Garbal in the Sahel: A $100 Mobile Service Guides 3,000 Nomadic Herders Per Day

Beyond food production, pastoralism is a powerful driver of regional integration. Transhumance routes and livestock markets create cross-border economic and social ties, contributing to stability and exchanges between Sahelian countries and those on the West African coast. By optimizing routes and providing price information, Garbal strengthens these dynamics. Herders using the service report selling prices 10 to 15 % higher, reducing information asymmetry with intermediaries and directly increasing their incomes [1].

An Ancestral Way of Life Facing a Convergence of Crises

Pastoralism is a millennia-old adaptation strategy to the arid and variable environment of the Sahel. This immense strip of land stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea is characterized by high variability in rainfall over time and space. The mobility of herds is the most rational response to exploit dispersed and unpredictable natural resources. Historically, this mobility was regulated by customary rules and took place in vast, unhindered spaces. However, colonization and the creation of nation-states fragmented these territories by imposing artificial borders, restricting transhumance routes and initiating sedentarization policies that often marginalized herders.

Today, this way of life faces an unprecedented convergence of crises. Since the great droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, the Sahel has been caught in a spiral of environmental degradation. Climate change exacerbates this trend. Temperatures in the region are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average, and it is estimated that 80 % of agricultural land is now degraded [4]. This pressure on natural resources is compounded by strong demographic growth, which increases competition for land and water between herders and sedentary farmers.

This competition is one of the main sources of violent conflict in the region. In the first half of 2024, over 3,000 civilians were killed in violence in the Sahel, a 25 % increase compared to the previous period [3]. In this context, the information provided by Garbal on the location of available pastures and water points takes on a new dimension: it becomes a conflict prevention tool, helping herders to avoid cultivated areas and reduce friction points with agricultural communities.

80 % of Sahelian Herders Do Not Have Access to a Connected Phone

Despite its success, the Garbal model faces significant challenges that limit its large-scale adoption. With 3,000 calls per day during peak periods, the service has a real impact but reaches only a tiny fraction of the estimated 50 million herders in the Sahel. The first limitation is its economic model. The service is supported by funding from the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and other international donors [2]. The question of its long-term financial viability, without subsidies, remains open.

The second constraint is technological and infrastructural. Garbal depends on the existence of a mobile phone network. However, in the most remote areas of the Sahel, where information needs are often most critical, network coverage is weak, intermittent, or even non-existent. The service therefore cannot reach all those who could benefit from it.

Finally, the growing political and security instability in Mali and Burkina Faso, the two countries where Garbal is currently deployed, constitutes a permanent threat. Armed groups controlling entire swathes of territory disrupt traditional transhumance routes, make data collection on the ground dangerous for Garbal agents, and can interrupt the service's operation at any time. This insecurity weakens a system that relies on free movement and the collection of reliable information.

Beyond these operational limitations, the FAO study highlights deep structural challenges. One of the most concerning is the very high level of economic inequality among pastoral households, with a Gini index exceeding 50 % for gross income in the four countries studied. This strong inequality can reflect asymmetric access to resources (water, pastures, services) and be a source of social instability [5]. Furthermore, access to pastoral resources is increasingly difficult: between 52 % and 60 % of households in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger reported difficulties accessing pastures. Land grabbing is also a major problem, reported by 62 % of households in Burkina Faso and 49 % in Mali [5]. The issue of gender should also be noted: although women play a central role in the pastoral economy, particularly in milk processing and marketing, they head only 7% of households, and their access to livestock ownership and income remains limited, which constitutes another facet of inequalities to be addressed.

From « Peaceful Transhumance » to « Peaceful Territories »: The World Bank's Framework Shift

The Garbal initiative is emblematic of a form of adapted progress that does not seek technological disruption but contextual effectiveness. It demonstrates that simple solutions, in tune with local realities, can have a profound impact on the resilience and well-being of populations. By reducing information asymmetry, it does not merely optimize trajectories; it redistributes bargaining power, prevents conflicts, and strengthens the local economic fabric.

The Garbal experience invites a broader shift in perspective, which the World Bank summarizes as moving from a vision of "peaceful transhumance" to one of "peaceful territories" [3]. It is no longer just about securing livestock movements, but about integrally supporting the livelihoods, mobility, and well-being of all communities sharing the same space. This implies profound governance reforms.

The key messages of the FAO report support this direction. Firstly, as mobility is herders' primary adaptation strategy in the face of shocks, securing it is vital. Secondly, there is a blatant imbalance between the economic contribution of pastoralism and the public investments allocated to it, an imbalance that urgently needs correction. Thirdly, pastoral organizations must be included in data collection and policy-making processes to develop more informed and effective policies [5]. Organizations like the Réseau Billital Maroobé (RBM), a partner in the FAO study, demonstrate herders' capacity to organize themselves to defend their interests and become essential interlocutors for states and development partners. Strengthening these organizations is a sine qua non condition for public policies to finally address the real needs of pastoralism.

Ultimately, innovations like Garbal are catalysts. They cannot, on their own, resolve the multidimensional crisis in the Sahel. But they show the way: that of endogenous development, which relies on local knowledge and appropriate technologies to build, from the ground up, a more prosperous and peaceful future.

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