Background

The region has experienced a substantial increase in livestock numbers, particularly small ruminants, over the last two decades, encouraged 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 provided further incentives to retain greater numbers of animals. The total population of sheep and goats in the region (excluding Iraq), increased by 25% over the last two decades from 62 million to some 80 million.

Expansion in the population of small ruminants has led to significant changes in the extensive production systems. A generation ago, the native pasture vegetation in these rangelands provided a large proportion of the feed needs of the small ruminant population. 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 insufficient to meet current demand, the absolute level of feed resources is declining due to overgrazing, removal of vegetation through ploughing or for fuel wood, soil erosion, and land degradation.

In the low-rainfall areas (annual winter average of 200-350mm), production of small ruminants (sheep and goats) represents the principal economic activity, contributing to rural incomes and national economies through the production of meat, milk, pelts, leather, and wool. The traditional extensive production system is characterized by low inputs and outputs. The main sources of feed are the natural pastures provided by extensive rangelands, cereal straw and stubble grazing, and barley grain. The livestock move from winter/spring grazing in the rangelands to cultivated areas for grazing of cereals stubbles and other crop residues in summer and autumn. Production systems have evolved in the marginal dry land arable areas where small ruminants are closely integrated with crop production in mixed farming systems.

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 system 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 the productivity of the rangelands is contributing to poverty and out-migration.

As the livestock population increased, so did the area planted to barley, the principal livestock feed. This was achieved primarily through cultivating previously uncultivated marginal land and by replacing the annual fallow in barley areas with continuous barley cropping. At the same time average barley yields in most countries have also increased, as a result of improved inputs and management practices. However, the barley area in the WANA region has decreased in recent years, and despite improved yields, domestic production of barley has been unable to satisfy feed demands.

The "feed gap" is increasingly being met by imported feeds. For many countries in the region, the problem of finding enough feed for the livestock population is becoming almost as acute and politically significant as the food security issue.

Consumers prefer sheep meat and milk products to beef, and there is also clear indication of preferences for domestically produced meat from indigenous breeds. Future demand for fresh red meat and milk products, driven by increasing incomes and urbanization is likely to grow at a faster rate, than population growth rates.

Past and ongoing research has identified available, or potential, technologies and management strategies for developing improved crop-livestock production systems, based on the integration of local, on-farm feed production combined with more efficient use of alternative feed sources, and the improvement of livestock management, health, nutrition, and reproduction. However, adoption of such technological innovations has been slow. Furthermore, rapid changes in the global economic environment are leading to changes in the economic policies of the countries concerned. Market reforms being implemented by some governments, and the subsequent changes in relative input and output supplies and prices, all have an impact on the investment and management strategies of small ruminant producers in the low rainfall areas. Recent experiences in Jordan, for example, where the removal of subsidies on feed resulted in immediate reductions in livestock numbers and consequently production and farm incomes, have demonstrated the close dependency between livestock numbers, and thus production, and the availability of cheap feed.

Neither technical interventions nor policy adjustments alone would solve the problems. The development of productive and sustainable livestock-based systems in the semi-arid and arid areas of the WANA region required action on several fronts. A program of adaptive research was needed that would integrate research on technologies and management practices with research on policy and institutional alternatives so as to provide the policy and institutional support for wider adoption of improved production and resource management practices.

The region has limited agricultural resources. Only 22% of the total land area is classified as agricultural, of which 30% is under crops and the remainder under permanent pasture (rangelands). While the gross domestic product (GDP) has in general increased in the last decade, reflecting the rapid economic development in some countries of the region, agricultural GDP has remained fairly constant in relative terms, representing only 14% of total GDP1. Deficits in agricultural production are increasingly being met by imports.