Productivity of Transhumant Fulani Cattle in the Inner Niger Delta of Mali

摘要

When ILCA set up its Sahelian program in 1976, Mali was selected as its focal point because of the country's diversity of production systems and the varying importance of livestock in these systems. The traditional livestock production system in the inner Niger delta, which covers an area of 54,000sq km representing only 4% of Mali, contains 25% and 18% of the country's cattle and small ruminant populations, respectively. In late 1978, ILCA began a 4-year interdisciplinary study of the pastoral system in central Mali with the aim of identifying its production potential and constraints. The initial results obtained over the period 1979/1980 were published in an ILCA research report on farming systems in Mali's arid zone.