Desertification and Its Control in Morocco - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 98

agricultural area (UAA) is in continuous decline. The cost of natural resource
degradation in the forest, agricultural and rangeland sectors and following the silting
up of dams is calculated to be 2.9 billion dirhams a year. The NAP must therefore
translate into effective measures and actions on the ground. This is the aim of
the GM's support to the design of a national resource mobilization strategy based
on ensuring coherence between internal and external financing and the integrated
application of a range of international instruments for sustainable land management
(SLM) and combating desertification.
Even serious matters like deforestation that threatens livelihoods, water storage
for irrigation and soil productivity has not been given the support that it requires.
In Morocco, reforestation started in 1949 and currently accounts for a total of
767,000 ha of woodlands. The evaluation made at the end of 2000 shows that a net
530,000 ha had actually been reforested, i.e. about 10,000 ha per year. The much
higher objective of 22,000 ha per year has only been achieved one single time since
1970. Management and oversight of the precious forests and rangelands is restricted
to about 4 Mha of forest land and about 2.3 Mha of rangelands.
Efforts have been made to improve grazing management and apply more
scientific principles to rangeland monitoring and condition assessment.
During the period 1980-1990 efforts to were concentrated on:

• the establishment of the rangeland service in the Ministry of Agriculture;

• the training of engineers specialized in range management;

• the delimitation of 11 range improvement areas;

• the organization of the stockbreeders in pastoral co-operatives;

• the launching of the “ley farming” program in the dryland zones (use of annual

medics and clovers on traditional fallow “ bour ”);

• the planting of fodder shrubs on 17,000 ha; mainly Atriplex nummularia and

Opuntia inermis

• the installation of protected areas on 28,000 ha in the High Atlas and Tafrata

zones;

• the establishment of the El Jadida seed production center (Centre de Production

des Semences Pastorales);

• the execution of several studies relating to rangeland use;

• the execution of a large program related to the basic infrastructures concerning

water, wells, pastoral roads and dipping tanks.

There are opportunities for improvement of fodder resources that can relieve
that pressure on the grazing lands and also allow a higher turn-off of livestock for
slaughter and at a younger age.
In order to overcome some of the limitations stated above, the Ministry of
Agriculture has developed a strategy for range development. The main objectives
of this strategy are to:

• create an economical environment compatible with the objective above, allowing

the adhesion of the producers and the sustainability of animal production
systems;