The Pastoralist Knowledge Hub is an initiative that seeks to bring pastoral voices to the global agenda. This new section, 'Pastoralists Conversations', contains informative pieces of dialogue with pastoralists from different regions. The aim is to highlight the specificity of pastoralist production systems, transhumance, and the challenges they experience, thus providing reliable information to decision-makers on how to better support pastoralism.

We met Dah Ould Dahi at the camel market, on the outskirts of Nouakchott, in February 2023. When his duties as a herder allow, he visits the camel market to sell his livestock.

What is your name, and where do you live?

My name is Dah Ould Dahi, and I live in Egla, North of Aioun, in Mauritania.

What kind of animals do you herd? Do they belong to you and your family, or do you keep them for other people?

I own camels and cattle. I also keep around 200 heads of camels and cattle for other people.

Since when have you been a herder?

I have been a herder since birth; I was born in pastoralism.

How would you describe transhumance in your region?

We move on a regular basis about 200 km around our home territory. Apart from this transhumance around our home territory, we move down to Mali in April-May and come back in August. But this depends on the availability of pasture and livestock feed. The less pasture there is, the farther we move down to Mali, and the better the pasture, the closer we can stay around our home territory. It's not all the family that moves, but only the herders or the shepherds.

Have you witnessed some changes in transhumance during the last decade?

What changed in the past years is the use and availability of livestock feed. It reduced a lot the duration of transhumance out of the home territory. Transhumance towards Mali implies a lot of fees related to animal health and to shepherds. So now, the herder makes an evaluation and weighs the pros and cons of either letting the livestock leave for transhumance, with the fees it takes or keeping it longer around the home territory with the cost of buying livestock feed. Before, herders or shepherds would leave for Mali already in January, so you can see that this really reduced the duration of this transhumance. What is also new is the insecurity around the borders of Mali. Some transhumance corridors are not accessible like before.

Dah Ould Dahi with his camels in the camel market of Nouakchott, Mauritania, 2023. @Ivana Mardesic/FAO

How would you describe being a herder today?

Being a herder is, first of all, a way of life. If you compare it with agriculture, it is less profitable, but agriculture requires a lot of resources that we do not have. Other activities require a certain amount of capital and investments, but I have the knowledge of know-how and skills it takes to be a good pastoral herder. Luckily, the value of animals has increased in the past years.

What are the main difficulties pastoralists face in your region?

The main challenges herders face today are related to animal health and some livestock feed supply disruptions. Shepherds have also become really expensive because a lot of them turned to gold mining in the North of the country.

Are young people interested in becoming pastoralists?

Most young people that managed to get some education turn to other occupations, and my perception is that few of them decide to become pastoralists.

How can public policies and interventions better help pastoralists?

Public policies should help us with the points I highlighted: help make veterinary services more accessible, as well as create local factories of livestock feed. There is also a lack of water points.