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Throughout the world, livestock grazing systems (LGS) include, and provide livelihoods for, many rural populations. These LGS are represented in a wide variety of agroecological contexts and offer a huge variety of system organization. They contribute to sustainable food systems by providing multiple products including low-cost edible proteins and energy, draft power, outputs (carbon and soil nutrient regulation, landscape and biodiversity maintenance), roles (local development support in harsh environments, contribution to the circular economy) and benefits to populations (revenue, employment, and cultural assets). These multiple functions can be described through a multifunctional conceptual model specified for LGS. Applied to cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, the framework enables the assessment of these systems in a holistic manner that includes four dimensions: production, social, environmental and local development. These dimensions and associated local indicators demonstrate the potential important contribution that LGS may deliver to sustainable food systems. Management of interactions and trade-offs between these functions may be improved using such a model in a multi-stakeholder approach. Some of the functions and balance between them might have been overlooked in the consideration of European food systems. IPAF Región NOA Fil: Ickowicz, Alexandre. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Ickowicz, Alexandre. Selmet, Univertité Montpellier, Cirad, INRAE; Francia Fil: Ickowicz, Alexandre. Cirad, UMR Selmet, Montpellier; Francia Fil: Hubert, Bernard. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Hubert, Bernard. INRAE. Unité d'Ecodéveloppement; Francia Fil: Blanchard, Mélanie. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Blanchard, Mélanie. Selmet, Univertité Montpellier, Cirad, INRAE; Francia Fil: Blanchard, Mélanie. Cirad, UMR Selmet Hanoï; Vietnam Fil: Blanchard, Mélanie. Nias, Hanoï; Vietnam Fil: Blanfort, Vincent. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Blanfort, Vincent. Selmet, Univertité Montpellier, Cirad, INRAE; Francia Fil: Blanfort, Vincent. Cirad, UMR Selmet, Montpellier; Francia Fil: Cesaro, Jean-Daniel. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Cesaro, Jean-Daniel. Selmet, Univertité Montpellier, Cirad, INRAE; Francia Fil: Cesaro, Jean-Daniel. Cirad, UMR Selmet, ISRA, PPZS, Saint-Louis, Senegal Fil: Diaw, Arona. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Diaw, Arona. Laiterie du Berge; Senegal Fil: Lasseur, Jacques. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Lasseur, Jacques. Selmet, Univertité Montpellier, Cirad, INRAE; Francia Fil: Huyen, Le Thi Thanh. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Huyen, Le Thi Thanh. Nias, Hanoï; Vietnam Fil: Li, Li. Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences; China Fil: Mauricio, Rogerio Martins. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Mauricio, Rogerio Martins. Universidade Federal de Sao Joao. Biotechnology Department; Brasil Fil: Cangussu, Mauroni. Universidade Federal de Sao Joao. Biotechnology Department; Brasil Fil: Müller, Jean-Pierre. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Müller, Jean-Pierre. Sens, Univ Montpellier, Cirad, Montpellier; Francia Fil: Müller, Jean-Pierre. Cirad, UMR Sens, Montpellier; Francia Fil: Quiroga Mendiola, Mariana. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Quiroga Mendiola, Mariana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región NOA; Argentina Fil: Quiroga Roger, Juan Alfonso. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región NOA; Argentina Fil: Vera, Tomas Anibal. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región NOA; Argentina Fil: Ulambayar, Tungalag. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Ulambayar, Tungalag. Zoological Society of London. Representative Office Ulaanbaatar; Mongolia Fil: Wedderburn, Liz. FAO. Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock “Restoring value to grassland” network; Italia Fil: Wedderburn, Liz. AgResearch Ltd.; Nueva Zelanda

Trees in dryland forests and wooded areas provide key ecosystem services such as animal feed, timber, fruits and, regulation of soil and water cycles. Equally, the presence of livestock in dryland woody areas can also play an important role in the local ecosystem; not only are they a source of income for local communities, but they also help vegetation and mobilise stored biomass. When both of these ecosystem elements are wisely combined – livestock and trees – it creates an integrated agricultural system that can boost the local ecosystem, representing a welcome agro-ecological transition in livestock farming. The ‘Grazing with Trees’ report gives a thorough assessment of the positive role that optimized extensive grazing livestock farming can play in the management and restoration of drylands’ forests and lands with trees. It assesses and provides sound evidence on the benefits of applying an integrated landscape approach and utilizing farmers and pastoralists’ knowledge to halt desertification, increase resilience, and enhance food security under the actual changing scenario. The report confirms the importance of agroforestry as a primary pathway for forest restoration in dryland areas as recommended by FAO’s State of Forests 2022, and its recommendations encourage landscape planners and decision makers to consider livestock as allies, carefully restore tree cover and accelerate action to promote healthy ecosystems.

