A VEGETATION-MAINTAINING SYSTEM AS A LIVELIHOOD STRATEGY AMONG THE SEREER, WEST-CENTRAL SENEGAL

Abstract

A field study of the system of maintaining vegetation practiced by the Sereer people was conducted from October 2001 to July 2002 at N village, located in the Thiès Department of west-central Senegal. For centuries, the Sereer people have practiced millet cultivation in combination with livestock raising and have maintained a unique form of artifi cial vegetation, dominated by the tree Acacia albida. The aim of this study was to reveal how the Sereer use and maintain the vegetation. Acacia albida contributes to their livelihood in several ways by functioning, for example, as a green manure and as fodder for livestock. The Sereer deliberately maintain the vegetation through "yar", which means to grow Acacia albida seedlings in cultivated fi elds. A "yar" behavior is one associated with "upbringing" in the Sereer idiom. Use of this tree up to the 1970s helped to make the Sereer livelihood system more secure in an erratic, semi-arid climate.