沙漠研究 19-1, 363- 365 (2009 )Journal of Arid Land Studies“Desert Technology IX ”
Refereed Paper

Economical and Ecological Assessment for Sustainable Pastoral Land Development
in Arid Tunisia
Mohamed JAOUAD1, Amor TBIB1
Abstract: Grassland has long been one of the key research areas in the arid regions ofTunisia. Pastoral lands not only provide forage to feed livestock, but also play a criticalrole in alleviating many of the most challenging environmental and ecological problems
that humankind is facing. Five constituents are thus implied in pastoral sector. Theses
constituents are the cattle breeders, Cattle herd, grassland or pasture area, environmental
context particularly climate conditions and social and economic environment. This study
returns, thus to examine these five components in their Socioeconomic and ecologicalcontext. In this work we try to explore the acquired facts of a socioeconomic andenvironmental survey conducted through a sample of households living in the area ofMenzel Habib observatory (in the south of Tunisia).
Key words: Breeders, Grassland, Livestock, Menzel Habib, Observatory, Pasture area,

1. Introduction
The pastoral usage of resources is a set of exploitation techniques adopted by the breeders of thedomestic crowds to value vegetable resources and natural courses of a space given by the production ofsuch a number of human consummations. Five essential constituents are involved in the pastoral sector
generally (Tbib A, 1998): The breeders, livestock of production, vegetable resources, environmental
context or climatic conditions and social and economic environment. The study of the pastoral sectormeans so examining this set of constituents in their socio-economic as well as ecological context. In thisrecent work, we content to investigate the experiences of a socio-economic and environmental inquiry led
with a sample of residents in the space of Menzel Habib's look-out post.
2. Multiplicity of the roles of pastoral practices
2.1. Economic roles
The breeders often aim at a multitude of socio-economic objectives for the domestic group throughpastoral practices. To appropriate a livestock of pension it is to have the means of production and a capitalwhich assures at the same moment strategic productions (meat, milk wool and the others) and a help capitalduring certain circumstances. The practices of breeding assume economic roles for all the breeders'categories. For small domestic exploitations the presence of a livestock supplied certain number of foodpossessions (milk, eggs, meat etc.). On the social plan, to be a great breeder, it is to have a social status
and a particular prestige within the rural community of place of residence.
2.2. Ecological roles
Sheep, goats and camels are domesticated herbivores to value the vegetable production of the course
grounds. Pastoral practices are counted among the best techniques to value vegetable resources scatteredon the large course areas (Rambal et al., 1977). The small ruminants are comparable to biologic engines
which have the capacity to transform the pastoral phytomass into meat, wool, milk and organic fertilizer(Floret et al., 1982).
3. Methodological approach and main results
The applied methodology is based on the collection of information related to the reality of groundconcerning the population and the livestock of pension in the region of Menzel Habib. It rests on thetechnique of inquiries with a sample exploitation units (EU) living in the space of the look-out post. The
inquiry reveals that the practices of breeding are well spread in all the imadas of the delegation of Menzel
Habib (Table 1). Inherited from father to son, these practices of breeding constitute the former characteristic
1

Institut des Régions Arides – Médenine, 4119 Route de DJORF ELFJE

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Table 1. Actual breeders and composition of the livestock by Imada.

ImadasBreeders (NB)
Breeders (%)
Sheep herd size
Goat herd size

Menzel H72
80.9
22.7
11

Zograta
2066.622.78Ouali
43
71.6
20.4
3

Ooued Zitoun
21
87.5
47.1
12El Fjij
23
82.1
17.3
6

Sègui
35
77.7
17.1
6

Mhamla
25
75.7
74.8
23

Total
239
78.3
27.8
10

Source: socio-economic enquiry 2004

Fig. 1. Card of sol occupation and distribution of the different classes of breeders.

