History of the project                                                           The ILCA / ODEM Project

The   International   Livestock   Center   for   Africa   ILCA/CIPEA   was   created   in 1975,    as    the    13 th     research    center    of    the    Consultative    Group    on    International Agricultural   Research   –   CGIAR   –   which   funded   research   centers   promoting   the "green   revolution".   It   established   itself   in   Mali   in   1979,   in   collaboration   with   the Institute   of   Rural   Economy,   IER.   In   association   with   the   Operation   for   Livestock Development   in   the   Mopti   Region   –   ODEM   –   and      funded   by   the   World   Bank,   the CIPEA-IER/ODEM    teams    started    a    very    ambitious    research    and    development project   which,   in   the   productivist   approach   in   fashion   at   that   time,   was   aimed   at 'modernizing'   livestock   breeding   in   the   5 th    region   of   Mali   in   order   to   make   the region a pole of animal production in the area. Our mandate was threefold: • To   conduct   a   fine-scale   study   of   the   rangelands   of   the   Inner   Delta   of   Niger   (fig 1),   as   well   as   transhumance   during   the   rainy   season   and   cool   dry   season   on   the left   bank,   reaching   westwards   to   the   Serpent   valley   and   northwards   up   to   the Mauritanian border. • To    conduct    a    study    of    the    pastoral    organization    of    the    land    (territories, transhumance   paths   ...),   and   of   conflicts   between   pastoralists,   fishermen   and farmers related to the uses of natural resources. • To formulate proposals for the development of livestock productivity.

The   means   at   our   disposal   were   exceptional:   a   budget   of   more   than   one   million   dollars,   a   fleet   of   vehicles,   a   twin-engine   aircraft, a 1:50 000 photographic coverage in Infrared Color, commissioned to the French National Geographic Institute, IGN. The   human   resources   were   equally   considerable:   some   thirty   Malian   and   international   researchers   and   collaborators   divided   into several teams: • A team of ecologists under the direction of Pierre Hiernaux, Mohamed Idrissa Cissé and Lassine Diarra. • A   team   responsible   for   studies   and   for   the   mapping   of   pastoral   land   tenure   under   the   direction   of   Salmana   Cissé,   Samba Soumaré and Jérôme Marie. • An team for aerial surveys (including cattle counting) under the direction of Kevin Milligan, David Bourn and William Wint. • A   team   responsible   for   the   study   and   implementation   of   a   reform   of   territories   and   uses   that   regulate   access   to   natural   resources. This work was  directed by Salmana Cissé, Alain Rochegude (a lawyer) and Jérôme Marie. • Finally,   a   team   based   at   ILCA   headquarters   in   Addis   Ababa,   in   charge   of   mapping.   Mark   Haywood,   his   director,   made   several visits   to   the   fields   with   Pierre   Hiernaux.   He   realized   the   whole   photo-interpretation,   defined   and   coordinated   the   drawing   of   the cartographic   system.   Land   tenure   crews   charged   with   registering   the   leyde    boundaries,   pastoral   trails,   and   resting   camps   worked directly on the 1:50 000 topographic background maps developed by Mark Haywood. This   resulted   in   a   report   entitled   "Seeking   a   solution   to   the   problems   of   animal   husbandry   in   the   Inner   Delta   of   the   Niger   in   Mali", written   by   Jérôme   Marie   and   submited   to   the   Government   of   Mali   and   the   ODEM   in   March   1983.   The   five   volumes   (1100   pages) dealt with : 1 . Rangelands in the study area (their floristic composition, ecological conditions, production, etc.) 2 . The distribution and density of livestock in different seasons obtained by systematic aerial surveys. 3 . Geographical   and   socio-economic   monographs   covering   all   the   leyde   (Fulani   pastoral   territories   in   the   Delta),   dealing   with villages, population, the organization of transhumance, land conflicts, etc. 4 . A   legal   analysis   proposing   solutions   to   solve   conflicts   between   pastoralists,   fishermen   and   farmers.   