Projekt

Cross-border and regional livestock mobility is critical for the sustainability of pastoral and agropastoral livelihoods in the West African region. However, the availability and herders' utilization of different pastoral resources including animal genetic patrimony, grasslands, browse, and water along the mobility routes from the Sahel to the West African Coast are still poorly understood. These require much research attention, and will be critical in informing policies and avoiding overexploitation and degradation of natural resources. The main objectives of the study are therefore to: i) analyze mobile pastoralists' uses and management of natural resources (animals, rangelands and water) along the mobility routes, thereby accounting for interactions with sedentary pastoralists; ii) quantify the effects of mobility and its associated networks of exchanges between mobile and sedentary herders on the genetic structure and diversity of local cattle populations, and on the productivity of both livestock and rangelands, and iii) derive recommendations for improved livelihoods of pastoralists, for the conservation of diversity in animal genetic resources, and hence for securing herd productivity in the region.

• Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stützel

  Universität Hannover
  Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
  Institut für Gartenbauliche Produktionssysteme
  Abteilung Systemmodellierung Gemüsebau
  Hannover
  

• Dr. Rodrigue V. Cao Diogo

  University of Parakou
  Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
  Porto-Novo
  Benin
  

• Change and continuity in traditional cattle farming systems of West African Coast countries: A case study from Beni

• The role of cattle attributes in buyers choices in Benin

• Gestion des pâturages par les éleveurs transhumants dans deux zones d accueil au Bénin