Abstract
Urban livestock keeping is increasing in many sub-Saharan African cities, but detailed contextual information on its extent, challenges, and potential is limited. A cross-sectional household study was done in 2010 in Bamako, Mali. Thirty-two of 67 quarters were randomly selected with selection probability proportional to the size of the human population of the communes. Questionnaire interviews were done with a head of household in 1141 households, comprising 19,816 people in total. Sheep were kept by 16% (95% CI 14–18), while 21% (95% CI 17–24) kept poultry. The sheep to human ratio was 4:100, with an extrapolated city-wide population of 67,636 sheep (95% CI 61,018–75,595). The poultry to human ratio was 11:100, with an extrapolated city-wide population of 191,802 chickens (95% CI 176,212–208,772). For urban livestock holders, household-level enterprise gross margins were calculated for sheep production at USD 103 and poultry production at USD 50 annually. The annual gross margin was estimated at USD 35 per sheep and USD 17 per chicken. Based on these figures, the city-wide urban livestock total gross margin for Bamako in 2010 was estimated at USD 5.6 million. Detailed population data help clarify the urban livestock animal human interface in diverse contexts and highlight the important contributions that urban small-holder production adds to food security and resilience. The potential for urban livestock production informs decision-makers in developing adapted, sustainable policies in resource-constrained environments.
Highlights
According to the World Urbanization Prospects report (United Nations 2004), Africa was the least urbanized region at the midpoint of the last century, with 15% of total population living in urban areas
According to the latest Malian national census in 2009 (R.G.P.H. 2009), 22% of the total population lived in urban settings and more than 55% of this urban population resided in the district of Bamako
Accurate information on household income and expenditures is difficult to obtain in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin and Randriamamonjy 2008), so proxies for socioeconomic status were assessed in cities in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Mali with the conclusion that urban agriculture is a livelihood strategy practiced across all socioeconomic groups (Dossa et al 2011b)
Summary
According to the World Urbanization Prospects report (United Nations 2004), Africa was the least urbanized region at the midpoint of the last century, with 15% of total population living in urban areas. Urban livestock keeping has been considered to be an indication of poverty (Schiere and van der Hoek 2001), more recent work in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, found that in the 26% of households which kept livestock, diverse reasons were stated, including a survival strategy for poor urban dwellers and increased income by established city residents (Thys et al 2005). Accurate information on household income and expenditures is difficult to obtain in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin and Randriamamonjy 2008), so proxies for socioeconomic status were assessed in cities in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Mali with the conclusion that urban agriculture is a livelihood strategy practiced across all socioeconomic groups (Dossa et al 2011b). The potential economic contribution of urban livestock production to household income is estimated
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