In the dry areas of western Africa, the over-exploitation of forestry resources and the lack of tree regeneration lead to the degradation of agroforestry parklands. Such parklands could be better managed if the multiple services provided by the trees were well identified and valorized. However, there is little information on the local knowledge of' tree species regarding their functions, uses and services. Likewise, local stakeholders' perceptions of the relation between the species aptness for the above functions and uses and their functional traits is not well known. This study focuses on local knowledge of tree species in parklands of the Segou region in Mali, in order to identify specific uses or multifunctionalities that could be highlighted in improving agroforestry systems. Qualitative surveys have been carried out to identify users' perceptions of tree functions and functional traits. Findings show the possibility of classifying species by relevant functional groups, i.e. woody/timber trees, fruit/cash crop trees and trees related to livestock. Functional traits were not easily identified by farmers and the related information was difficult to analyze. Moreover, the perception of functions and traits depended on user groups (craftsmen, crop farmers, livestock farmers, traditional health practitioners, women etc.) and on agro-environmental and socio-economic contexts (activities, knowledge, means and practices). Therefore, scientific databases composed of lists of functions and traits for a given species have no generic value and must be valued depending on the context which may or may not enhance the substitutions between species for each use.

International audience; Methane (CH4) emission estimations for cattle in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) reflect limited production levels and diets that are high in cellulose forage. However, data on these livestock systems is lacking for their accurate evaluation. To provide guidance for climate change mitigation strategies in Senegal, it is necessary to obtain reliable estimates of CH4 emissions from Ndama cattle reared in grazing systems, which is the predominant cattle system in the country. The objective of this study was to determine the annual methane emission factor (MEF) for enteric fermentation of Ndama cattle following the IPCC Tier 2 procedure. Our estimated annual MEF at the herd scale was 30.8kg CH4/TLU (30.7kg CH4/head/yr for lactating cows and 15.1kg CH4/head/yr for other cattle). These values are well below the default IPCC emission factor (46 and 31kg CH4/head/yr for dairy and other cattle, respectively) proposed in the Tier 1 method for Africa. Our study showed that feed digestibility values differ with season (from 46 to 64%). We also showed that cattle lose weight and adapt to lower feed requirements during the long dry season, with a resulting major reduction in methane emissions. The results of this work provide a new framework to re-estimate the contribution of grazing systems to methane emissions in Africa.

Dans l’espace ouest-africain, la demande en produits d’origine animale augmente au rythme de la croissance de la population, de l’urbanisation et de l’accroissement des revenus. Cette situation offre un marche potentiel de betail, de viande et de lait. Mais le paradoxe demeure la part de plus en plus croissante des importations extra africaines de produits animaux. L’economie pastorale eprouve des difficultes reelles a faire face a l’accroissement de la demande de viande et de lait dans les pays ouest-africains. C’est pourquoi l’un des defis majeurs auxquels la filiere betail /viande et lait est confronte est d’assurer aux populations un niveau suffisant de consommation de viande et de lait tout en developpant les exportations. Cependant, la Revue Economique Mondiale du Pastoralisme a illustre dans ces travaux l’etat de pauvrete du savoir sur les economies pastorales, le manque de collecte de donnees dans certains pays et l’absence de desagregation des donnees nationales dans d’autres pays. C’est pour contribuer a combler le deficit de savoirs sur les economies pastorales que la presente etude a ete consacree a l’evaluation de la valeur economique de l’elevage bovin au Benin a partir d’un bassin de production. Elle permettra de fournir des chiffres capables de generer des criteres mieux avises pour permettre l’investissement public et la prise de decisions politiques en faveur de l’elevage bovin. Cette etude s’est appuyee sur des enquetes menees au niveau de 52 exploitations d’elevages bovin de deux principaux systemes naisseurs, choisis de maniere raisonnee dans 12 localites representatives de la diversite du bassin de la Donga. La demarche methodologique suivie pour evaluer la valeur economique des productions bovine, se decline en trois etapes : la recension documentaire, l’estimation des productions et leur conversion en valeur monetaire. Au terme de l’evaluation, la valeur economique totale de la production bovine dans le bassin de la Donga, representee par les productions d’animaux sur pied, de viande et de lait, est de un milliard neuf millions quatre cent mille (1 009 400 000) francs CFA. Rapportee a la population du bassin, cette valeur economique de la production bovine est de 4143 FCFA/habitant. Comparee a la valeur totale de production d’aliments en 2012 au Benin qui est de 99000 FCFA/habitant, la valeur de la production bovine represente 4%. Ce resultat met en evidence la faible participation de l’elevage bovin dans la production de l’aliment au Benin. © 2019 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved. Mots cles : Valeur economique, systemes d’elevage, bovin, produits animaux, Benin.

