Publication interne
Le rôle de la transhumance transfrontalière dans l'influence des pratiques d'élevage et de l'utilisation des ressources génétiques par les éleveurs résidents
The cross-border mobility has been shown to play an important role in ensuring the productivity of the transhumant herds through adequate late dry season access to pastoral resources. Yet, its effects on the traditional agro-pastoral production systems that are encountered along the routes in Benin have never been explicitly investigated. Therefore, we collected socio-economic household data, herd characteristics and management data from 104 resident herders and 38 transhumant herders in 2 vegetation zones of Benin. To determine whether or not the proximity to transhumance corridors affects sedentary production systems, characteristics of cattle herds and farmers' management practices were compared between villages close to (within a 25 km buffer) and far from (outside a 25 km buffer) transhumance corridors within and between vegetation zones using non-parametric statistical tests. Existing relationships between resident and transhumant herders were also identified and characterized. Subsequently, herd characteristics and management practices were compared between resident herders having relationships with transhumant herders and those without. Herd sizes of resident herders living close to transhumance corridors were larger (P < 0.01) than those of their counterparts living far away. Also, proximity to transhumance corridors had positive effects on herd management practices. The relationships between resident and transhumant herders were governed by a variety of interests including encampment/manuring contracts, exploitation of grazing lands and watering points, trading and bartering of cattle. This exchange of cattle is an important driver of change in the breed composition of local herds and represents an opportunity for resident herders to enhance their herds' productivity through crossbreeding. However, the mere replacement or indiscriminate crossbreeding of local cattle breeds with those kept by transhumant herders threatens the sustainability of the traditional resident herding systems by increasing the risk of genetic erosion and loss of valuable adaptive traits in indigenous animal genetic resources.
Téléchargé par : Sandrine HouessouAuteur : Houessou, Sandrine | ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9488-5521
Co-auteur : Assogba, C. A
Co-auteur : Diogo, R. V. C.
Co-auteur : Vanvanhossou, S. F. U. | ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9870-2585
Co-auteur : Dossa, Luc Hippolyte | ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9870-2585
Co-auteur : Schlecht, Eva | ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5420-2893
Institution : Université d'Abomey-Calavi | Centre : Promouvoir les capacités académiques pour l'utilisation durable des ressources agricoles en Afrique de l'Ouest (Pro-RUWA)
Type : Article de journal | Anglais, évalué par un comité de lecture
Sujet : Agriculture
Publié dans : Animal : the international journal of animal biosciences, ISSN 1751-7311, EISSN 1751-732X | Volume 14, Issue 11
Éditeur du document : Éditeur précédent : Cambridge : Cambridge University Press pour le compte de The Animal Consortium Juin 2020 ; Editeur actuel : Amsterdam : Elsevier BV
Date : 19 juin 2020 | Pages : Pages 2378-2386
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731120001378
Copyright : ©The Author(s),2020 | Licence : Libre accès - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED
