Plantation de cactus inerme dans les hautes steppes de la Tunisie Centrale (Ouled Belgacem Azaiez)

Plantation d’arbustes fourragers (Tunisia)

غراسة الشجيرات العلفية

Description

Le recours aux plantations d’arbustes fourragers aura lieu généralement si la dégradation a atteint le seuil d’irréversibilité. La plantation des arbustes est faite dans le but :
- Soit de combler un déficit dans le bilan fourrager annuel qui de la diffi-culté d »alimenter les troupeaux et qui se pose en général à la fin de l’année (fin d’automne et durant tout l’hiver).
- Soit pour la sauvegarde du cheptel en cas de sécheresse ou disette
- De conservation des eaux et des sols

Les principaux arbustes fourragers utilisés au Centre – Sud de la Tunisie sont : Acacia cyanophylla, Atriplex nummularia et A. halimus, Opuntia ficus indica var. inermis si l’on peut considérer comme arbuste. Ces espèces ont donné des résultats spéctaculaires au Centre du pays elles ont par contre échoué dans le Sud en raison de l’aridité extrême. Ce n’est que ces dernières années que le recours aux espèces locales, plus adaptées aux conditions difficiles, comme Periploca angustifolia, Rhus tripartitum, Retama raetam a pris de l’ampleur.
Dans les parcours collectifs, les services forestiers se chargent à travers des chantiers de l’irrigation et de l’entretien des plantations. Au niveau des par-cours privés, l’Office d’Elevage et des Pâturages se charge d’apporter les plants et fournir des subventions au bénéficiaire qui se charge de toutes les opérations d’entretien et de protection.
L’exploitation par pacage direct ou recolte (cas du cactus) se fait après 3 à 4 ans pendant les périodes de soudure et de sécheresse.

Location

Location: Kasserine, Tunisia

No. of Technology sites analysed: single site

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 8.82566, 35.10906

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. 0.1-1 km2)

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: 10-50 years ago

Type of introduction
Plantation d’Acacia cyanophylla dans les parcours dégradés de Menzel Habib, Sud de la Tunisie (Ouled Belgacem Azaiez)

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping: cereals - barley
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1
  • Grazing land
    • Nomadism
    • Semi-nomadic pastoralism
Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation
Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • chemical soil deterioration - Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content (not caused by erosion)
  • physical soil deterioration - Ps: subsidence of organic soils, settling of soil, Pu: loss of bio-productive function due to other activities
  • biological degradation - Bc: reduction of vegetation cover
SLM group
  • pastoralism and grazing land management
  • improved ground/ vegetation cover
SLM measures
  • management measures - M2: Change of management/ intensity level, M5: Control/ change of species composition

Technical drawing

Technical specifications
None

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated: per Technology area
  • Currency used for cost calculation: n.a.
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = n.a
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: n.a
Most important factors affecting the costs
n.a.
Establishment activities
  1. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  2. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  3. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  4. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  5. (Timing/ frequency: None)
Establishment inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (n.a.) Total costs per input (n.a.) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
20.0 10.0 200.0
Plant material
1.0 300.0 300.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 500.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 500.0
Maintenance activities
  1. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  2. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  3. (Timing/ frequency: None)
Maintenance inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (n.a.) Total costs per input (n.a.) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
1.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1.0 100.0 100.0
1.0 100.0 100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology 300.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD 300.0

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
n.a.
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Water quality refers to:
Is salinity a problem?
  • Yes
  • No

Occurrence of flooding
  • Yes
  • No
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure
health

poor
x
good
education

poor
x
good
technical assistance

poor
x
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
x
good
markets

poor
x
good
energy

poor
x
good
roads and transport

poor
x
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
x
good
financial services

poor
x
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
fodder production
decreased
x
increased

animal production
decreased
x
increased

farm income
decreased
x
increased

Socio-cultural impacts
SLM/ land degradation knowledge
reduced
x
improved

situation of socially and economically disadvantaged groups (gender, age, status, ehtnicity etc.)
worsened
x
improved

Ecological impacts
soil cover
reduced
x
improved

vegetation cover
decreased
x
increased

plant diversity
decreased
x
increased

Off-site impacts

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Climate change

Gradual climate change
annual temperature increase

not well at all
x
very well
annual rainfall decrease

not well at all
x
very well

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Yes
  • No
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
  • None
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • None
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
  • None
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • None
  • None

References

Compiler
  • Donia Mühlematter
Editors
Reviewer
  • Donia Mühlematter
Date of documentation: Sept. 17, 2018
Last update: Nov. 22, 2018
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International