Abstract
The aim of this study was to characterize agro-pastoralists’ preferences in dromedary rearing in the Koro district of Mali, which has experienced a decade of spontaneous development in using dromedaries for harnessed cultivation. Five criteria for assessment of dromedary types used for traction were identified through nine focus group discussions. The assessment criteria developed and estimated rates were the morphological characteristics (23.2%), disease resistance (14.1%), work attitude (26.3%), colour of the coat (25.3%) and docility (11.1%). A multi-attribute analysis method was applied with 115 dromedary owners. Conditional logit was used to estimate utility function and willingness to pay (WTP) for different attributes. Work attitude seems to be an important parameter for decision-making with a WTP amounting to 558.94 euros (614.94 USD). Disease resistance comes second position in decision-making for the selection of dromedaries, with a WTP of 348.77 euros (383.40 USD). To a lesser extent, the white coat with a WTP in the order of 54.45 euros (59.86 USD) intervenes in agro-pastoral decision-making. The agro-pastoralists have a strong reluctance for the dark brown coat. In conclusion, the present results showed that further studies should be conducted on materials and traction technologies to promote harnessed cultivation by dromedaries to preserve and strengthen the multi-functional nature of the dromedary.
Highlights
The camelid Old World is only about 1% of the world population of domestic ruminants (Faye et al 2013)
From the nine Focus group discussions (FGDs), five appreciation attributes of the dromedary types used for traction have been identified (Table 1)
The design used for the declared preference survey was willingness to pay (WTP) for agro-pastoralists’ auxiliary dromedary of agriculture The survey for data collection of multi-attribute analysis involved 115 agro-pastoralists
Summary
The camelid Old World (dromedaries and camels) is only about 1% of the world population of domestic ruminants (Faye et al 2013). They are found in all drylands of the world (35 million km2) (Wilson 2013) and are found in area of relatively high rainfall (agricultural) areas in Russia, Iran, Turkey, northern Africa, Pakistan, and India. The arid regions are excellent breeding areas, which shelter about 50% of the global livestock. Traoré et al Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice (2019) 9:19 dromedaries by some nomads (Traoré et al 2014) and the increasing introduction of the dromedary for traction in certain areas of the Mopti region. Despite the critical importance of the dromedary, development efforts in the field of animal husbandry have been primarily directed to cattle at the expense of small ruminants and dromedaries (Bidjeh et al 1991)
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