A total of 9,844 livestock and agro-pastoralist households in Mali’s northern and central regions received 2,279 tons of livestock feed. This support is part of the preservation of rural livelihoods. A symbolic delivery ceremony of cattle feed was organized on 27 July 2022 in the rural commune of Cinzana, in the Segou region. Through this emergency intervention, FAO is demonstrating its commitment to the Malian government to contribute to the preservation of the livelihoods of rural actors, in particular livestock and agro-pastoralists.
The 2020-2021 agricultural season has been characterized by insufficient rainfall and its poor distribution in time and space in the Sahel. The pastoral situation was marked by a late establishment of vegetation and dry sequences, leading to a delay in vegetative growth. Poor fodder biomass production was observed across the Sahelian front.
In a letter to FAO, the Malian Ministry of Rural Development reported a fodder deficit in 444 communes in 56 circles, particularly in the pastoral regions of the Sahelian strip (western and northern regions of Kayes and Koulikoro), the center (regions of Ségou and Mopti) and the north (regions of Gao, Timbuktu, Kidal, Ménaka and Taoudéni). After estimating the need for livestock feed at 22,360 tonnes for a population of 124,242 head (Tropical Livestock Unit), the Ministry requested and obtained from the FAO Representation in Mali emergency assistance in livestock feed to cope with this fodder deficit.
In collaboration with its partners and as part of the humanitarian assistance to Mali coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the FAO Representation in Mali made available 2,279 tonnes of livestock feed to 9,844 beneficiaries in the regions of Segou, Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu. A symbolic ceremony to hand over the cattle feed was organized on 27 July 2022 in the rural commune of Cinzana. Several officials from the Segou region, the Ministry of Rural Development and the FAO were present at this ceremony, as well as the various regional technical services for rural development and their local branches in Cinzana, the communal and village authorities of Cinzana and the representatives of the beneficiaries from the villages concerned.
Visibly happy with the donation, the representative of the beneficiaries of the Cinzana commune, Modibo Traoré, said: “I am really happy to receive this livestock feed from FAO and its partners. What is good for our animals is also good for us. I thank FAO and its partners and hope that this action will be regular”, he says. Zanga Diarra, deputy of the Prefect of the Segou circle, thanks FAO and the Ministry of Rural Development for their part. He hopes that such actions will be multiplied in the circle.
Funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), this intervention complements the provision of 12,799 households with emergency agricultural production kits on plots of land or above ground, also within the framework of the CERF in these regions. The emergency agricultural production kit, equipped with above-ground market gardening technology, enables displaced households to produce their own vegetable consumption needs. In addition to the 2,279 tonnes of feed, several distributions have already taken place and some are ongoing under other projects funded by other traditional FAO partners, notably Canada and Sweden.
Credit:FAO
