Rainfed Agricultural Systems, Dr. Aziz Merzouk, IFAD
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- The document discusses rainfed agriculture in the Near East and North Africa region, where around 80% of arable land is rainfed. - Smallholder rainfed farming systems face numerous constraints including drought, poor soils, low input use, small farm sizes, and lack of infrastructure/market access. - Climate change is exacerbating problems with more variable rainfall and more frequent droughts and floods. - There is significant untapped potential to improve productivity and incomes in rainfed areas through strategies like sustainable land management, improved soils, suitable cropping systems, and water management.
Rainfed Agricultural Systems, Dr. Aziz Merzouk, IFAD
- 1. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Photo : N. Mahaini
- 2. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Introduction: Terminology , Typology and Mapping … . concentration of poverty and distress in the neglected rainfed areas II. Rainfed Farming Systems (RFS) in the NENA Region III. Constraints and Key Issues of Smallholders’ RFS Overview VI. Untapped potential of upgrading rainfed agriculture
- 3. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Introduction: Terminology , Typology and Mapping Rainfed agriculture (RA) is when crops are produced without irrigation .. It only uses green water (that comes from the precipitation and is stored in the unsaturated soil) while irrigated agriculture uses blue water (see Ongoing IFAD grant on green water credit , Morocco) Rainfed agriculture is considered with all its phases (= System) : Therefore, livestock systems, crop-livestock systems, and crop systems are all important components of Rainfed Agriculture Broad definition , with large diversity in term of agroecological conditions, infrastructure development, human capital, and socioeconomic variable....at global , national and local scales- Difficulties for mapping, developing strategies and technology transfer => We need to develop a typology for rainfed areas Rainfed Areas : In drier regions RA is associated/supported with water management systems (water harvesting, soil and water conservation, and some irrigation) we generally allow up to 25% irrigated areas. Various classification systems and zoning based on : Agro climatology ( Humid RA, Temperate, tropical, Mediterranean , Arid, Dry.. Rainfed Agriculture).. in our region Dryland agriculture was synonymous to RA Altitude : lowland, highland Rainfed Agriculture Level of development and farm size : poor, rich , smallholder ,..rainfed agriculture Combination of the above and more variables …. . we will focus more on Mediterranean smallholder RA
- 4. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Introduction: Terminology , Typology and Mapping Rainfed Corn fields of the Midwest Rainfed Wheat fields Rainfed Lowland rice paddies Slash-and- burn Rainfed sorghum in Sudan Around 80 % of the World Arable Land is Rainfed
- 5. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture * v isit the FAO FS website and download the FS book ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/003/y1860e/y1860e00.pdf Introduction: The Rainfed Farming System RFS* Photo © JHADP, 2006 At household and farm Level Rainfed Agricultural System is more than the Cropping &or Livestock systems. The biophysical (land, water, crops, etc), socio-economic and human elements of a farm are interdependent, and thus farms should be analyzed as systems from various points of view. A farming system , by contrast, is defined as a population of individual farm systems that have broadly similar resource bases, enterprise patterns, household livelihoods and constraints, and for which similar development strategies and interventions would be appropriate. Based on these criteria, FAO distinguished and used 8 board categories of farming system 3 are Rainfed FS: Irrigated FSs Wetland rice based FSs , dependent upon monsoon rains supplemented by irrigation; Rainfed FSs in humid areas of high resource potential, characterized by a crop activity (notably root crops, cereals, industrial tree crops – both small scale and plantation – and commercial horticulture) or mixed crop-livestock systems; Rainfed FSs in steep and highland areas , which are often mixed crop livestock systems; Rainfed FSs in dry or cold low potential areas , with mixed crop-livestock and pastoral systems merging into sparse and often dispersed systems with very low current productivity or potential because of extreme aridity or cold ; Dualistic ( mixed large commercial and small holder ) FSs , across a variety of ecologies and with diverse production patterns; Coastal artisanal fishing , often mixed FSs ; and Urban based FSs , typically focused on horticultural and livestock production.