In   particular,   we   advocated the   replacement   of   leyde    by   agro-pastoral   units,   territorial   communities   headed   by   an   elected   council   whose   competence   would be to regulate the use of resources (land, water, pastures, etc.) among the various holders of rights. These reports were accompanied by detailed maps in three layers: • The   maps   of   the   Niger   Inland   Delta   rangelands   (27   maps   at   1:50   000   scale   in   80x50   cm   format).   But   also   the   map   of   the rangelands   of   the   'Delta   mort'   and   the   Office   du   Niger   (31   maps   in   the   1:   100   000   format   40x28cm)   and   the   maps   of   the continental rangelands to the West and North (6 IGN topographic maps 1: 200,000). • Pastoral   land   mapping   of   the   Inland   Delta   of   the   Niger   covering   the   31   leyde    (Fulani   pastoral   territories)   of   the   Delta.   This   cover, rigorously   superimposable   to   the   previous   one,   bore   the   detailed   hydrographic   network,   the   relief   elements   (hills   or   "togge" ),   the villages   and   hamlets   cultivated,   the   pastoral   tracks   inside   the   Delta   (over   3,600   km)   pastoral   gîtes   (over   1,000),   toponymy,   land disputes over lodges, trails or leyde  boundaries. • Maps   of   agricultural   land   use,   comparing   1952   and   1974/75   (Haywood   M.   1981.   "Evolution   of   land   use   and   vegetation   in   the Sudano-Sahelian zone of the ILCA project in Mali", Doc. Working Group 3, ILCA, Addis Ababa, 187 p.). This work was not implemented and its results were never published, for several reasons: • Putting    it    into    practice    presupposed    that    relations    between    the    populations    and    the    administrations    concerned    could    be established   on   a   decentralized   and   democratic   basis.   We   advocated   local   management   of   natural   resources   and   land   on   an   elected democratic   basis.   Despite   the   success   of   the   two   experimental   units   that   we   had   been   authorized   to   create,   the   Malian   political   power was   not   ready,   in   1983,   for   such   a   radical   reform.   The   decentralization   put   in   place   under   the   Third   Republic,   which   led   in   1999   to the   creation   of   rural   communes   and   the   election   of   municipal   councils,   could   have   offered   more   favorable   political   conditions   for   the local   management   of   natural   resources   as   we   advocated   at   the   time.   Perhaps   because   the   reform   has   not   been   pushed   far   enough   or because   the   government   was   unable   or   unwilling   to   resolve   the   serious   problems   of   corruption   affecting   the   Inner   Delta,   the   land conflicts   that   overwhelm   the   populations   of   the   Delta   have   multiplied;   undoubtedly,   this   situation   is   not   unrelated   to   the   emergence of Islamic terrorism, the insecurity and the civil war that affect this beautiful region. • ILCA/ CIPEA   had   committed   itself   to   the   study   only   as   a   result   of   being   urged   to   do   so   by   the   World   Bank.   It   had   not   budgeted for   any   publication   other   than   the   delivery   of   the   documents   and   maps   under   contract   to   the   ODEM   project.   Publications   were   alien to   the   CIPEA's   policy   of   the   time,   which   focused   on   projects   for   the   development   of   animal   production.   Concern   about   pastoral   land was largely misunderstood by my supervisor at the time, a dairy engineer! • But   a   third,   equally   important   reason   for   the   absence   of   publication,   came   from   our   inability   to   carry   out   syntheses,   modelling and   operations   dedicated   to   spatial   analysis   on   such   a   mass   of   data   in   the   absence   of   a   powerful   computing   tool.   In   1983,   IT   used heavy,   slow,   and   expensive   systems.   GIS   was   practically   non-existent   and   remote   sensing   was   only   beginning   (SPOT,   for   example, had   not   yet   been   launched).   Pierre   Hiernaux   processed   his   phyto-ecological   observations   with   the   help   of   punched   cards;   when,   in 1983,   Mark   Haywood   wanted   to   quantify   the   surface   area   of   ‘bourgoutières’   (one   specific   plant   formation   out   of   120,   composed   of 837   plots   -   out   of   a   total   of   14,535),   he   had   to   cut   out   the   837   plots   representing   this   plant   formation,   then   weigh   the   paper   to   deduce the surface area!