International audience; This paper explores an original approach in which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon (C) accumulation are assessed monthly and at landscape scale to account for the highly seasonal monsoon climate and the mobility of pastoral herds that characterize West African pastoral ecosystems. The study was conducted in northern Senegal, in the service area of the Widou Thiengoly borehole, a circular zone of 706 km(2) centered on the borehole. The C balance was calculated using an ecosystem approach, i.e. taking all main sources of GHG emissions and C sinks of the ecosystem, not only anthropogenic sources, into account. The annual C balance of the pastoral ecosystem was -0.04 +/- 0.01 tC-eq.ha(-1).year(-1), showing that total GHG emissions were mitigated by C accumulation in trees, soil and livestock. The C balance varied considerably with the seasons, with a positive monthly balance in the wet season, from July to October (+ 0.58 tC-eq.ha(-1).month(-1)) and a negative monthly balance in the cold dry season from November to February and the hot dry season from March to June (- 0.57 and -0.05 tC-eq.ha(-1).month(-1) respectively). Care should be taken when generalizing these results, which were obtained in a dry year, because of strong inter-annual variations in rainfall.

The above-ground biomass and floristic composition of Butana rangelands in Sudan were assessed in 2006 with field surveys covering 25 sites. The remote sensing data derived from Spot image for the same period was integrated to the field surveys to map the spatial distribution of biomass production (kg ha-1) using the perpendicular vegetation index. A rainfall map of the region was established from the meteorological data of the season and the digital elevation model. The rain use efficiency factor, which is the quotient of the annual pri­mary production (kg dry matter ha-1) of a season by rainfall (mm) of the same season, was used as a rangeland degradation and desertification indicator in Butana. To test the potential of water harvesting techniques on biomass produc­tion, two seasons’ experiments were conducted (2006 and 2007). Their results were used to simulate the potential of biomass production with water harvest­ing application through a general model that linked remote sensing output, field measurement and water harvesting results.

