CRP1.1. North Africa and West Asia Sites Characteristics

1. CRP1.1. North Africa and West AsiaSites Characteristics Reducing Vulnerability and Managing Risk Regional Inception Workshop Rabat, Morocco July 2-4, 2012

2. Syria-Jordan Site Aridity Index AI: 0.05-0.35 E-W & S-N gradient N

3. Climate/ Precipitation & PET • West-East gradient (400 to 100 mm) • High temporal variability of precipitation (CV% 23-60%)

4. Climate • Precipitation pattern: winter-rainfall, one long season (Sept/Oct to Apr/May, 90 %) • According to the IPCC 4th Assessment Report on CC: decline of 20-30% in the annual precipitation by the end of the 21stcentury • Droughtis inherent feature  recurring shock for cropping & livestock  Expansion of irrigation and range reserves

5. Climate • Cold winters & hot summers • Growing periods in the west: adequate for crops, not in the East • Drought risk (1970-2009): • Early drought (Oct-Jan) • Late drought (Feb-May) • Seasonal drought (July-Aug) • Frost risk: High in Feb. March (Central Syria); low-moderate in Jordan (Feb.)

6. Soils/ Land use • Landforms: plains 74.2%, hills 24.5%, mountains 1.3% • Many good agricultural soils, • Main limitations: shallow depth, salinity, poor profile development, high gypsum content, indurated horizons (pans).

7. Land use • Rainfed cropland: 30 % Syria, 20 % Jordan • Main rainfed crops: Wheat, barley, fruit trees, lentil, chickpea • Irrigated cropland: 5-10 % Jordan, 4 % Syria • Irrigated crops: • Syria: vegetables, wheat, olive, pistachio, almonds, cumin • Jordan: vegetables and fruit trees • Rangelands: 20 % • Loss of biodiversity: important, mostly in rangelands • Loss of soil OM: 70% of area affected • Erosion: important water and wind erosion

8. Water availability & quality • Irrigation water availability: • Underground water available, but over-pumped and rapidly depleted; quality deteriorating • Syria: irrigation water available from lakes and dams (Daraa; Homs, Hama..); • Jordan: mainly ground water; usually from deep wells, very few small dams • Quality issues: • Reuse of drainage water, increasing salinity (syria). • Treated water use (Jordan, Syria) • Salinity: 24% area affected

9. Population, employment • Total population: 8.3; about 6.6 million in Syria and about 1.7 million in Jordan • Rural population: 60-70% • Poverty: UNDP (2005) 11 %; in Khanasir 30 % under poverty line. 13% of children in Syria under the age of 5 were underweight. Poverty is lower in the Jordan part (5 %) • Unemployment rate: ~ 10-25%, higher among youth • Non-agricultural employment: 50 % (Government jobs and business)

10. Access to market, land, … • Degree of commercialization: • Market available for most of the products; • Producers heavily depend on traders for capital and market access. • Access to land: • Open access for common rangeland, • Private land - a weak land cadastral system (title, disputes) • Women face a major land access problem (inheritance, 5 % only in Jordan, small plots) • Extension: Generally weak, not up to date with modern communication methods and largely underfunded. There are no female extension agents or very few, thus women are underserved

11. Livestock • Breeds: Awassi sheep, Shami goats; cattle (imported), imported and local poultry; some camels • Feedings systems: • Rangelands (maximum 15%), • barley grain, vetches, straw, stubble, wheat bran, crop residues, agro-industrial by-products (olive cake, tomato pomace), by-products of vegetables in the irrigated areas. • Systems: Transhumant, semi-intensive, settled intensive (fattening or hand feeding) • Prevalent diseases: Foot and mouth disease , Brucella , sheep pox , enterotoxaemia , internal and external parasites.

12. Access to water, inputs & credits • Access to credits: Land registration needed • Access to water: • Syria: Few wells with limited capacity, digging new wells is prohibited; 60 % of wells are not licensed, those established before 2001 cannot be regularized • Jordan: All wells are listed and have a water meter; priced at low rate; no price for water use for private dug wells • Access to inputs: no quality assurance for inputs (Seeds available but high risk) • Land fragmentation: A problem (credits), small plots are not registered

13. Land degradation • Important trends: permanent overgrazing of the rangelands, salinization of irrigated lands, soil erosion, and the aquifer depletion and contamination occurring in groundwater-irrigated systems • Wind erosion is common in the more arid parts of the Action Site • Water erosion of a geological nature is common near deeply incised rivers, such as the Orontes around Hama

14. BéniKhédache-SidiBouzid site

15. Precipitation & PET 250-300 1350 1650 100-150 80-237mm/year (CV:38 to 59 %)

16. Soils • Mostly shallow soils (20-100 cm), presence of some deep soils (up to 2 m) • Low organic matter: 77% of soils have OM < 1 % • More than 50% of the soils have poor profile development • High rockiness, stoniness (40-50 %) • 70 % compact subsoils

17. Land use

18. LAND DEGRADATION • Salinization in irrigated area • Important water erosion • Severe wind erosion • Loss of biodiversity in rangelands, invasive species • Lowering of ground water table : 1-3 m/y

19. Livestock sector Breeds: Barabarine sheep/60 %, Local Goat/30 % local, Camel/10 % Feeding system: Rangeland: 20%, purchased feed: 40 %, 40 % cactus, olive cake and straw Crop/livestock integration: High through the use of horticulture and barley crops residues • Major diseases: Metabolic disorders, transboundary diseases need attention • Vet services: Good