- 6. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture v isit the FAO FS website and download the FS book ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/003/y1860e/y1860e00.pdf Photo © JHADP, 2006 II. Rainfed Farming Systems (RFS) in the NENA Region Rainfed Farming is the dominant land use in the region with around 80% of the arable land Indicator Unit: Total Area 1 000 ha Agricultural Area Arable land and Perm. Crops 1 000ha %total Irrigated Area 1 000 ha % A gr.Land 1 000 ha % total Algeria 238,174 39,956 16.0% 8,215 3.4% 569 6.9% Djibouti 2,320 1,701 73.3% 1 0.0% 1 100.% Égypt. 100,145 3,424 3.4% 3,424 3.4% 3,422 99.9% Gaza and the West Bank 602 345 57.3% 223 64.6% 20.1 9.0% Jordan 8,878 1,142 12.9% 400 4.5% 75 18.8% Lebanon 1,040 329 31.6% 313 30.1% 104 33.2% Morocco 72,655 30,376 68.0% 9,376 21,0% 1445 15.4% Somalia 63,766 44,071 69.1% 1,071 1.7% 200 18.7% Sudan 250,581 134,600 53.7% 17,420 7.0% 1863 10.7% Syria 18,518 13,759 74.3% 5,421 29.3% 1333 24.6% Tunisia 16,361 9,784 59.8% 4,930 30.1% 394 8.0% Turkey 78,356 39,180 50.0% 26,013 33.2% 5,215 20.0% Yemen 52,797 17,734 33.6% 1,669 3.2% 485 29.1% TOTAL NENA REGION 876,193 336,401 46.9% 78,476 17.5% 15,126 19.3% World 13,432,420 4,973,406 37.0% 1,540,572 11.5% 277,000 18% Share of NENA in the world 6.5% 6.8% 5.1% 5.5%
- 7. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Percentage 0–15 15–25 25–35 35–45 45–55 > 55 Population below the poverty line (%): less than US$ 2 day-1 Source ILRI: http://www.ilri.org/Infoserv/webpub/Fulldocs/Mappoverty/media/PDFpages/map7d.pdf Close Correlation between hunger, poverty and water the bulk of the rural poor live in rainfed areas: Exp = the recent poverty maps of Morocco shows the overlap of rural poor communes and the rainfed areas where water scarcity is a problem (see Morocco COSOPS, 1999&2008)
- 8. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture III. Constraints and Key Issues of Smallholders’ RFS in the NENA Region ++ Despite great efforts, investment, innovation and technological breakthrough the productivity levels of these rainfed areas have remained lower across years: Rainfed production level at 1-2 tons/ha while Irrigated at 3-5 tons/ha . Common problems and constraints remain and are causing the deterioration of resources, decreasing areas planted with field crops, poor investment, and low returns they are: frequent droughts occurring due to high variability in the volume and distribution of rainfall, poor land/soil qualities, low fertilizer use and imbalanced fertilization and other inputs, small farm size and poor mechanization, poor socio-economic conditions and low risk-bearing capacity, low financial facilities, Lack of policy and Underdeveloped rural /market linking infrastructure . => Issues/challenges that are extensively analyzed during IFAD COSOP & Project design and regional grants at Country
- 9. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture III. Constraints and Key Issues of Smallholders’ RFS in the NENA Region Climate change exacerbates the situation in the rainfed areas by accentuating the extreme events and their impact: Decline in annual precipitation (see Morocco RDPMA L685 and IFDC Grant and Syria NERRDP L 721_Sy reports) Extreme precipitation events More frequent floods and droughts (North Africa in 2008-2009) Heat waves and Health implications At Guigou Area (Morocco, Middle Atlas Mountain ) 1977-1999: Isohyets shifted 100 mm (deficit) See drop in river flow at Ait Kabbach hydrological station Between 1939-1970 et 1970-2002. Average flow rate dropped to half: from 1.13 to 0.63 m 3 /s ,
- 10. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture III. Constraints and Key Issues of Smallholders’ RFS in the NENA Region (continued) Decline in annual precipitation and recurrent droughts in Syria Note the Badea Line @ around 200mm
- 11. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture VI. Untapped potential of upgarding rainfed agriculture in the Region Long time proven and IFAD supported projects demonstrated that Investments in rainfed agriculture have large payoffs in yield improvements and poverty alleviation through income generation and environmental sustainability . the potential role of rainfed areas is increasing in food production and thus their relative weight in agricultural income generation and poverty alleviation. Also National Agricultural Development Strategies increased attention to the rainfed areas merits for the conservation of the natural resource base and adaptation to climate change. Untapped potential of improving rainfed agricultural productivity : Observed gaps for major grains are large between farmers’ yields and achievable yields for selected African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries. Potential
- 12. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture A positive shift in rainfed agriculture can be achieved through policy changes and technological innovations. The strategies that need to be emphasized and that IFAD has been supporting with its partners in the NENA rainfed areas are: Sustainable Land Management : from de-rocking in Syria and Morocco to soil conservation and watershed management in almost all countries; Improvement of soil qualities , balanced fertilization and increased carbon sequestration; Adoption of suitable and efficient cropping systems ( diversification and market oriented;) Water management: Water harvesting, soil and water conservation , flood control, supplemental and small scale irrigation schemes ; Post-harvest, value-addition and marketing environment Institutional, Strategic planning and Policy support systems Training /capacity building Research Development + The above strategies are well reflected in the priorities of PN Projects and grants
- 13. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture These strategies are well reflected in the priorities and investment of the PN Portfolio: Most of the Projects have touched on at least one of these areas and some presented an integrated approach that incorporated all these priorities. These include for example: Enhancement of Rainfed Agriculture in Sidi Bouzid (Tunisia), in Abda (Morocco), RALP in 5 Governorates in Yemen, Sudan, etc. Other Rainfed Agriculture Enhancement Projects were also named Agricultural Development or Natural Resources Management = Extensive experience and successes in the field deserves to be captured in a more systematic manner.
- 14. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Finding the focus Ask the farmers directions Ask the right question Read the new book : Rainfed Agriculture: Unlocking the Potential ( Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture) (Hardcover) by S. P. Wani (Editor), J. Rockstrorm (Editor), T. Oweis (Editor) This book is based on research undertaken by a team of leading scientists from 10 global organizations including ICARDA and ICRISAT. http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/CABI_Publications/CA_CABI_Series/Rainfed_Agriculture/Protected/Rainfed_Agriculture_Unlocking_the_Potential.pdf
- 15. Near East and North Africa Division pre-retreat learning session on rainfed agriculture Have a productive and pleasant retreat ICARDA