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International audience; The feeding behavior and fodder intake of cattle, sheep and goats grazing semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa rangelands in Senegal was studied over a one-year cycle. The objective of the study was to improve the assessment of fodder intake by livestock grazing rangelands in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa, The study was conducted in the service area of a borehole that includes 354 pastoral settlements and a total of 11,000 cattle and 1800 small ruminants. The grazing behavior of five steers was monitored monthly. Their forage intake was estimated every month from hand plucking simulations of all the bites of forage taken by the steers 24 h out of 48. The feces they excreted during the day were collected in fecal bags. Near infrared spectrum (NIRS) images were used to analyze 80 samples of these feces, and the data were then added to an existing reference data set to predict fodder intake and digestibility using NIBS. The complete and contextualized data base was then used to predict the daily fodder intake and its digestibility by cattle, sheep and goats whose fresh feces were systematically and randomly sampled every month in the study area (768 samples). Annual means of the daily dry matter fodder intake were 68.4 +/- 6.4 g/kg LW0.75 or 17.2 +/- 1.7 g/kg LW for cattle, 73.1 +/- 5.3 g/kg LW07.5 or 34.3 +/- 2.8 g/kg LW for sheep, and 74.7 +/- 8.7 g/kg LW0.75 or 37.1 +/- 4.4 g/kg LW for goats. The annual mean organic matter digestibility of grazed fodder was higher for goats (67.4 +/- 3.9%) than for sheep (64.1 +/- 3.2%) and cattle (59.3 +/- 3.8%). The seasonal variations in diet digestibility were bigger for cattle than for sheep, and smaller for goats. The standard reference used to assess livestock fodder intake in tropical Africa relies on a fixed daily intake rate per unit live weight of 25 g/kg LW. Our results show that this method overestimates (+ 45%) intake by cattle, especially in the dry season, and underestimates intake by small ruminants (-24%). Alternative assessment methods are proposed either relying on a single standard annual intake per metabolic weight unit for all ruminant species, 73 g/kg LW0.75 per day, or on separate annual intake norms per live weight unit for cattle (18 g/kg LW per day) and small ruminants (34 g/kg LW per day). In both cases, modulations (+/- 12%) of the norm are proposed for use in the wet and dry season.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the surface soils and surface water receiving animal excreta may be important components of the GHG balance of terrestrial ecosystems, but the associated processes are poorly documented in tropical environments, especially in tropical arid and semi-arid areas. A typical sylvo-pastoral landscape in the semi-arid zone of Senegal, West Africa, was investigated in this study. The study area (706 kmA(2) of managed pastoral land) was a circular zone with a radius of 15 km centered on a borehole used to water livestock. The landscape supports a stocking rate ranging from 0.11 to 0.39 tropical livestock units per hectare depending on the seasonal movements of the livestock. Six landscape units were investigated (land in the vicinity of the borehole, natural ponds, natural rangelands, forest plantations, settlements, and enclosed plots). Carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes were measured with static chambers set up at 13 sites covering the six landscape units, and the 13 sites are assumed to be representative of the spatial heterogeneity of the emissions. A total of 216 fluxes were measured during the one-year study period (May 2014 to April 2015). At the landscape level, soils and surface water emitted an average 19.8 t C-CO2 eq/(hm(2).a) (CO2: 82%, N2O: 15%, and CH4: 3%), but detailed results revealed notable spatial heterogeneity of GHG emissions. CO2 fluxes ranged from 1148.2 (+/- 91.6) mg/(m(2).d) in rangelands to 97,980.2 (+/- 14,861.7) mg/(m(2).d) in surface water in the vicinity of the borehole. N2O fluxes ranged from 0.6 (+/- 0.1) mg/(m(2).d) in forest plantations to 22.6 (+/- 10.8) mg/(m(2).d) in the vicinity of the borehole. CH4 fluxes ranged from-3.2 (+/- 0.3) mg/(m(2).d) in forest plantations to 8788.5 (+/- 2295.9) mg/(m(2).d) from surface water in the vicinity of the borehole. This study identified GHG emission "hot spots" in the landscape. Emissions from the surface soils were significantly higher in the landscape units most frequently used by the animals, i.e., in the vicinity of the borehole and settlements; and emissions measured from surface water in the vicinity of the borehole and from natural ponds were on average about 10 times higher than soil emissions.

Methane emission from ruminants is scarcely evaluated in African pastoral systems. Intake and proportions of the different plants composing the diet under such systems vary highly along wet and dry seasons, which may affect methane production. This study took place in a semi-arid Sahelian location of Senegal (27.8°C average temperature and 393 mm annual rainfall). In each of two different sites, three Gobra zebus were tracked throughout one year. A representative sample of their global diet was obtained one day per month by the simulated bites technique. Diet was mainly made of grasses, herbaceous legumes, tree and shrub foliage and pods, and “straw” defined as dried standing forage and plant residues. Methane production and volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations were determined using an in vitro batch fermentation system. Neutral detergent fibre was measured by near infrared spectrophotometry. Methane production varied between 24.2 and 35.2 mL/g forage dry matter (DM) according to months, was minimal in August (rainy season) and maximal in February (dry season). The acetate:propionate ration varied as methane (3.2 and 4.8 in August and February, respectively); VFA production was minimal in March and maximal in October (64.3 and 81.2 mmol/L, respectively). Methane production was closely related to dietary NDF content (r=0.88) and acetate:propionate ratio (r=0.96). Variation between animals was partly explained by dietary NDF content, and was reduced when methane was expressed in mL/g NDF. For six successive periods (February to July) and for the same animal, plant categories constituting the diet were incubated separately. Reconstituting the production of methane and VFA in the diet based on the proportion of plant components gave similar values to those of the global diet (33.9 and 33.7 mL methane /g DM and 74.0 and 77.7 mmol VFA/L, respectively). This suggests the absence of interaction on rumen fermentation between plant categories. (Texte intégral)

