A Sustainable, Productive Alternative to Desertification
Ali Nefzaoui,Kamel Shideed, Faisal Awawedah, Salah Haj Hassan
and Yassine Sweidan
Much of West Asia and North Africa is threatened by desertification, in large measure due to pressure from the rising number of people who must earn their livelihood from this fragile land. By working hand-in-hand with rural communities, agricultural researchers and extension specialists in the Mashreq and Maghreb countries have made progress in refining and promoting technologies and policies that might help ensure sustainable livelihoods, and enhance the productive capacity of drylands everywhere.
The WANA region is characterized by highly erratic and deficient rainfall, resulting in severe water shortages. Human pressure on land and water has led to vulnerable and fragile agroecosystems. This is aggravated by the variability of soil and farming systems. Droughts are frequent, and human activity has only worsened the impact of drought on crops, livestock, and people. As a result, the region has begun the 21st Century facing serious food and feed deficits due to the combined effects of drought and desertification.
The region has experienced a substantial increase in livestock numbers, particularly small ruminants, over the last two decades, spurred by increased demand for animal products combined with favorable price ratios between livestock products and barley, the principal livestock feed. Feed subsidies and other measures intended to mitigate the effects of feed shortages in drought years have encouraged herders to retain greater numbers of animals.
Increase in small-ruminant numbers has led to significant changes in extensive production systems. A generation ago, native rangeland vegetation provided a large proportion of the feed needs of small ruminants. Since then, however, the contribution of natural grazing as a proportion of total feed resources in many countries has declined—from around 70% in the 1950s to only 10-25% at present. Not only are rangeland resources insuffi-cient to meet current demand, the absolute level of feed resources is in decline due to overgrazing, removal of vegetation through plowing or fuel- wood harvesting, soil erosion, and land degradation.
Inappropriate policies regarding land use and the absence of secure property rights have exacerbated the problem. In most countries in the region, the traditional local institutions governing access to grazing lands have been disrupted, resulting in a de facto policy of “open access,” but with no corresponding regulatory mechanism to control the extent and intensity of grazing. In addition to its unfavorable environmental impacts, there are indications that the decline in rangeland productivity is contributing to poverty and out-migration.
Research has identified technologies and management strategies for developing improved crop–livestock production systems based on on-farm feed production combined with more efficient use of alternative feed sources and improvements in livestock nutrition, health, and reproduction. However, adoption of such technologies has been slow. Furthermore, changes in the global economic environment are prompting changes in economic policies in WANA. Some countries have undertaken market reform, and the subsequent changes in relative input and output supplies and prices have influenced the investment and manage-ment strategies of small-ruminant producers in low-rainfall areas.
Development of productive and sustainable livestock-based systems in the semi-arid and arid areas of WANA requires action on several fronts. So, a program of adaptive research that integrates technologies and management practices with research on policy and institutional alternatives was implemented. Entitled “Development of Integrated Crop/Livestock in the Low Rainfall Areas of West Asia and North Africa,” the program entails adaptive research in the eight countries participating in the ICARDA-led Mashreq/Maghreb (M&M) Project: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia in the Maghreb, and Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria in the Mashreq. The program is sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and the International Development Research Centre, with technical support from ICARDA and a sister center, the International Food Policy Research Institute.
The program has developed and tested several alternative technologies to combat desertification and mitigate drought, among them, cactus, fodder shrubs, and feed blocks.
Cactus Production
Cactus (Opuntia spp.) is well adapted to harsh, dry environment. Farmers and herders in three Maghreb countries, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, have long relied on the plant as a source of feed, fencing material, fruit, and fuel. It can also control erosion and even reverse rangeland desertification, especially when water-harvesting techniques are employed. Planted along furrow contours or along terraces, cactus, with its long, strong root system, can prevent runoff and stabilize slopes. The Project has tried various combinations of cactus and complimentary technology, including cement basins to collect scarce water, and cut palm fronds to stop wind erosion and sand movement. Cactus has also been used in an alley cropping system. The land is protected and farmers can grow a cash crop between rows in good years.
Avoiding wind erosion of sandy soils by increasing plant cover (cactus and shrubs) in desert areas (Gafsa, Tunisia, 150-200 mm rainfall/year).
In Tunisia, under rainfed (150-400mm/year) conditions and with no fertilizer application, spineless cactus yielded 20-100 tonnes of pads annually. As a feed it is nutritionally unbalanced, but it is a cheap source of energy, and sheep fed with large amounts to cactus for long periods are able to survive without water. When mixed with cereal straw, cactus can maintain a small ruminant herd until water and better feed become available.
