Pending the finalization of a strategy for the controlled transformation of mobile livestock systems, the region will have to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic such as reduced animal mobility, insufficient supply of animal products to urban markets and the beginning of a surge in the prices of products, especially red meat.

Faced with the increasingly recurrent and deadly conflicts between farmers and breeders, ECOWAS has built its intervention policy around three focus areas: (i) ensuring that the clauses of the Community regulatory framework are respected, (ii) promoting dialogue between stakeholders, and (iii) supporting the construction of pastoral hydraulic, market and animal health infrastructures.

In the first intervention area, ECOWAS is working to ensure compliance with the legal instruments aimed at regulating cross-border transhumance. This involves setting up and stimulating local and national transhumance committees and raising the awareness of stakeholders on the need to comply with regulations.

Regarding the second axis, efforts are focused on the following three levels: (i) local: through inter-community and local committees, (ii) national: through national transhumance committees, and (iii) regional: through the High-Level Conference for Peaceful Transhumance.

The third front concerns the realization of pastoral hydraulic, market and animal health infrastructures.

This triangular mechanism has yielded encouraging results, particularly the reduction of transboundary transhumant animal flows and the significant reduction in the loss of human lives caused by conflicts.

To consolidate these achievements, ECOWAS plans, in the short term, to : (i) launch a prospective discussion on the future of mobile livestock farming systems with a view to formulating a regional strategy for a controlled transformation of the livestock sub-sector, (ii) encourage and support the conclusion of bilateral agreements between States for better management of cross-border transhumance, (iii) promote the production of fodder crops in both the countries of departure and the host countries of the herds.