International audience; The future of pastoral systems and their interactions with territories are the subject of considerable debate in the scientific literature and are still insufficiently documented. Assessing the sustainability of pastoral systems and their interactions with the sustainability of territories is thus a complex task. We proposed in this study a method to assess the sustainability of pastoral systems within their territories. After reviewing the literature, we conducted interviews with pastoralism experts in France and in Africa on the subject of sustainability in general and pastoral systems in particular. We designed our grid according to the principles-criteria-indicators approach and included 10 principles grouped into three major fields: ‘Availability of resources in the territory’, ‘Properties of the system’, and ‘Extended sustainability’. Understanding the strategies used in pastoral systems enabled us to propose a set of specific criteria per principle. Finally, we compared our grid with other methods used to assess sustainability.; El futuro de los sistemas pastoriles y sus interacciones con territorios son el foco de un debate considerable en la literatura científica y se encuentran aún insuficientemente documentados. Asesorar la sustentabilidad de los sistemas pastoriles y sus interacciones con la sustentabilidad de los territorios es por lo tanto una tarea compleja. Proponemos en este estudio un método para asesorar la sustentabilidad de los sistemas pastoriles dentro de sus territorios. Después de revisar la literatura, condujimos entrevistas con expertos en pastoreo en Francia y África sobre el tema de la sustentabilidad en general y en sistemas pastoriles en particular. Diseñamos nuestra cuadrícula según un enfoque en los principios-criterios-indicadores e incluimos 10 principios agrupados en tres campos mayores: la disponibilidad de los recursos en el territorio, las propiedades del sistema y la sustentabilidad duradera. Comprender las estrategias utilizadas en los sistemas pastoriles nos permitió proponer un set de criterios específicos por principio. Finalmente comparamos nuestra cuadrícula con otros métodos utilizados para asesorar la sustentabilidad.; L’avenir des systèmes pastoraux et leurs interactions avec les territoires sont au coeur de débats majeurs dans la littérature scientifique et sont encore insuffisamment documentés. Evaluer la durabilité de ces systèmes pastoraux et leurs interactions avec la durabilité des territoires est donc une tâche complexe. Nous proposons dans cette étude une méthode pour évaluer la durabilité des systèmes pastoraux dans leurs territoires. Suite à un travail de synthèse bibliographique, nous avons conduit des entretiens auprès d’experts du pastoralisme en France et en Afrique sur le sujet de la durabilité de manière générale et de celle des systèmes pastoraux en particulier. Nous avons conçu une grille sur la base de l’approche principes-critères-indicateurs, en incluant 10 principes autour de trois thèmes majeurs que sont la disponibilité des ressources dans le territoire, les propriétés des systèmes, et la durabilité étendue. La compréhension des stratégies utilisées dans le cadre de l’activité pastorale nous a permis de proposer un jeu de critères spécifiques par principe. Enfin, nous discutons de cette nouvelle méthode au regard d’autres méthodes utilisées pour évaluer la durabilité.

Numerous territories of Sub-Saharan Africa are composed of a mosaic of very different landscape units: cropland, forest, and savannah. This spatial, but also temporal heterogeneity leads to complexity in the analysis of cattle intake behaviour. The instantaneous intake rate (IIR) is generally analysed in relation to forage biomass density (Bm), i.e. the functional response. We analysed the relationship between IIR and Bm and effects of other vegetation and animal factors for two herds of N’Dama cattle grazing freely during the dry season in the complex Sare Yoro Bana landscape located in the Kolda region in Southern Senegal. The available forages included crop residues (from rice, millet and maize), grass and hay, fruits and litter. The amount and quality of biomass declined throughout the dry season. The variation in IIR was large and could be attributed to differences in Bm (for 30%) and differed between seasons and vegetation types (also 30% of variation explained). Effects of animal characteristics such as wither height and requirements were significant but small compared to herbage-related factors. In the middle of the dry season (MDS) the IIR was higher than in the early dry season (EDS), probably due to better herbage prehensibility, whereas in the late dry season total herbage stocks were very low and also IIR was lower than in EDS and MDS. Two different relations were observed between IIR and the bite rate. In the EDS higher bite rate resulted in higher IIR, compared to an absence of such effect in later stages of the season indicating a compensation between ingestion rate and bite size. Based on these result, we conclude that the relation between intake rate and biomass density generally follows a type-2 functional response, modelled by a monotonically saturating function, but is strongly affected by many factors related to herbage palatability. Despite the inherent spatio-temporal complexity of the vegetation and the challenges in observations and data collection these relationships can be quantified for cattle grazing in a heterogeneous semi-arid landscape.