20. Population, employement • Total population: Around 1 million, 44 % rural • Poverty of rural population: 25 % • Non-agricultural employment: Government employees, construction work, tourism, textile industry (women poorly paid), transboundaryactivities • Average farm holding size: < 2 ha • Access to markets: • Local: OK • National: highly competitive • Regional : active with Libya • Global: exporters

21. Poverty 2 US$ per person per day (Methodology of Ministry of Social Affairs Ministry) • Sidi Bouzid:42.3% • Gafsa: 30.9% • Gabes: 28.9% • Medenine:24.5%

22. Access to water and land • Irrigation water availability: • Low, overexploitation of ground water • Availability of runoff water • Quality: Brackish ground water • Access to water: • Water form deep aquifers and irrigated perimeters is priced. • Private wells are authorized for less than 50 m and in not red spot areas • Access to land: • 90 % of rangelands are collective; • Most of crop land is private but not all of it with titles. • Land fragmentation: an issue for rainfed areas

23. Production systems For both sites, 2 major production systems: • Pastoral system (rangeland based system/sheep & camel) • Agropastoral system (Barley-sheep based system, Mixed rangeland-barley-tree based system)

24. Rangeland-based system/ Constraints • Encroachment of rangelands by barley and olive crops, • Degradation and overgrazing especially around watering points, • Livestock watering, and water points management • Uprooting of vegetation for domestic use, • Conflicts on grazing lands, • Animal health problems, • Climate variability (droughts, CC). • Rejection of pastoral activity by young generation • High unemployment and poverty rates (migration of young people).

25. Rangeland-based system/ Opportunities • Important pastoral reserve for the region, • Community-based rangeland management efficient & well accepted • Relatively important pastoral infrastructures, • Existence of a specific Community-based organization (CBOs) for the management of rangelands (GDA Dhahar) • Local know-how for rangeland management (resting, etc) and animal breeding

26. Agropastoral system/ Constraints • Low/irregular rainfall and scarce water resources • Remote areas and difficult access, • Limited available lands for cropping expansion, • Degradation of grazing lands, • Land tenure problems, • Marginal and variable farm incomes, • Low level of exploitation of natural and cultural patrimony, • Pressure on natural resources, • High unemployment and poverty rates (migration of young people).

27. Agropastoral system/ Opportunities • Better (relatively) climate conditions: temperature, rain, etc. • Important public and private agricultural development programs, • Specific agricultural products (sheep and goat meat, dry figs, olive oil, honey, etc.) • Important aromatic and medicinal plants and fruit trees, biodiversity • Well preserved local know-how (agriculture, etc.), • Very active local organizations: NGOs, etc.

28. Small scale irrigation agriculture/Constraints • Overexploited groundwater resources, • Salinity • Wind erosion (south of the site), • Reduction of grazing lands due to fruit trees expansion (olive), • Lack of manpower specialized in irrigation • Lack of organized market for agricultural products. • Land fragmentation • Low productivity and efficiency • Reduced income

29. Small scale irrigation agriculture/ Opportunities • Precocity of irrigated agricultural products compared to other regions • Settled land tenure favorable to investment, • Available incentives to private investments, • Easy access to local markets • Great capacity to create job (employment) • Export • Contribution to the equilibrium of the national trade balance

30. Hypotheses Hypothesis 1 The use of innovation platform (IP) in community-based organization of rangeland involving agro-pastoral stakeholders will help halt land degradation and restore ecosystems and improve livelihoods Hypothesis 2 Rangeland production systems can be made less risky and more resilient by integrated technical, institutional and policy innovations that aim at rangeland rehabilitation and sustainable management Hypothesis 3 Barley-sheep system productivity and resilience can be enhanced through integrated improvements in policy, institutional set-up and technologies (feed, health, adapted breeds), and markets (capital, input and product).

31. Hypotheses Hypothesis 4 Integrating appropriate water harvesting as well as soil and water conservation practices will improve livestock productivity and reduce risks and vulnerability of agro-pastoral communities Hypothesis 5 System analysis including bioeconomic modeling and market analysis will facilitate policy and institutional changes and the outscaling of innovations Hypothesis 6 Equitable distribution of benefits and responsibilities through integration of youth and women will enhance economic development of the target areas

32. Conclusions • The driest areas of NA&WA embrace more than 60 % of the arable land in the region. • High population growth rates, • Large and rapidly increasing food and feed deficits, • Low and highly variable income levels • Limited natural resources, especially water, are the major features of the region. • In addition to being the main locus of rural poverty, they are severely degraded. • The rural livelihoods are based on production systems in which small ruminants represent the principal economic output.

33. Conclusions • Production systems are in transition and vary from nomadic or semi-nomadic rangeland based to mixed crop-livestock smallholder systems. • Rural populations in these fragile environments are forced to pursue production strategies that, while meeting short-term requirements, are in the long-term destructive and unsustainable. • Inappropriate policies of land use, incentives and the absence of secured property rights have exacerbated the problem. • The traditional local institutions governing access to grazing lands have been disrupted, resulting in a system of "open access”.

34. Conclusions • More frequent and prolonged droughts associated with global warming have worsened the vulnerability of agropastoral societies • Although the rural poor may have limited resources, they still have considerable capacity to adapt to environmental degradation and to rehabilitate degraded resources. • Experience showed that neither technical interventions nor policy adjustments alone will solve the problems. An innovative program of research for development integrating policy, institutional and technological options is capable of enhancing the resilience of the production systems and livelihoods.