Fodder shrubs
Fodder shrubs, Atriplex spp.
and Acacia spp., are useful in many ways: 1) to reduce grazing pressure
on degraded areas; 2) as a standing fodder crop to buffer seasonal fluctuations
(dry periods) that occur in arid areas; 3) as a protein supplement for
livestock in poor native rangelands or low quality roughage; 4) as a forage
source on arid and salt-affected regions; 5) as a source of fuel for low-income
farmers; 6) as a means of soil erosion control; and 7) as an emergency
feed during drought years.
The shrubs can be planted alone or in rows, with
forage crops or barley between rows. Thousands of hectares have been planted
to atriplex and acacia throughout the Mashreq and Maghreb, in combination
with water harvesting techniques. Dry matter production varies with species
and planting density. A field of Atriplex nummularia planted at 1000 plants/ha
in Morocco produced after three years 1250 kg of dry matter/ha, equivalent
to 625 forage units (UF) and 200 kg of crude protein/ha, in addition to
the herbaceous production under the shrubs.
For example, an ewe of 50 kg can consume 1.5
kg DM/day. One hectare of atriplex planted at 625 plants/ha with 2 kg
DM/shrub will allow 833 grazing days, which is equivalent to 2.3 ewes/ha/year,
or 28 ewes/ha for one month.
Shrubs can be planted in rows and alley cropped
with barley, oats, and medics. The shrubs increase total dry matter and
feed units/ha, they break the wind, protect the soil, and create a microclimate
that increases crop productivity.
Shrubs can be hand-fed to animals or grazed.
They are high in nitrogen (especially atriplex), but low in energy, and
complement two other dryland feed sources, cactus and straw. Shrub feed
can replace soybean meal, decreasing feed cost, and will actually increase
an animal’s intake of straw.
Fodder shrubs, in combination with cactus and
straw, can meet livestock feed requirements and reduce grazing pressure
on rangeland, and prevent desertification. WANA is endowed with a rich
genetic diversity of fodder shrub species. They are an invaluable resource
in the fight to protect and rehabilitate fragile environments, but many
of these native plants are endangered due to over-exploitation.
Feed blocks
Shortage of forage is one of
the main limiting factors affecting small ruminant productivity in the
semi-arid areas of WANA. It results in increased pressure on rangeland
and to rapid deterioration of plant cover in many places. The situation
is made worse by frequent droughts, which widen the gap between feed supply
and the nutrient requirements of small ruminants.
The high cost of conventional concentrates—barley
grain, bran, etc.—limits their use, especially by small farmers,
who need cheaper alternative supplements. Crop residues and agro-industrial
by-products are abundant in some places, are an obvious choice for cheap
feed that can keep small-ruminants productive and relieve pressure on
rangeland.
The value of feed blocks lies in their low cost, their feed value, and their ability to make good use of high moisture agro-industrial by-products.
A feed block manufacturing facility in Iraq.
Feed blocks are easy to make, handle, and transport. They require only simple equipment and can be made on the farm. Different formulae can be followed, using varying amounts of urea and binder, and a wide range of agro-industrial by-products. In Iraq, for example, date pulp, rice bran and poultry waste are the main ingredients. In Tunisia, tomato pulp and olive cake are used. In Jordan, olive cake and brewery grains are used. In Morocco, molasses is a central ingredient.
Sheep in the semi-arid part of WANA feed solely on cereal stubble during summer, which coincides with the mating season. This results in lower flock productivity. In many areas, animals are fed on poor quality pasture and roughage, and in most cases their maintenance requirements are not met. Research in WANA has shown that in such situations, feed blocks can contribute to considerable improvement in ewes’ weight gain, conception, lambing, and twinning rates.
In many WANA countries, sheep are hand-fed whole barley and stored straw in winter (November through January) because grazing and green roughage are in short supply. The introduction of high-energy feed blocks as a strategic supplement has resulted in significant replacement of barley grain and minimized the use of roughage and concentrates.
In Iraq, feed blocks reduced the use of conventional concentrate feeds (barley grains, commercial concentrates, etc.) by more than 50%, reducing imports considerably, especially in dry years. In Tunisia, one tonne of feed blocks costs about US$95, compared to US$200 for a tonne of barley.
Feed block technology has spread throughout the countries involved in the M&M Project. In Iraq, in particular, much research effort is going into improving and adapting the technology to the semi-arid conditions of the country. Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco have developed community feed block units. Now, countries not involved in the Project are showing interest, including Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Turkey.
