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Mauritania
Index
Historically, cattle herding was Mauritania's most important
economic activity. In the 1980s, with a cattle-to-people ratio of
three to one--the highest in West Africa--herding provided
subsistence for up to 70 percent of the country's people. Herding
has been dramatically affected by chronic drought and the
attendant rapid advance of the desert. These events have forced
shifts in patterns of movement, herd composition and ownership,
and increased pressures on lands also occupied by sedentary
farmers in the south.
Although sources disagree about herd size, it is clear that
numbers have fallen since the 1960s (see
table 2, Appendix). The
decline in herd size probably did not reflect a widescale dyingoff of animals so much as an increasingly permanent shift of
herds to better watered lands in Senegal and Mali.
The drought also caused shifts in the herding of camels
(traditionally located in the drier north) and of sheep and goats
(held by groups all across Mauritania). These changes were less
dramatic than those for cattle, however, because camels, sheep,
and goats are more resistant to drought. Although decreases in
sheep, goat, and camel herd size in drought years could be
significant, recovery was more rapid and sustained. In the years
following the 1968-73 drought, camel, sheep, and goat herd sizes
increased to predrought levels or higher. The same pattern seemed
evident during the 1983-85 drought and the recovery years of the
late 1980s. Indeed, the overall size of camel, sheep, and goat
herds may have risen since the 1960s, as these hardier animals
have moved into areas abandoned by cattle herds. This pattern
seems to have been particularly true for the camel herds.
In the 1960s, cattle herds in Mauritania were composed of two
basic types: the lighter, short-horned zebu, or "maure," which
made up perhaps 85 percent of the national herd; and the heavier,
long-horned zebu, or "peul." The smaller zebu ranged farther
north and were owned by nomadic herders. The larger zebu stayed
closer to the better watered riverine areas and were owned by
sedentary groups who practiced agriculture in addition to
livestock raising.
Although traditional herding patterns persist, considerable
changes have taken place. Since the 1968-73 drought,
precipitation has been below average. Between 1973 and 1984, as
the 150-millimeter isohyet line moved south, livestock often were
forced to stay year-round in dry season grazing areas nearer the
Senegal River and across the border in Senegal and Mali
(see Major Geographic and Climatic Zones
, ch. 2). Thus, the herd
populations were compressed into a smaller area, increasing
pressure on land resources and heightening competition among
herding groups and between herders and sedentary farmers.
Overgrazing in increasingly crowded areas and the cutting of
trees and shrubs for firewood and fodder (particularly for sheep
and goats) contributed to accelerating desertification and posed
a threat to crop production.
Patterns of herd ownership also changed with drought and the
impoverishment of the rural sector. Increasingly, herds belonged
to urban investors (mostly government officials and traders) and
were cared for by hired personnel (drawn from the pool of
destitute pastoralists who, having lost herds, migrated to urban
areas). Herders began to take advantage of access to public wells
to graze herds in areas traditionally controlled by tribal
groups. The extent of this growing system of "absentee herding"
was difficult to assess; but by the mid-1980s, as much as 40
percent of the national herd was thought to be involved.
The Ministry of Rural Development was responsible for
livestock and natural resource conservation. The ministry's
National Livestock Department (Direction Nationale d'Elevage--
DNE) was responsible for field services and for the annual
rinderpest vaccination campaign. Headquartered in Nouakchott, in
the mid-1980s the DNE operated eleven field centers in regional
capitals and nineteen veterinary field stations, mostly located
in the southern third of the country. Used principally in the
annual vaccination campaigns, these field stations offered few
other veterinary and extension services. The ministry also
operated the National School for Training and Rural Extension
(Ecole Nationale de Formation et Vulgarisation Rurale--ENFVR) at
Kaédi, which since 1968 has trained veterinary field staff.
In 1981 the government established an autonomous state
marketing enterprise, the Mauritanian Livestock Marketing Company
(Société Mauritanienne de la Commercialisation du Betail--
SOMECOB). This agency had an official, but unenforceable,
monopoly over livestock exports and the authority to intervene in
market operations to stabilize domestic livestock prices. SOMECOB
was also responsible for the Kaédi Abattoir, constructed in 1975
as an export slaughterhouse. By 1986 it functioned for local
municipal consumption only, far below capacity, and SOMECOB's
exports were negligible. Private exports of live cattle took
place without obstruction from SOMECOB. This trade consisted
mostly of unrecorded movements into Senegal, Mali, and countries
farther south. In the mid-1980s, the most important market for
Mauritanian cattle was domestic, centered on Nouakchott,
Nouadhibou, and the mining centers.
Data as of June 1988
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