For Dah Ould Dahi, “being a herder is a way of life”. Every year around April, he moves his herd of camels and cattle from his home territory in southern Mauritania to neighbouring Mali and only comes back in August. “But it depends on the availability of pasture and livestock feed,” he says. “The less pasture there is, the farther we move down into Mali.” The rest of the year, he herds his animals closer to home – moving another 200km or so each year.
In the past, he recalls, herders would migrate south as early as January, but thanks to livestock feed being more readily available in recent years, pastoralists now have more of a choice of when to leave and for how long.
“Transhumance towards Mali comes with a lot of fees related to animal health and to herders,” he explains. It also means more time away from family. “So now, the herder weighs the pros and cons of either letting the livestock leave for transhumance, with the fees it takes, or keeping it longer around the home territory with the cost of buying livestock feed.” Overall, he says, you can see transhumance is shorter now.
Surrounded by camels at the Nouakchott livestock market, he reflects on his livelihood. “I was born into pastoralism. If you compare it with agriculture, it is less profitable, but agriculture requires a lot of resources that we do not have.” He does have plenty of knowledge to be a good herder, he says. And, luckily, the value of livestock has increased recently. The cost of hiring herders has risen, too, partly because some have started gold mining instead, he explains. This is good news for Dah, who, in addition to his own animals, is herding some 200 camels for others.
Asked what public policies he’d like to see, he stresses the need for more water points and accessible veterinary care, and he’d love to see local factories being built for livestock feed, to avoid occasional shortages.
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FAO
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Originally published on fao.org
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© FAO / Ivana Mardesic