager les terres alentours», explique Emmanuel Yaldé.
An important pillar of the peace is the construction of official transhumance corridor. 15 kilometers long. And around 40 meters wide. They indicate the routes that herders will use to guide their livestock to pastures, keeping them at a sufficient distance from fertile farmland.
These combined measures are intended to make life easier for everyone involved. Farmers like Terab Djiraki have to keep less watch. Levi Brahim has to search less for grazing land and can drive his cattle into the fields without conflict. They can use the time and energy gained from this to arm themselves against the many challenges of the climate crisis. And they can do it together. The signs are good: “We want peace and peaceful coexistence!” they both say in unison.
