TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

Case Study 2
The Beni Mguild ofMorocco
DOUGLAS L. JOHNSON
Deciding just how nomadic or sedentary a particular tribal group
in rural Morocco is poses a major problem, for nearly every possible
combination of nomadism and agriculture can be found from group
to group and often within one group itself. Consider, for example, the
At Atta on the Saharan aide of the AtIu, some of whose subgroups
are fully nomadic, l while others are either partially sedentary or are
only partially nomadic. 2 It is also common for sedentary agriculturalists
to keep animals u a means ofusing otherwise unexploitable areas
and engaging in transhumant movements to bring these animals to
better seasonal putures.' Indeed, as Blanche points out," all sedentaries
keep some animals and all nomads do some supplementary
farming, so that "pure" nomadism hardly exists. It becomes quite
difficult, therefore, to determine what group is essentially nomadic
unless primary weight is placed upon the relative importance of the
role played by animal husbandry and agriculture within the tribal
economy.
With this criterion in mind, it seems fair to say that the subjects
of this case study, the Beni Mguild of central Morocco, are
essentially a nomadic group. For while the pastoral-agricultural
regime of the Beni Mguild hu frequently been described as a double
transhumance& in which the cultivation of cereal crops plays a large
role, it is the necessity to shift their herds ofsheep and goats between
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