ICARDA Caravan, Issue No. 22

Focus

Documenting the Impact:
How Effective is Atriplex Alley Cropping

K. Shideed, A. Laamari, M. Boughlala, H. Benouda, H. Mahyou, R. Mrabet,
M. El Mourid, A. Aw-Hassan, Hammudi, M. Rahmi, H. El Mzouri, and R. Thomas

ICARDA's Mashreq and Maghreb project developed many new technologies that successfully address the problems in the development of sustainable and integrated crop/livestock production in the low rainfall areas affected by land degradation and poverty. Now that both phases of the project are complete, ICARDA's socioeconomists have conducted some of the first comprehensive studies to assess the impact of these technologies on the lives of farmers in the dry areas. They ask the difficult question: Have we made a difference? Here is the answer.

arley-livestock farming system (barley/fallow or continuous barley) is typical in the dry areas of the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. This has resulted in the degradation of natural resources and decreased productivity, which, in turn, has contributed to food and feed insecurity. The overall result is an increase in poverty and reduced livelihood options for rural communities.

ICARDA and national researchers in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia have developed technologies that improve crop/livestock systems to enhance and stabilize production and quality of feed, and reduce pressure on the natural resources (both arable and rangelands). To this end, a regional project on "the Development of Integrated Crop/Livestock Production Systems in the Low Rainfall Areas of the Mashreq and Maghreb Region (M&M Project)" was initiated in 1995 and implemented in two phases, 1995-1998, and 1998-2002. The project has been supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Ford Foundation, the CGIAR System-wide Program on Property Rights and Collective Action (CAPRi), and the Forum Euro-Mediterraneen des Instituts Economiques (FEMISE).

This article focuses on one of the M&M technologies—alley cropping, or the practice of growing perennial crops (in this case Atriplex)¸ simultaneously with an arable crop (barley). Atriplex, also known as saltbush, thrives in dry alkaline soils and has a high protein content. Alley cropping of Atriplex with barley is a technology that has been introduced in Morocco. While the potential benefits of the introduced technology, such as an increase in barley production, reduced soil erosion, improved soil organic matter, reduced feeding costs, a source of emergency feed during drought seasons, and reduced grazing pressure are well known, the extent of the impact of these technologies had not yet been documented. ICARDA's socioeconomists decided to take a closer look at the site of Irzaine—a 58,00 hectare area that receives an average of 260 mm of rainfall per year in the community of Tancherfi, in the Oujda Province in Morocco.

Adoption of the New Technology
Researchers first attempted to determine the rate of adoption of alley cropping in the study area and also what factors were important in the adoption process. They conducted a farm survey of some 100 farmers and found that the technology had spread to nearly 1650 hectares (24%) in Irzaine in the four year period (1999/00 - 2002/03). The area planted to Atriplex has increased annually by 6% and researchers estimated the rate of adoption of the technology to be 33%. Most of the farmers said they heard of this new technology through the extension service in Morocco and from neighboring farmers.

The researchers found that the rate of adoption depended on three factors: the size of the farm, the size of the flock, and the subsidy that the development project offered to those who adopted the technology.

Farm size and adoption
Researchers found that farmers with small farms (<20 hectares) are relatively less willing to sacrifice their arable land to planting Atriplex. The adoption rate among these farmers was 59%. However, 90% of the farmers with medium-size farms (between 20 and 40 hectares) and 100% of the farmers with large farms (>40%) adopted the new technology, which means that Atriplex alley cropping will be adopted at lower adoption rates in areas that are predominantly characterized by small-size farms.

Flock size and adoption
The larger the flock the more willing the farmers were to adopt the new technology. Researchers found that farmers who do not own any small ruminants did not adopt the technology, whereas close to 50% of those with small flocks (<40 heads) adopted the technology. Almost all the large-flock farmers (with an average of 104 heads) adopted the technology.

