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Nowhere is the link between the environment and poverty more pronounced than in highly fragile ecosystems, where inhabitants are often compelled to degrade natural resources as they struggle to survive on inhospitable land. IFAD’s drive to break this vicious cycle has led to the development of a number of replicable models for sustainable land use. A striking example is the Livestock and Pasture Development Project in the Eastern Region of Morocco, which introduced an innovative approach to collective land management with impressive results.

A sheep herder, who participated in the project, grazes his flock near Bouarfa.

When sheep herders in Morocco’s eastern region made a plea to the Government for aid in 1986, the area was already withering from several consecutive years of drought. Flocks had been decimated, incomes had plummeted and debt was mounting. In these semi-arid steppes, where raising small livestock is the main activity, rangelands had been degraded and areas around water points had been overgrazed. The Minister of Agriculture at the time told them that if they wanted support for their herding activities, they would have to organize themselves – they needed to replace their individual strategies with a collective approach. The task of the project designers was to help find a structure that took account of the complex social organization of tribes, lineages and kinship groups.

At first, the herders were hesitant. Miloud Ben Siria, a member of the Ouled Sidi Ali tribe, who has a flock of 300 sheep, explains, “In the beginning, the herders thought they were going to lose their land when they joined. They didn’t realize what kind of cooperative this was.” Project staff held regular meetings with herders to help them understand the importance and power of social mobilization. More than 1,000 meetings were held in the first five years.

The project also quickly introduced rangeland protection measures, such as setting aside reserves to let the land rest. Brahim Balhbib, a member of the Ouled Kaddour tribe, who tends a flock of 80 sheep, says, “The eastern region was on its way to becoming a desert. Thanks to the reserves, though, grass and trees are now growing, which is a good thing for herders. I feel very strongly that we need to protect our natural resources.”

Herders who agreed not to graze their flocks on certain areas of degraded land for two years received compensation from the Government in the form of barley or concentrated feed. The offer of compensation was proof that the Government had acknowledged the rights of the tribes to these rangelands.

One man, one vote

Farmers and sheep herders meet at the weekly market in Oujda.

The project created cooperatives based on tribal lineage, as lineage and ancestral rights had traditionally determined the use of rangelands and resources in the project area. The cooperatives operated strictly on a ‘one man, one vote’ system, giving small farmers a say in the use of the land and breaking the monopoly of the big livestock owners. The by-laws of the cooperatives ensured that herders with smaller herds had equal rights in decision-making and in common management of the rangeland. When there were disputes, the Government did not get involved. It let the herders negotiate and find a solution on their own, and they did.

Endowing traditional organizations with a modern legal framework

The herders, having been won over by the project’s early success, were soon willing to pay a grazing fee when fallow land was reopened. The message to small herders is that use of the land is not free. The money collected by the cooperatives provides a dividend that can be distributed for the benefit of members. In this way, the cooperatives can create enclosures and manage and improve the resources for future generations.

A veterinarian collects blood samples from sheep for an epidemiological survey by the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Oujda.

Khalid El Harizi, Senior Evaluation Officer at IFAD during implementation of the project, explains, “The truly transcendental result of the land-resting achievements lies in the behavioural change of the participating population. In a society that has traditionally considered ‘l’herbe un don de Dieu’ [grass as a gift of God], their willingness to withdraw from the land, establish animal carrying regulations and levy user fees constitutes nothing less than a revolution in a centuries-old practice inherited from ancestors.”

From 1992 until the project closed, 44 cooperatives were formed, with total membership estimated at 8,600. They include virtually all the sedentary, semi-nomadic and nomadic herders in a vast region covering over 3 million hectares (ha). With guidance from the project team, the cooperatives created reserves covering a total of 460,000 ha of degraded land. Plant cover was re-established, with the result that fodder production increased five-fold, from 150 to 800 kg/ha.

Mohammed Boukhbiza, a member of the Beni-Mathar tribe, who has about 800 sheep, says, “Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I thought that livestock raising would disappear because the droughts were so severe. Herders watched their flocks dwindle from 400 head to 40. But thanks to the project and to government subsidies, forage is now available. The cooperative is an ideal means for rangeland management.”

Mounif Nourallah, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Morocco, says, “The project has shown that collective management of rangelands by the herders themselves – and by the herders alone – is a guarantee of sustainable rangeland productivity .... The herders understand very well that the sustainability of their only source of livelihood hinges on solid natural resource management.”

Source: IFAD