ICARDA Caravan, Issue No. 22

Focus

The Challenge of Rangeland Degradation in WANA:
Going Beyond Restoration

James Tiedeman

Quick-fix approaches to save the fast depleting rangelands have included development of technologies to restore degraded lands. While this may work for a short time, eventually the rangelands get degraded again. ICARDA is conducting experiments that tackle the root-causes of the problem through community approaches.

Sheep grazing on degraded rangeland in North Africa.

he increasing population of small ruminants has led to significant changes in the production systems in West Asia and North Africa (WANA). Traditionally, native vegetation in the rangelands provided a large proportion of the feed for the small ruminant population. However, because there are now about five times the number of animals utilizing the same area, rangelands that provided 70% of the total feed resources in the 1950's, provide only 10-25% at the present. Not only are the rangeland resources insufficient to meet current demand, the absolute level of feed resources is declining due to erosion and land degradation caused by overgrazing, excessive fuel harvesting, and plowing.

Inappropriate policies on 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 system of "open access," but with no corresponding regulatory mechanisms to control the extent and intensity of grazing. In addition to unfavorable environmental impacts, there are indications that the decline in the productivity of the rangelands is contributing to poverty and out-migration.

Cactus plantation in Tunisia.

Research on the rangeland has largely focused on restoration of degraded lands through the introduction of a wide range of technologies. ICARDA has worked with its partners in WANA on a number of technology options including: (i) use of appropriate amounts and types of phosphate fertilizers, reseeding with native pasture legumes, and deferred grazing during flowering and seed set; (ii) development of low-cost technologies for rangeland reseeding, like the pitting machine; (iii) the use of feed blocks as a strategic supplement; and (iv) the cactus technology and Atriplex alley-cropping.

Fertilizer application
Application of phosphorus fertilizer to native rangeland and weedy fallow has been a successful tool to increase the legume composition. Nitrogen on the other hand increases the grasses, especially annuals, but at a detriment to nitrogen-fixing legumes. A 25% increase in legume biomass was achieved in Morocco and Syria with phosphorus application.

Planting cactus
Cactus was introduced in North Africa over 100 years ago and is a well accepted technology. It provides fruits, pads as fodder, and serves as a fence around fields and homesteads. Cactus pears in Tunisia are the most expensive fruit on the market and are even exported. Spineless varieties have been successfully introduced in frost-free areas where humidity is not too low for long extended periods. The pads are chopped and fed to sheep and cattle during the dry season (90% of the pads is water) and as emergency fodder. Extensive areas have been planted to cactus with assistance from government agencies and programs.

Acacia cyanophylla
This is a forage shrub legume grown in Tunisia as an emergency feed and for fuelwood. If fed in small quantities after drying it can sustain livestock through the drought seasons.

Direct reseeding with a pitting machine
The pitting machine is a simple modified disk plow equipped with a large seed box driven by the disk. The rolling disk of the machine scoops a string of discontinued pits spaced about 100 cm apart in the soil, allowing water, soil, organic matter and even native seeds to accumulate in the pits. Seeds are synchronically dropped from the seed box into the pits while the machine is moving. It was tested on 200 hectares of degraded rangeland in northeastern Syria and found to successfully reseed native Artemisia and Salsola species.

Rangeland restoration alone is not the answer
Most rangeland can be improved or sustained with proper grazing management but severely degraded ranges may need to be restored by planting suitable species. It is well known that restoration of the rangeland alone is not the answer. In many cases excessive cutting, grazing and browsing has destroyed plantations after they have been established. In order to sustain and improve rangeland productivity, proper management using a participatory community approach is needed. Government institutions must participate as partners in the process to empower the herders, and provide assurance to the community that their efforts and investments will be rewarded. Policy reform is often needed. The community approach should include education on grazing management, analysis of existing relevant biological and socio-economic community data and development of a community grazing management plan to be implemented and monitored in a participatory manner.

Using the pitting machine for planting seeds of native vegetation.

This community approach was successfully used by ICARDA in the Oudja community in Morocco where a scientific ecological assessment was combined with farmer interviews. Farmers provided their knowledge of the changes in vegetation and conditions as detected and quantified by the scientific studies, remote sensing, image analysis and ecological data sampling at the various sites. The blend of indigenous knowledge and scientific research has made it possible to assess and characterize the socio-ecological resources used in priority setting and the development of community management plans. The model used in this project has now been scaled out to rangeland management activities implemented by ICARDA and national programs in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, and Tunisia within the framework of a project financed by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).

Conclusion
Most research efforts on sustainable rangelands have focused on restoration rather than management. However, it is crucial to consider rangeland management because poor management is the root-cause of the degradation. There are only two basic approaches to grazing management of communal range: controlled stocking rate and rotational grazing. Rotation should be designed with community participation that provides rest during part of the growing season to allow increased root growth and biomass. Research is needed to determine social mechanisms for pastoralists to implement rotational grazing. New policies may be needed to enable community management because inappropriate policies have often reduced the ability of pastoralists to manage rangeland. Participatory community approaches are recommended.

Dr James Tiedeman (j.tiedeman@cgiar.org) is a Range Management Scientist at ICARDA.

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