Subsidy and adoption

When researchers looked at the number of farmers who adopted the technology, they realized that most of the farmers had accepted the subsidy provided by the development project which encouraged the adoption of Atriplex alley cropping. The researchers found that the net impact of the subsidy was to increase the area devoted to Atriplex by 79%. This means that the technology adoption rate would fall from 33% to 3% had the price subsidy not been offered to the farmers. This realization has important policy implications for those governments that are trying to spread this technology in their countries. It is worth noting that such subsidies are not cash payments to farmers, they are the costs of implementing the technology (land preparation, transplants, irrigation, maintenance) and include the expenses of staff involved in technology dissemination. These are incentives which have encouraged farmers to invest in productive resources, and thus are more effective in improving rural livelihoods on sustainable basis compared to direct feed subsidies. Such investment decisions are very important for the development of these marginal environments, given the fact that public and private investments are negligible in dry areas of the region, which are the hot spots of poverty in CWANA.

The Impact of Atriplex Alley Cropping
Impact on barley grain and straw yield
A comparison of farm survey data showed that fields that were planted with Atriplex resulted in a 31% higher barley grain yield and a 97% higher barley straw yield when compared to a barley/fallow system. However, researchers realized that these numbers could be a result of a combination of several factors and not just of planting Atriplex. So, they attempted to isolate the effects of Atriplex on grain and straw yield in order to ascertain the net impact of the technology.

Alley cropping in Khanasser Valley; barley is grown between rows of Atriplex.

They found that given the same level of inputs, the grain yield advantage of planting Atriplex over the barley/fallow system was 17%. Similarly, they found that there is potential to increase the straw yield almost two-fold with Atriplex alley cropping instead of the traditional barley/fallow system. For livestock holders, the increase in straw yields is particularly important because they usually allow their flocks to graze on the barley stubble after harvest; with Atriplex alley cropping their flocks will have more to eat with the same amount of inputs.

Impact on flock size
If farmers feel secure that they will be able to feed their animals, they will not hesitate to increase their flock size. Atriplex is a good risk mitigation strategy for those farmers who are thinking of increasing their flock size, because during a drought season the sheep can graze on Atriplex shrubs. An increase in flock size is usually a sign of an increase in the wealth of the farmer.

Researchers found that between 2001 and 2004 all farmers increased their flock size. However, they attempted to isolate the effects of the technology and remove the variables that could have also caused an increase in the flock size such as three years of favorable weather conditions and better flock management. The researchers developed a regression model and found that 25% of the increase in the number of small ruminants among those who adopted the technology could be attributed to the use of alley cropping. This represents a significant increase in the physical capital, which is the main source of wealth for farmers in the region.

Impact on feed resources and feeding cost
Farmers usually supplement their animals' diets with purchased feed—wheat bran or sugar beet pulp—at a high cost. However, those who have adopted Atriplex alley cropping were able to reduce their dependence on these purchased resources. Researchers found that those who adopted the technology reduced the consumption of sugar beet by 23%, and wheat bran by 90%. On average, this translates to a 33% reduction in feeding costs due to Atriplex, though the results vary with the flock size. The feeding costs were reduced by 30% for those with small flocks, and by 70% for those with large flocks.

Internal Rate of Return
The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of a technology is the break-even interest rates which equates the benefits and costs streams of investments in Atriplex plantation. Researchers calculated that the IRR will be around 29% for Atriplex alley cropping, which is much higher than the commercial interest rate of 10%. It seems that this technology has the potential to significantly affect poor farmers in the West Asia and North Africa region. Farmers are able to reduce feeding costs, improve their yields, and own more animals without increasing their costs. Now, the focus is on scaling-out this technology to other countries using this study as a guide to target those farmers who would most benefit from planting rows of Atriplex shrubs in their fields of barley.

Drs K. Shideed (k.shideed@cgiar.org), M. El-Mourid, A.
Aw-Hassan, and R. Thomas are senior scientists at ICARDA.
Drs A. Laamari, M. Boughlala, H. Benouda, H. Mahyou,
R. Mrabet, Hammudi, M. Rahmi, and H. El Mzouri are senior scientists at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Morocco.

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