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This practice ceased about 50 years ago as draft animals were replaced by motor power. ICARDA decided to work with it in the 1980s as a way of fighting falling cereals yields, which had been hit by depletion of nitrogen and organic matter, and by the persistence of pests and diseases through monocropping.
Tarhin is in exactly the sort of area where this is relevant. It receives 200-280 mm average annual rainfall. Cereal production is not actually marginal, but yields are highly variable and the environment is fragile. The use of a legume, such as vetch (Vicia sativa), in rotation with cereals not only helps to stabilize yields by reducing nitrogen depletion and breaking the pest and disease cycle; it also provides greater below-ground plant matter than constant cereals, stabilizing the soil itself and making it less vulnerable to wind and water erosion. (This also improves the performance of the land as a carbon sink. See Agriculture--a weapon against global warming in Caravan No. 5.) Vetch is water-use efficient, providing greater above-ground biomass in terms of available moisture, and leaving more soil moisture to be exploited in the following cereals year than would be the case with cereals monocropping. Last but not least, it provides a nutritious and flexible feed and forage source for livestock. And in the mixed farming system of West Asia, that is a crucial benefit.
From 1986 to 1993, the ICARDA team worked with a core group of eight farmers, of which Mr Yagen was one. Each of these farmers grew 2 ha of their cereals production in rotation with vetch and chickling (Lathyrus sativus).
In those first seven years, the team learned a lot. Initially it also tried medics (Medicago species) in rotation, but that crop was less productive in the drier areas; it was dropped at El Bab mainly for that reason, but also because it could not be harvested for sale or to provide a stock of feed. ICARDA's work with medics is now concentrated in higher-rainfall zones, with the emphasis on rehabilitating marginal land. For rotation, the focus switched to vetch.
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Moreover, farmers were concerned at the cost of labor for harvest; they felt the system would work better if vetch-harvesting could be mechanized, and ICARDA developed machinery for this purpose (see Machines for the millions, page 16). Meanwhile, advanced breeding technology also played a part. ICARDA's Germplasm Program selected and bred locally-adapted varieties of vetch that were less prone to seed shattering; with earlier varieties, nearly half the harvest was lost in that way.
This collaborative approach worked. Back in 1986, there were no legumes grown in the area. Today, about 150 farmers--some of them a long way from Tarhin--have adopted the technology. Amin Yagen has been especially successful with this. He is not quite typical; whereas most farmers have holdings of about 20 ha, he farms about 200, some of it for family members. It is very mixed. He grows pistachio and olive besides cereals. The latter consist mainly of barley, but he also grows a little wheat on his best, deepest soils. Cereals are his biggest source of income, followed by sheep. The land is entirely rain-fed, with enough water to irrigate just 1-1.5 ha. Most farmers would use
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this for wheat. He irrigates barley on it; this is for his horses, 10 pure-bred Arabs. Syrian farmers do not irrigate barley for cropping, as this would be uneconomic, but they do frequently irrigate very small plots for grazing. On seeing these magnificent animals, one can understand why Mr Yagen does so!
From the initial 2 ha, Mr Yagen now has about 30 ha under vetch at any given time. Of this, about 10 ha is used for grazing in March-May, and the rest will be harvested. Harvest is in May, so it does not coincide with other crops, and there is no conflict in terms of labor requirement.
This calendar is part of the reason why vetch is so beneficial for sheep. Spring was hitherto a lean season for feed and forage; sheep would do better after the cereal harvest in July, when they would graze the stubble. For the first month or so of this stubble-grazing, they would benefit from the presence of heads in the barley stubble, giving a higher protein intake. Conception would take place during that period. From July onwards, the supply and quality of feed would decline. Winter would be rather a lean time. And lambing would take place in
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