of the tribe of Béni Zid.
In some imadas, such Zograta, bearing in mind the importance of pastoral practices in this zone, it
seems that the reduction of the natural courses began to slow down the perspectives of the pastoraldevelopment. In the others, such Oued Zitoun, the dimension of the stake in culture of lands let us supposethat the practices of breeding take place in integration with cultural practices. The data analysis shows thatthe meadow in different routes is especially indicated in the imadas of Fjij, Segui and Zograta. For certain
regions, such El Fjij the meadow of the domestic crowds takes place as well probably on grounds deprivedof the developers as on the routes of the bordering mountains. It is to note that the technique of rotation ofcourses strikingly lost its chances of application at least in four imadas of our look-out post (Menzel Habib,Ouali, Oued Zitoun and Mhemla). The privatization of lands and the stake in culture strikingly reduced thespaces of natural routes in the delegation of Menzel Habib (Genin, 1999). To establish an idea on thenature of the ground in the region, one used experiences of a thematic cartography which was led by basing
itself on the experiences of measures and phyto-ecologic observations and on the experiences of a satellite
picture covering the zone of the look-out post (Lacaze et al., 1978). This Image has been used to thiscartography in March, 1999.
The legend of this occupation card (Fig. 1) enumerates four categories of different courses, namely, in
ascending order, routes on scrawny grounds (62 %), sandy (20 %), halomorphs (10 %) and on muddy
grounds (8 %) (Romdhane, 2003). The spaces of strict courses form a portion of 37 % of the total surfaceof the look-out post. It is to underline that the spaces of natural routes tend to become more and more
reduced for the reason of stake in culture of lands and levels of anthropisation which become more marked
only in the course of generations. To establish an order of height of the load of the natural routes for theset of the look-out post, the average load of a hectare of route is of the order of 0.75 small ruminant/ha.
This value is obtained by taking into account only the non-transhumant livestock. The consideration of thetranshumant livestock gives us an average load of 1.2 head of small ruminants by ha of route.

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4. Constraints of the pastoral sector
Factors and causes having led to the loss of cattle are multiple and fluctuate from an imada to another.
In the whole region of Menzel Habib, the climatic aridity and the diseases of cattle form the main causes ofloss. Generally, during the periods of severe and prolonged drought, we attend a fall of production of thenatural routes. In these circumstances one often reveals problems of cattle food. In case when adequate
measures were not taken in the right time to surmount this constraint, the risks of disease of the crowds canlead to a certain level to the losses of livestock. The experiences of the inquiry showed that just a portionof 10.8 % of the leaders of exploitation which recognized that pastoral practices can be one of the causes
susceptible to provoke a degradation for the natural routes and the resources in ground generally. In thesaid of the investigated, the standing about of the small ruminants represents certain danger for the state ofsurface of a given route. The complementation of the crowds is the fact of supplying cattle food well inorder to maintain their health in general. The owner of the livestock begins with the necessary measures tosupplement its small ruminants. The results of the inquiry show that the complementation of the smallruminants became commonness for 97 % of the breeders of Menzel Habib, against 37 % only in 1996. On
the scale of imadas, the level of the animal pressure fluctuates from 3.5 in Fjij to 13.7 in Menzel Habib. In
fact, this level of theoretical pressure can not persist without causing damages in pastoral resources inplace. One imagines that in the current state, vegetable forming are incapable to meet the necessities of thelivestock in place.
5. Conclusion
The pastoral sector occupies a portion about 78 % of the EU investigated in Menzel Habib. The
average size of the livestock of the small ruminants is of the order of 36 heads by breeder. The domestic
livestock is lower than 20 heads with 39 % of the investigated breeders. The availability of the naturalroutes remains reduced and the crowds of 75 % of the breeders graze on the same spaces of courses along
the year. The technique of complementation became almost generalized (93 %), for this category of socialactors. About 22 % of the investigated breeders practise transhumance in the far away regions during thedry years. This mobility interests 40 % of the livestock of small ruminants of the zone.
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