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The Social Organization of Credit in a West African Cattle Market1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Abner Cohen
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Extract

Credit is a vital economic institution without which trade becomes very limited. In the industrial Western societies, where it is highly developed, it operates through formal, standardized arrangements and procedures by which the solvency of the debtor is closely assessed, securities against possible default are provided, and the conditions of the agreement are documented and endorsed by the parties concerned. Ultimately, these arrangements and procedures are upheld by legislated rules and sanctions administered by central, bureaucratized, fairly impartial, efficient, and effective courts and police. In West Africa, on the other hand, where long-distance trade has been fostered by varying ecological circumstances, such organization has not yet evolved, particularly for long-distance trade. Nevertheless extensive systems of credit have been developed.

Résumé

L'ORGANISATION SOCIALE DU CRÉDIT DANS UN MARCHÉ AU BÉTAIL DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST

Près de soixante-quinze mille têtes de bétail sont amenées chaque année des savanes par les négotiants Haoussa pour être vendues sur le champ de foire d'Ibadan, connu sous le nom de ‘Zango’, aux bouchers Yoruba de la ville. Vendeurs et acheteurs ne se connaissent absolument pas, et pourtant, toute vente est faite à crédit. Cet article traite de l'ensemble des relations, formelles et informelles, qui se combinent sur le marché pour former un système dans lequel cette opération de crédit apparaît, en tant qu'entreprise, comme possible.

La vente sur le Zango se fait par l'intermédiaire des commerçants Haoussa de l'endroit qui ajoutent à. leurs fonctions d'hôteliers et de revendeurs celle d'hommes de confiance chargés de se porter garants du paiement final du crédit. Ceci sous-entend qu'ils connaissent, au vu de sa conduite en affaires, l'évaluation du crédit de chaque boucher, non seulement dans le passé mais encore au jour le jour. Les bouchers se trouvent, par conséquent, sous une constante surveillance de la part des négociants et de leurs agents. Une interaction sociale informelle entre les commerçants, leurs commis et leurs domestiques assure l'échange quotidien de l'information sur le montant du crédit couramment accordé à chaque boucher de manière à ce qu'il n'en obtienne pas plus que ne le lui permet son ‘quota’.

Une pression exercée par un certain nombre de facteurs oblige done les bouchers à honorer leurs dettes. Si un boucher manque à sa parole, les négociants refuseront de lui vendre des bêtes, et, à moins qu'il ne soit disposé à abandonner les affaires, il doit, en tous cas, trouver rapidement un moyen de payer sa dette. Il perdra sa patente, très coûteuse, s'il n'abat pas une tête de bétail par semaine. Il ne peut pas en acheter sur un autre marché car tous les champs de foire de la région sont contrôlés par les Haoussa qui coopèrent étroitement entre eux dans ce négoce.

En définitive, le système se maintient, non sous l'action des tribunaux civils ou de la police, mais par ce qui peut être appelé la ‘politique tribale’. En effet, le clivage sur le marché entre vendeur et acheteur, créditeur et débiteur, est en même temps le clivage entre Haoussa et Yoruba, et il se trouve alors affecté par l'inter-relation entre les deux groupes ethniques en dehors des champs de foire.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 1965 , pp. 8 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1965

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References

page 8 note 2 This is an approximate figure which is higher by about 12 per cent. than that obtained from the records of the veterinary service offices.

page 8 note 3 Throughout the Western Region of Nigeria the cattle markets are locally known by the Hausa word Zango (literally meaning a camping place of caravan or lodging place of travellers), while the local Hausa quarter is known as Sābo, short for Sābon Gari. In Ghana, on the other hand, the word Zango, which is usually pronounced as Zongo, is used for the native strangers' quarter which is often predominantly Hausa.

page 8 note 4 This, again, is an approximate figure derived from the number of cattle sold in the market, the average price per head, and the average length of the period of credit.

page 9 note 1 Shānun kasa.

page 9 note 2 Trypanosomiasis.

page 9 note 3 According to figures from the veterinary service offices, for the years 1959 to 1962, 20 per cent. of all the cattle which started the journey from the North towards Ibadan as the final destination did not actually reach Ibadan, which means that they were sold on the way. As nearly all the cattle brought by train eventually arrive at Ibadan, this percentage represents the foot cattle which are sold on the way. This means that about 50 per cent, of the foot cattle originally destined for Ibadan are sold on the way.

page 9 note 4 These figures are from a survey covering 118 dealers in foot cattle.

page 9 note 5 Dan kōre.

page 9 note 6 Shānun Jirgi.

page 9 note 7 Depending on the size of the animals. Usually the horns of the cattle are cut short before the journey so that more cattle can be accommodated in a wagon, and in the market, train cattle can usually be easily identified by their shorter horns.

page 9 note 8 Dan taragu, literally ‘son of the wagon ’.

