LIVESTOCK FARMING IN THE FACE OF THE SECURITY CRISIS IN THE YAADGA REGION: FROM EXTENSIVE RANGELANDS TO ENCLAVES OF RETREAT

In the Sahel, the security crisis linked to terrorism is disrupting mobility patterns and agropastoral equilibria. This research analyzes how the pastoral space of the Yaadga region, historically fluid and structured as a network-space, has been contracting and fragmenting since 2017 under the effect of insecurity, giving rise to an insular geography of enclaves. The study draws on a mixed-methods approach combining empirical field surveys of 385 actors in the livestock-meat value chain. The results reveal a process of deterritorialization and forced confinement among herders. The Retreat Sedentarization Index (RSI) shows that 59% of herders have shifted into urban or peri-urban sedentarization as a refuge strategy. This transition is accompanied by a collapse of grazing itineraries, with the Spatial Contraction Rate (SCR) reaching its peak in Loroum province at 99% spatial contraction. In the face of livestock raiding, the Herd Miniaturization Index (HMI) reveals a collapse of livestock capital in favor of subsistence micro-herds.