WASH news Africa

Gereigikh was one of 17 villages in Sudan’s arid Northern Kordofan State whose residents were helped to adapt to climate change over a period of six years (1994-2000) in a project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Farmers in this region have traditionally relied on rats and the position and brightness of certain stars in the sky to forecast droughts. “When we see the rats gathering food and hiding it in their nests we know there is a drought coming,” said Ad-Dukhri Al-Sayed, a community leader in Gereigikh.

In a time-honoured tradition, the farmers followed suit, burying harvests of watermelons - an important source of water for their families and livestock during summer - and their staple grains, sorghum and millet, in storage pits in the ground.

Gereigikh’s farmers say they have continued storing food underground for the lean season, but since the project they have learnt a few more things about survival, and how to take steps to relieve pressure on the fragile ecosystem and take care of the marginal land available for agriculture.

A feature of the project was the Village Development Committee, which provided villagers with credit to diversify their livelihoods, like keeping livestock and growing vegetables fed by water pumps.

The villagers of Gereigikh have learned to prevent conflicts between pastoralists and farmers over natural resources, common in most other areas in Northern Kordofan, because they have developed a mutually beneficial relationship.

“Our farmers discovered that whenever the Kawahla tribe [traditionally pastoral] brought their livestock into the fields, the animal droppings helped improve production, so the members of the Gawamha [traditionally farmers] started planting watermelons to attract the livestock to the field,” recalled Ad-Dukhri Al-Sayed, a community leader in Gereigikh.

The tribes in North Kordofan believe they should share three things: water, rangeland and fire, “according to their religious and cultural principles”. “This has been the way of life for the tribes for centuries, because each of them knows that next year might turn out to be a lean year for them and they might need their neighbouring tribe to share their resources, so the principle - help your neighbours when you can - always applies”.

Sources: IRIN, 6 May 2008 ; IRIN, 13 May 2008