A path towards peace

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!”

Desperate search

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.

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.

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.

To achieve this, SWISSAID and its partner organizations are trying to create an awareness of solidarity. The project supports the beneficiaries in practising agriculture and livestock farming in a climate of peace and social cohesion.

Many discussions are held with the population. Authorities are also sensitized to the different needs. In workshops, they learn how to resolve conflicts peacefully and conduct negotiations objectively.

Finally, all those involved work together to draw up a utilization plan. The aim is to regulate the use of the land more clearly. An important pillar of this is the construction of official transhumance corridor. 15 kilometers long. And around 40 meters wide. Marked with concrete stakes, these corridors will indicate the route that livestock herders will take to graze their animals in future – at a sufficient distance from the fertile fields of the vegetable farmers. “This ensures that large herds can pass through without damaging the surrounding land,” explains Emmanuel Yaldé.

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.