With the unexpected impact of the Covid-19 on the livestock sector, the region will have to further equip itself to address a series of challenges such as pastoral crisis, famine on family farms, increasing rural conflicts, high cost of animal products and end of cross-border transhumance.

Although animal husbandry deals with animal life, it requires daily human attention. Moreover, when human activities are disrupted, as it is the case with the Covid-19, the livestock sector is inevitably affected. Indeed, the reduction in livestock production activities and animal movements due to the pandemic creates major challenges in food value chains with implications for food and nutrition security and livelihoods.

Poultry meat processing and incubators are no longer operating at full capacity, affecting the quantity and price of meat on the market. Due to difficulties in transporting incubators to farmers, chicks may not be available to replace the poultry sold. The supply chain for red meat from the Sahel region to coastal countries is also under threat. A disruption of this animal protein supply chain has consequences on food and nutrition security of urban populations and the livelihoods of livestock farmers and other people earning their life by this activity.

The corona virus disease could therefore lead to livestock losses, impoverishment of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and their families, cross-border livestock markets disappearance, a reduction in protein supply, socio-economic crisis that in turn could lead to the erosion of social cohesion and the enrolment of some pastoralists in armed groups due to the deterioration of their living conditions and the loss of their social capital.

Moreover, disruptions in the traditional fish supply chain from coastal countries to the Sahel region as a result of the pandemic will have an impact on the role of fish in the food and nutritional security of the populations, especially on the livelihoods of fishermen and other people living from this activity.

Finally, populations’ lockdown and some veterinary laboratories and institutions closure will lead to the suspension of animal disease testing and research, and the disruption of animal disease surveillance and reporting. Indeed, poor access to veterinary inputs, including medicines and vaccines, increases the risk of new epidemics development, particularly those of transboundary animal diseases (plague of small ruminants, recent outbreak of African swine fever in Togo, etc.) that could cause significant losses of livestock as well as outbreaks of zoonosis.

In order to mitigate these risks, ECOWAS, through the PREDIP COMATAO project, provided sanitary products and equipment, including hand washing kits, liquid soap, hydro alcoholic gel, infrared thermometers, bleach and awareness posters to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries of Mali. This donation helps limit human-to-human transmission of the disease and prevent surface contamination through improved hygiene practices.

Among others, these efforts should be reinforced by complementary actions such as: the availability and circulation of inputs and outputs for animal production, for example by publishing a list of exemptions on movement restrictions, strengthening surveillance, prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases, strengthening national reference laboratories capacity, and inter-professional and multi-sectoral collaboration in the prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases and zoonosis under the One Health Approach..