The rangelands of the Sahel.

Abstract

This article is an attempt to review and synthesize the present state of knowledge on the Sahel rangelands in a concise way. Ecological conditions, land use practices, livestock numbers, and livestock production systems are briefly analysed. Range types, dynamics, production, development strategy, and outlook are also reviewed. The conclusion that emerges is that the Sahel should be kept as breeding ground and included in a livestock production stratification strategy which should also involve the higher potential zones further south in the Sudanian and Guinean ecological zones. Such a development stategy implies the improvement of the conditions of range utilization in the Sahel, in particular a better definition of basic resources ownership (range and water) as well as of the marketing and prices policies. The word Suhel is an arabic term which means Shoreline; it has been used for centuries to mean the southern fringe of the Sahara desert; i.e., the shoreline of the desert. It became world known during the dramatic drought that occurred in the region in 1970-73. The Sahel extends over an area of some 2.5 million km2 stretching over 5,500 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, in a strip SOme 450 km wide, between the 14” to 18” of latitude N to the west and the 12”- 16” latitude N to the east. The Sahelian belt thus crosses the African continent almost parallel to the equator. The isohyets run also roughly parallel in the W-E direction with a slight dip of 4% (1.8O) to the S-E, so that a given isohyet is about 220 km further south in the Nile Valley as compared to the ocean coast. The Sahel includes parts of the following 8 countries: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Upper Volta, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, and Sudan.