Geospatial mapping and analysis of a stock route in Sennar State
Every year, pastoral communities in central Sudan move south with their livestock along traditional migration routes that can span hundreds of kilometres. These routes are under threat, primarily from the expansion of mechanized farming, which often leads to conflict between farmers and herders. To address this, IFAD-funded projects have helped farming and pastoral communities agree on and officially demarcate these stock routes to allow free movement for livestock.
This Technical Note focuses on one such route, a 1.5-km-wide north–south strip of land that stretches 138 km across Sennar State, southeast of Khartoum. It presents the findings of a study that used satellite imagery and ground surveys to determine what parts of the route were under crops – and which thus might present a barrier to the movement of livestock.
Analysis of the satellite imagery showed that some 60–65 per cent of the route was blocked by cropland from 2017 to 2022. In 2022, the IFAD-funded Sustainable Natural Resources and Livelihoods Programme re-demarcated the route and the State government compensated farmers for giving up their land in the following year. The satellite imagery showed that cultivation within the route dropped to around 35 per cent in the following year. Comparing the land in the route with a 3-km strip of land flanking it on either side showed that the demarcation effort was responsible for the majority of this fall in cultivation.
The decline in crop cultivation means that the livestock route became less blocked and more open to livestock movements. This is likely to have reduced the number and intensity of conflicts between herders and farmers. The study shows that cropland maps based on a combination of satellite imagery and ground-truthing are a valuable tool for monitoring stock routes on an annual basis.