Transhumance pastoralism in West Africa – its importance, policies and challenges

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recognises transhumance pastoralism as a beneficial livestock production system that can contribute to food security together with economic and political stability. Thus, the subregional bloc put together the ECOWAS Protocol on Transhumance and supporting regulations to actualise these benefits. These policies seek to regulate transhumance pastoralism by ensuring that herd movements are along defined migratory corridors among member states. This review assesses the importance of transhumance pastoralism in West Africa, local and cross-border policies, and associated challenges, with emphasis on herder–farmer conflicts. It was realised that the movement of large numbers of livestock into rangelands (1) provides employment for many, and thus improves livelihoods; (2) improves productivity through high milk production and high fertility; (3) reduces moribund and combustible forage materials in the dry season; and (4) enhances seed dispersal, soil fertility and plant diversity on rangelands. This review shows that the ECOWAS cross-border transhumance protocols have led to infrastructural developments in some member states, but the partial enforcement of protocols has led to herder–farmer conflicts. We conclude that transhumance pastoralism and the regulatory policies have several benefits. However, to ensure policy compliance and avoid herder–farmer conflicts, the policies need to be reviewed and discernible gaps eliminated

Performance indicators of sheep fed rice straw supplemented with browse leaves

The use of browse leaves as a protein source can help ruminants cope with adverse nutritional stress under unpredictable climatic conditions. The objective of this study was to determine feed intake, digestibility, metabolisable energy intake, weight gain and feed conversion efficiency of sheep fed untreated rice straw supplemented with browse leaves. Four forest type rams with an average weight of 27.75± 0.89 kg (2 years old) and in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square design were used in the digestibility study. Twelve ram lambs of average weight 13.2 kg ± 0.05 kg were assigned to the experimental diets randomly for 12 weeks in the growth study in a completely randomized design. Animals were fed four diets namely: Untreated rice straw (URS) + Albizzia lebbek (AL) (Control), URS + Moringa oleifera (MO), URS + Ficus exasperata (FE) and URS + Spondias mombin (SM). The dietary treatment influenced (p<0.05) the digestible organic matter in dry matter (DOMD), maintenance energy requirement (MEm), metabolisable energy intake (MEI) and ratio of metabolisable energy intake to maintenance energy requirement (MEI: MEm). The DOMD, MEm, MEI and MEI: MEm were in the range of 965-983 g/kgDM, 3.61-5.36 MJ/d, 9.51-15.8 MJ/d and 2.63-3.38 respectively. The total intake of browse and straw ranged from 428.71 to 487.14 g/d. The average daily gain ranged from 7.14 to 20.24 g/d. The animals fed URS+FE recorded the highest average daily gain (p<0.05) while the animals fed URS+AL recorded the lowest average daily gain (p<0.05). Feed conversion efficiency ranged from 25.97 to 71.45 kg feed/ kg gain. The sheep fed URS+FE were the most efficient (p<0.05) and those fed URS+AL, the least efficient (p<0.05). Supplementation of browse leaves to sheep using untreated rice straw as a basal diet improved digestibility with moderate weight gains. These browse leaves (AL, FE, MO and SM) can be used to supplement poor quality ruminant diets for improved performance particularly during periods of feed scarcity