Wild watermelon for pastoral livestock in northern Sudan

The research paper “The Kordofan melon and pastoralist water strategy in Sudan: potential for climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods” by Hussein M. Sulieman and Maryam Niamir-Fuller, published in the Rangelands journal of the Society for Range Management, highlights the importance of cultivation of wild varieties of watermelon as an ingenious and indigenous technology for sustainability. In the long dry season, the melons provide water and for camels, sheep and goats in northern Sudan.  This traditional practice also helps maintain a collaborative relationship between settled agropastoralists and transhumant pastoralists. However, the introduction of mechanised farming of hybrid watermelons is slowly displacing this practice. The cultivation of hybrid watermelon has also led to the introduction of a disease that appears to be affecting the wild varieties. Nevertheless, the traditional practice still endures with the potential to be an adaptive measure to climate change, as it is an economically sound and environmentally sustainable way of feeding and watering livestock.

Posted on 2 October 2024 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources