The Agriculture of the Fulani compared to Agriculture of the Ibo

The Agriculture of the Fulani compared to Agriculture of the Ibo

The Fulani, who raised livestock, and the Ibo, who cultivated yams, had very different ways of agriculture; both ways influenced their economy and values. The Fulani relied very heavily on their animals, in fact, “the Fulani are the most thoroughly pastoral people of West Africa: more than half of them raise livestock” (“Fulani”). Fulani people are more dependent on domesticated animals than any other country in West Africa, including Nigeria, were the Ibo live. In the Ibo culture, they are more reliant on crops. Their livelihood depends so greatly on the weather that when it is to wet or to dry, the events are catastrophic. “That year the harvest was sad, like a funeral and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams” (Achebe 24). The success of an Ibo farmer depends on his crops. The Fulani and Ibo also used their farming aptitude to support their economy, but they did it in different ways. The Fulani traded their dairy products with other tribes, in exchange for cereals and vegetables (“Fulani”). They Fulani did not have vegetables like the Ibo, because they were nomadic (“Fulani”). The Ibo, on the other hand, sold their crops in markets. “The drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed” (Achebe 23). The Ibo people sold their products in markets, unlike the Fulani. The Fulani and the Ibo differ because they the Ibo cultivate vegetables and the Fulani raise animals, and because they differ in agriculture they way they make money off their products differ. The Fulani of Cameroon and Ibo of Nigeria did not live that far part, but developed different ways of succeeding economically through agriculture.