Prickly Pear Cactus and Pastoralism in Southwest Madagascar

Abstract

Madagascar's Mahafalc cattle raisers have adopted several species of the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) into their subsistence patterns. Their use of Opuntm has had the economic effects of both sedentary and transhumant intensification. It lengthens the stay of pastoralists at their villa}>es and structures the timing of their seasonal migration to distant pastures. (Cactus-plant cattle fodder, pastoralism, sedentari/ation, Mahafale, Madagascar) This article explains how several thousand Mahafale pastoralists in southwestern Madagascar have incorporated prickly pear {Opuntia) into their pastoral economy, which depends on assisting their cattle through the dry season, when grass and water are scarce. Rather than relying on nomadism in the pursuit of water and pasture for their livestock, the pastoralists have turned to cactus to keep stock alive. So pivotal is Opuntia in the cattle diet that they categorize it as sakafon-drano (water-food). This plant-human relationship, therefore, is central to an understanding of Mahafale economic life. Prickly pear, a cactus of the genus Opuntia, recognized by its characteristic