Need for enabling environment to foster the adoption of new technologies
The Mashreq/Maghreb Project was designed around the premise that a combination of appropriate technologies, policy incentives and institutional changes are required to achieve increased productivity, while maintaining the natural resource base in the low-rainfall areas of WANA. The challenge is to integrate biophysical and socioeconomic information into a coherent analytical framework for identifying the best intervention options. The Project undertook the following research activities as an integral part of technology development:
Policy
research
Policy research focused on national agricultural policies, vis-à-vis
liberalization, removal of subsides, and pricing. A “community model”
was designed as a tool for assessing potential impact of policy reforms
and evaluating new technologies and institutional options. The tool is
a bio-economic model that represents the behavior of farmers, herders,
and households in low-rainfall environ-ments. It indicates the probable
way in which different members of a commu-nity will respond to introduction
of a new technology, resource management strategy, or policy or institutional
reform. The model simulates the effects of these combinations on productivity
(efficiency), incomes and income distribution (equity), and the sustainability
of the natural resource base (environment).
Property
rights research
Many institutional reforms have been promoted and passed in the region
to support agricultural development. Each country has a different vision
regarding the nature and extent of institutional reform, which include
full privatization, partial privatization, and agrarian reform. There
continues to be a perception, however, that existing property rights systems
constrain agricultural development and discourage farmers from investing
in their land and taking up new technologies. The Project’s research
explored whether these concerns are justified by evaluating the effects
of existing land rights on long-term land improvements, and the linkages
between land tenure systems, investment and land productivity, to test
the hypothesis that security of tenure affects investment decisions. Land
improvements include any long-term investments made by farmers to enhance
farm productivity (e.g., de-stoning, tree planting, and well digging).
In rangelands, existing property rights systems
(governing access and use) are failing to provide the right balance between
individual and social interests in the control and management of common
pastures. Ongoing research is evaluating institutional options for rangeland
management, by looking at the legal and institutional environment under
which they developed and the factors that contribute to their success
or failure, and to assess the likely welfare effects of different options
on sub-groups within the community.
This empirical information on the impact of land tenure and range management
options on land users’ investments and land productivity should enable
policy-makers to improve the institutional environment under which rural
producers make their decisions.
Community
approach and parternships
The adaptive research program has shifted to testing and evaluating combinations
(or packages) of associated technologies and to working at the community
level, involving the local private and cooperative sector, as well as
farm households.
The community approach facilitates the integration
of research on policy, property rights, and the institutional and socioeconomic
environment, so that issues are addressed from a technical, socioeconomic,
cultural, institutional, and policy perspective.
The Project focused its efforts in two selected
communities within each country. To ensure that results would be comparable
and that selected com-munities would represent the target beneficiaries
of the Project, common criteria for community selection were set.
The strategy followed in the second phase of
the Mashreq/Maghreb Project, was based on a participatory approach, where
every stakeholders had a role to play.
The process of community selection varied from
one country to another. Generally, a target region was selected based
on the overall objectives of the project and the results in phase one.
Selection of communities involved several visits and meetings with farmers
and community members, community leaders, and local formal and informal
institutions in the target area.
Much effort was devoted to characterizing the
selected communities, and identifying key constraints and potential problems,
as a basis for developing community action plans. Characterization of
the communities was based on data collected from rapid rural appraisals,
household surveys, secondary information, and informal discussions with
community members. Characterization of communities has involved mapping
of resources and other descriptors. Community participatory mapping, in
which community members draw their territory and resources, allows the
community to express their perceptions of their environment and land use.
The project involves a wide range of partnership among national agricultural
research institutes and universities, nongovernmental organizations, the
private sector, extension services, farmers and other end-users, policy-makers,
international research centers, and donors.
What can be concluded?
The technologies (cactus, fodder shrubs, feed blocks), mechanisms, methodologies, and processes developed and tested within the Mashreq/Maghreb project helped empower communities, by helping them better face the challenges of living in low-rainfall areas: low productivity, land degradation, drought, desertification, high risk, and uncertainty. They can now hope to achieve sustainable livelihoods through investment in agriculture. The research conducted as part of the Mashreq/Maghreb Project in particular, and the research conducted by ICARDA in general, will help communities hold back the desert in arid environments of Central and West Asia and North Africa.
Dr Mohammed El-Mourid (secretariat.icarda@email.ati.tu) is Coordinator of ICARDA’s North Africa Regional Program and (M&M) Project Regional Coordinator based in Tunis, Tunisia; Mustapha Malki, Adnan Sbeita, Abdelwahed Chriyaa, Ali Nefzaoui, Kamel Shideed, Faisal Awawedah, Salah Haj Hassan, and Yassine Sweidan are M&M National Coordinators for Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, respectively.