Tropicultura (Jan 1995)
Amélioration des pratiques de l'élevage du bétail Ndama en milieu villageois : l'exemple de Madina-Diassa au Sud du Mali
Abstract
Improvement of Villager Ndama Cattle Husbandry Practices : the Example of Madina-Diassa in the South of Mali. In the south of Mali, the first 2 periods of the project titled "creation d'un berceau de la race bovine Ndama dans le cercle de Yanfolila" (ONDY) led to a 1800 heads of Ndama cattle herd and to improve a genetic selection method. Due to the recurrent costs of the station, the greater part of the selected cattle was transferred to surrounding villages during the third project period. Such a transfer required an adjustment of both selection method and pastoral management. Results in the fields of cattle transfer, animal breeding, genetic selection, pastoral management and sanitary controls are presented. For the authors, the model proposed in the project offers an interesting alternative to cattle selection in a station, providing the acceptance by the entire surrounding population is obtained and providing factors acting on animal husbandry are mastered, especially feeding. Lastly, it has been confirmed that selective cattle breeding is feasible with farmer populations in wet areas in which it is traditionally unpresent. That is likely a way to be worked out, facing the relative saturation and degradation of sahelian areas.
