Characteristics of grazing land: Timahdit

Editor's note 12Jun2012: Text source D211-2.3

The central northern part of the Middle Atlas is the home of the Beni Mguild Berbers. Fifty years, ago, they used a pattern of transhumance grazing. In the summer the sheep used to be pastured on the highlands, in the winter on the lowlands. Their main activity is sheep herding. Because of these seasonal movements they lived in tents. In addition to tents they also had houses, made of stones, loam and wood in which agricultural equipment and grain were stored. The Beni Mguild is composed of three tribes (Irkaoulen, Ait Arfa du Guigou et Ait Abdi). The increase of the population coincided with an increase in land used for agriculture. Allocation of lowlands to agriculture reduced areas for grazing and resulted in breakdown of transhumance. Grazing pressure on the remaining pastures increased with the break down in the vertical migration. In the early eighties grazing pressure averaged three sheep per hectare pastureland while, according to calculations, only one sheep and a lamb should be allowed in every hectare. This fact increased grazing pressure on what was left of land for grazing. The breakdown in the vertical transhumance pattern stopped pastoralists from moving their herd between summer and winter pastures. As a consequence, they settled in the high summer grazing lands.

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