page 10 note 1 Mai shānu.

page 10 note 2 Dillāli.

page 10 note 3 Between them, the twelve cattle landlords operating in Ibadan in 1963, had fifty-two middle-men working for them. The senior among these middlemen had assistants under them, as they were usually given more cattle to sell than were the junior middlemen. Some of these senior middlemen provided food, cooked by their own wives, to the dealers who were ‘allotted ’ to them, and they therefore received a greater proportion of the commission. There were a few middlemen in the market who were not attached to any particular landlord but who worked on a temporary basis for landlords who had more business on their hands than could be dealt with by their permanent middlemen.

page 11 note 1 It is customary for Hausa men to wear perfume.

page 11 note 2 According to census material which I collected in 1963, only 12 per cent, of the Hausa migrants in the Quarter had been in Ibadan for twenty years or more.

page 11 note 3 Known as Sarkin Hausāwa and sometimes as Sarkin Sābo.

page 12 note 1 Sarkin Zango.

page 12 note 2 These two positions, the Sarkin Sābo and the Sarkin Zango, have become so involved in each other that in some situations it is difficult to separate them, even analytically.

page 13 note 1 The beginning and the ending of a session are announced by a whistle blown by one of the ‘boys ’ of the Chief of the Market.

page 13 note 2 Known as mālam, in the sense of ‘literate ’, not of ‘religious functionary ’.

page 13 note 3 The register in which these details are written down serves as a reminder, not a document. The details are neither checked nor ratified by the buyers.

page 13 note 4 Child fostering is very widespread among the Hausa.

page 13 note 5 All education in the Hausa Quarter is ‘Arabic ’ education which consists mainly in learning to read the Korʼan and to write in Arabic.

page 13 note 6 The overwhelming majority of the Hausa in Sabo adhere to the Tijaniyya order which enjoins intensive collective ritualism and ties initiates to a ritual leader known as mukaddam. Groupings emerging in the course of ritual performance tend to become fraternities whose members co-operate in many social fields.

page 13 note 7 Kankamba.

page 14 note 1 The butchers are always under constant observation by the landlords and their subordinates. The absence of a butcher for three or four days in succession is always marked with suspicion in the market.

page 14 note 2 As the Hausa are Muslims, the dealers do not in principle charge interest for the credit they give to the butchers. But cash price is always lower than credit price by £1 to £3 for a head of cattle which is usually sold at £20 to £40.

page 14 note 3 Landlords often keep in their houses several thousands of pounds, in cash, for their dealers. The money is kept in simple wooden chests which are protected from thieves by amulets prepared by the malams and are also watched night and day by trusted attendants.

page 14 note 4 There are slight variations in the distribution of the commission between foot cattle and train cattle.

page 15 note 1 A landlord would run the risk of losing all his dealers if he did not meet his obligations. The payment of compensation to the dealers is always by monthly instalments, in accordance with the ruling of the Chief of the Market in the case.

page 15 note 2 The Sarkin Pāwa. The incumbent of the office is of course a Yoruba man.

page 16 note 1 See E. Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, pp. 64–75, translated by S. A. Solovay and J. H. Mueller, and edited by G. E. G. Catlin, The Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois (1950).

page 16 note 2 Such an action is not unlikely to happen. It happened in 1963 in the Abeokuta cattle market, when the butchers stopped paying their debts to the dealers and completely paralysed the market for about five weeks, until the two sides accepted arbitration by the Ibadan Hausa Chief. The dispute arose when some of the Hausa cattle landlords attempted to enter the butchering business by slaughtering a number of cattle and selling the meat to local retailers. The arbitrator eventually ruled that no slaughtering should be done by the landlords.

page 16 note 3 Men in the Quarter do not conceal the fact that in their political behaviour they follow the instructions of their patrons unquestionably.

page 16 note 4 The association was formally called ‘The Federal Union of the Western Sarkis Hausawa ’.

page 17 note 1 Ninety-seven out of a total of 1,570. The figures are from a general census which I took in Sabo with the help of local assistants.

page 17 note 2 285 out of a total of 1,570.

page 18 note 1 The landlords often skip over most of these factors and dismiss the case for submitting disputes to the courts by saying: ‘After all these are Yoruba courts.’

page 19 note 1 One of the most striking phenomena I witnessed in this respect was the obedience which the Yoruba butchers showed towards the Hausa Chief, whose authority was so strong that he could send his messenger and summon any butcher to his office.

page 19 note 2 Besides this licensed butcher there are a few Hausa men who work as ‘meat cutters ’, buying wholesale from Yoruba butchers and selling within the Quarter or in the neighbouring Mokola Quarter.

page 19 note 3 The case of dispute between the local Yoruba butchers and the Hausa cattle landlords mentioned in footnote 2, p. 16, points in the same direction.