Strengthening the Trarza livestock keepers

Strengthening the capacities of the production of the stock breeders in Trarza and Brakna in Mauritania

General context

The associations collide with  diverse constraints which limit their negotiation capacities.  The income of the herders in the river region remain, in general, below the poverty level, for the following reasons:

1. The productivity of the livestock remains weak: lacking consistent zootechnical and medical support.
2. The control of stock-farming and its general environment is known to have a profound impact on the whole country. The traditional method of stock-farming is no longer appropriate given the new constraints.
3. Faced with the needs of the booming milk product agro-industry, the herders are dissatisfied with the requirements for the quality of the milk.
4. The lack of infrastructure for basic stock-breeding means that the livestock is concentrated in a restricted area, due to overgrazing, and the are not able to utilise the whole of the pastoral zone.
5. The representation of the stock-breeders and the structure of the associations is insufficiently developed.  Their ability to negotiate is therefore insignificant with regard to the people with whom they negotiate.

 

 General and specific objectives

The overall object of this project is the reduction of poverty by increasing rural incomes.  The specific objectives are ‘the improvement of the milk production of herders in the Trarza and the Brakna’ as well as capacity building techniques and operations of the APLT.

 

 Beneficiaries

 

1. The target group consists of partner stock-breeders of APLT (the Association for the Transhumant Producers of Milk Products) in the regions of Trarza and Brakna, who actually consist of about 500 herders and their families (although numbers are increasing).  The women represent about 15% of the milk product stock-farmers
2. The milkers represent one of the fractions of the most vulnerable populations of the Sub Sahara.
3. Following the character of high redistribution for the activity of stock-farming, the number of people getting their subsistence can be estimated to be multiplied by 10.  Consequently the number of people indirectly affected by the project increases to about 15 000 people at the end of the project.

 

 

Activities

The project is carried out across the dairy production sector.  The flow of the product is assured by flourishing local consumption and the presence of dynamic economic industrial actors.  The priorities of activities are defined and put in place during the preliminary period of the project of 3 years, in partnership with the beneficiaries of the ALPT. The axes of intervention for the improvement of productivity of the herders are stated by four lines of direction:

1. The reassurance of the health of the animal  (with the availability of infrastructure of the stock-breeding).
2. The reduction of costs of  the inputs of stock-farming  (working capital and community negotiation) and the stability of their supplies.
3. The optimisation of livestock production by the improvement of the know-how of the herders and milkers.
4. Partnership collaboration with APLT and the strengthening of the partnership at the institutional level.

 

Team

1. Equipe VSFB 
   Tél. : + (222) 525.04.30  E-mail : apltmauritanie@yahoo.fr
2. Partner : Association pour les Producteurs Laitiers Transhumants (APLT)
   Tél. : + (222) 525.04.30  E-mail : apltmauritanie@yahoo.fr
3. Financial Partner: DGCD: Direction Générale de la Coopération Belge au Développement
   N° 6, rue Bréderode 1000 Bruxelles
4. Financial Partner: CNCD – 11.11.11, N° 9 Quai du Commerce, 1000 Bruxelles
5. VSF-Belgique
   N° 36-38 Avenue Paul Deschanellaan, 1030 Bruxelles